Master's Theses and Research Projects at EIM Institutes

School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics (EIM). The ICS program is under the EIM School.

The teaching and research activities of the EIM School are provided by the Institutes. Institutes are like research groups, with professors, postdocs, PhD students, student assistants, etc. List of institutes

The Program Coordinator is the person in charge of the Master’s program. He/She is sometimes referred to as the Program Director in different course schemes.

The professor who is ultimately responsible for your proper supervision and for assessing your work.
The academic supervisor might have other people helping him/her in the daily supervision of your work, e.g. a PhD student, a PostDoc, or an industry expert.

The grade of your project or thesis has to be agreed upon by a second academic person. In case of a master’s thesis, this must be a professor.

What is usually called a course elsewhere, is instead called a module here. A module typically comprises many subparts, called courses that you have to complete in order to get your credits. For instance, there could be a ‘lecture’ part and a ‘lab project’ part.

In order to find a topic, you have to contact the professors (and collaborators) and inquire if there are open topics of research.
During the first year of school, it is important that you inform yourself about professors, their institutes, and their fields of research, so that you can orientate yourself and find a topic that interests you.
You can start informing yourself by visiting the websites of the institutes belonging to the EIM School. For your convenience, the list of institues and contact points can be found here.
Also, consider the courses you have attended so far. Which ones did you enjoy the most and which ones were you most successful in?
We suggest that if you are already interested in a specific research field at the start of the program, you should consider taking relevant courses in that field. This will only strengthen your knowledge about the field and better prepare you at the start of the research project or master’s thesis.

Try to approach the teacher (professor, PhD) in person, e.g. after a lecture/lab or during office hours. Alternatively, write an email. Briefly explain which course of study and semester you are in. Also mention which relevant courses you followed and motivate your interest in the topic/subject. If you have any prior experience in the field, mention that as well.

You may also consider suggesting a topic yourself, if you have one. But, in any case, be flexible and mention that you are open to consider any other topic that is of interest for the institute. Please note that some institutes post open topics on their respective institute’s websites.

Please, start your search with ample advance, e.g. 3 months prior to the beginning of your research project or master’s thesis.

Dos and don’ts

• Do not send a blank email, e.g., “Hello, I’m looking for a thesis at your institute. Regards”.
• Do some homework, e.g., check the institute pages (currently funded projects, PhD students, recent papers, etc.).
• Present yourself, from a technical perspective. E.g., highlight your experience in the field: “I followed these security courses, I did these side projects” etc.
• Suggest research interests or people at the institute you would like to work with.
• But always clarify that you are flexible and would work on other topics.

Example of an email that could catch the attention of the teacher:

Hello ,
I am one of the students from your “Software Security” course. I’m from the Computer Science program and I’m in my 3rd semester.
I am writing you since I would like to write my master’s thesis next semester and, because I enjoy learning and working in the IT security domain, I thought that I should ask you if there is any possibility of writing my thesis at the Institute of Software Security.
Regarding the possible topic of this thesis, I am very flexible. But since I study Computer Science and Engineering, I am thinking about something that somehow implies “engineering”, like “cyber-physical systems” (an example would be that I would rather prefer to study about “hacking a Tesla” than “finding a vulnerability on a website”).
If you already have such themes available, or if you think that we can find something together, than please contact me at any time.
Best Regards,
Signature
(CV and transcript attached)

You are allowed to pursue a topic with academic supervisor from the School of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics (EIM).

Yes. In order to perform a research project or master’s thesis at an institute outside of the EIM school, you need to be authorized before you start your work. The application process consists of sending a request by email to the examination office, with a proposal in attachment. The proposal is forwarded to the Program Coordinator for evaluation.

NOTE WELL: The rest of this answer is specific to the IMPICS students. These instructions are meant to facilitate the evaluation.

IMPICS - For both research project and master’s thesis, the proposal needs to:

• Describe the scientific and technical work that will be carried out.
• Contain a clearly marked section with a description of how this work relates to the subjects of the study plan.
• List the information about (i) the hosting institute, (ii) the name and email of the official supervisor at said institute, and (iii) the name and email of the daily supervisor (i.e., the person working closely with the student).

IMPICS - Additionally, in case of master’s thesis, the proposal also needs to:

• Contain a clear formulation of the research question (or research questions) addressed by the work.
• List the name of the second examiner (a professor from the EIM school) that has agreed to grade the thesis.

Yes. However, you need an academic supervisor (professor) from the EIM school. The academic supervisor is in charge of grading you. Academic supervisors have different attitudes towards ‘external’ projects and theses. Some refuse them entirely. Some are keen on them. Some are keen, but refuse to sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements). And so on. Also, the project at the company must be of interest for the institute, hence it has to align with the topics and strategies of the institute.

For the above reasons, be aware that insisting on performing the project or thesis externally ‘at all costs’ can lead to significant delays in your studies. Be flexible.

No, unfortunately not.

In the case there are not enough projects to choose from, we strongly advise you to submit a complaint with the Course Coordinator. The Course Coordinator will then ask the Dean for support. We recommend that you do this with ample time as these things take time to ensure there are enough projects for all students.

Please refer to your academic supervisor or contact the Examination Office.

You can start your Research Project in either the winter or summer semester and you can start at any time during the semester (the same applies to the thesis). There is no credit limit to begin your Research Project; however, we recommend it is done after your 2nd semester.

The Research Project workload is 12 ECTS total. It should take 3-4 months to complete it. However, students that take student jobs or exams at the same time would certainly have a good reason to extend the project completion to more than 3 months. This is something that needs to be discussed further and agreed upon with your academic supervisor.

30 ECTS, for a duration of 6 months. When the thesis is registered, an end date is fixed. You must submit your thesis report to the Examination Office before such date.