Course teacher(s)
Jean-François RASKIN (Coordinator)ECTS credits
20
Language(s) of instruction
english, french
Course content
Objectives (and/or specific learning outcomes)
The master thesis is a final work that comes at the end of the master study cycle which gives the student the opportunity to apply the skills that he/she has acquired during the MA. It is also an initiation to research.
The student chooses a subject proposed by a thesis director (this will be done in whole or in part during MEMO-F-403). Then, the student identifies, under the guidance of the thesis director, one or more questions or open problems related to this subject.
To answer the questions asked or solve the problems that were identified, the student undertakes a study of the state of the art based on bibliographical and exploratory research in order to shed rigorous and innovative light on the precise questions or problems that have been defined.
Prerequisites and Corequisites
Required and Corequired knowledge and skills
The master thesis follows the course "preparatory works for the master thesis". The purpose of the preparatory work for the thesis is to have the students ready to start their research in the master thesis on the topic suggested by the promoter. This means that they need to have collected and understood the state-of-the-art, have potentially played with the basic tools they will need to initiate the research and have a clear understanding of the questions they wish to answer with their master thesis. All this needs to be clearly reported in in the preparation document and approved by the promoter before the next step can be taken.
Required and corequired courses
Teaching methods and learning activities
-The master thesis will be submitted in the form of a text, written in English or in French. Students should bear in mind that a master’s thesis will always be evaluated on the basis of its content rather than its length. Hence, students must refrain from adding content for the sole sake of producing more pages. Each content added to the document must be carefully selected for its added value to the presentation of the work.
As such, and in order to fulfil its objectives, a master’s thesis should typically contain: an "Introduction" with a clear presentation of the topic, a dedicated "Contribution" section, and a notation sheet; a "State of the Art section" synthesizing existing work and positioning the thesis; a "Background" section presenting theoretical and methodological foundations; a "Detailed Contributions" part describing methods, experiments, results, and original insights; and finally, a "Conclusion" with critical reflection, synthesis of contributions, and perspectives for future research or applications. A supplementary material section may be added if considered useful by the student. Additional sections might be added for the sake of clarity.
Given this necessary content, a typical master’s thesis is expected to be around 45 pages in length, (excluding references and supplementary material) with an upper limit of 100 pages.
In case of doubt about the length of the thesis, the student should ask his or her promoter for advice.
Note that the oral defence will serve as the central element for judging the student’s understanding, synthesis skills, and mastery of the subject.
-The candidate must have the explicit agreement of his/her promoter to submit the thesis and the agreement of the adviser should only be given if the adviser judges that the work has enough qualities so that it is expected to convince the jury. If this agreement cannot be obtained, and if the student still wishes to defend his/her thesis, the jury will be officially informed of this fact by the secretary office before the defence.
-The defence of the dissertation work will be organized during an oral defence. During this oral defence, the candidate will present his work for 20 minutes, emphasizing its original aspects.
A question and answer session will follow the presentation of the work. During this session, the jury might question the candidate about the following topics (among others) :
1. A justification of the choice of works cited in the « state of the art » section. The candidate must thus have a clear idea of the content of the works cited and be able to explain how they are related to his/her own work.
2. Detailed explanations of the theoretical background of the work presented in the master’s thesis. The student must be able to explain, as a scientific expert, the algorithms, theorems, results,... at work in his/her master’s thesis.
3. The actual results (methods, experiments, and so forth) presented in the master’s thesis.
Following these questions, the jury will deliberate on the final grade.
Contribution to the teaching profile
-The use of generative AI is governed by « Article 40 » of ULB’s « règlement général des études ».
-Summary of the rules in Article 40 (please refer to the original text for completeness):
1. Generative AI cannot replace personal reflection and research (including consultation of primary sources).
2. Transparency: the student must be able to explain and justify the use of generative AI and indicate which contents were generated.
3. Compliance with copyright, plagiarism rules, and data protection is required.
These principles will be evaluated during the oral presentations/defenses of the preparatory work and the master thesis. Non-compliance will result in a grade strictly below 10/20. If fraud is detected (failing to apply the principles and trying to hide it), the grade will be 0/20.
Additional requirement for this thesis and its preparatory work
Include in both the « preparatory report » and the « final thesis » a section that « explicitly explains how generative AI was used » (e.g., rephrasing only; coding; generating artificial data; etc.). Every use must be detailed.
Further guidelines
-Substantial AI-generated text is often easy to identify by a careful reader and a domain expert, and such parts will be specifically questioned if there is suspicion about their origin.
-It is not acceptable to ask generative AI to produce the « state of the art » or a « bibliography summary », as producing these is part of the learning process for the thesis and its preparatory work.
-Any definition, model, algorithm, or explanation of an algorithm must be written by you (not generated by AI) or referenced as coming from the literature, and in both cases you must be able to fully explain them if they appear in your text.
-If the AI generate a text and this text contains plagiarism, then you are fully responsible for it.
Other information
Additional information
Additional Informations:
a) Jury Composition
Your jury must consist of at least your promoter (the professor supervising your work) and two other professors who teach courses in the Bachelor or Master programs in computer sciences. The promoter must be a faculty member of the Master's degree program in computer sciences. The composition of your jury should be submitted via email to maryka.peetroons@ulb.be no later than May 1st, 2026.
b) For a June 2026 submission
You must submit your master thesis via email to maryka.peetroons@ulb.be by end of May (precise dates will be sent to students)
c) For a September 2026 submission
You must submit your master thesis via email to maryka.peetroons@ulb.be by mid August (precise dates will be sent to students)
Campus
Plaine
Evaluation
Method(s) of evaluation
- Other
Other
The following criteria will be used for the evaluation. Those criteria apply to both the form and the content of the work.
About the content of the work:
- Background and motivation: does the student properly motivate his contribution, linking it to the state of the art? Is the bibliography adequate?
- Scientific rigour: does the student introduce the problem he/she addresses in a rigorous and comprehensive fashion, using proper rigour and mathematics if need be? Can he/she demonstrate (in the text and during the oral presentation) a deep and rigorous understanding of the background and of the results they present?
- Originality of the work : is the presented work original, and does it represent a meaningful contribution to the field? Could it lead to a scientific publication (this is not mandatory, but the best works would satisfy this criteria)?
About the form of the work:
- Quality of the text: is the text properly written, with proper spelling and grammar, proper use of mathematical notations, an adequate structure and a clean and attractive presentation?
- Quality of the oral presentation : did the the student deliver a convincing oral presentation, where he/she spoke eloquently ? Were the slides readable and well-structured ? Did the presentation summarise the contribution adequately?
fLanguage(s) of evaluation
- english
- french