Honours and Masters thesis
Monash IT offers the option to undertake a research project during your degree, either as an Honours year for undergraduate students, or a Master's thesis for postgraduate students.
Benefits of completing a research project:
- Extend your knowledge in a field of interest
- Stand out in your chosen field
- Start an academic career
- Get on track to a higher degree
- Competitive advantage in your career
- Use state-of-the-art research facilities
- Develop your communication, research, academic writing, project management and problem-solving skills
See the application process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses below.
You can begin your Honours year in either March or July in any year. It is normally completed in one year of full-time study. It can be completed in two years of part-time study if approval can be obtained.
Bachelor of Computer Science (Honours) (C3702)
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Bachelor of Computer Science Advanced (Honours) (C3001)
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Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours) (C3703)
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Bachelor of Science (Honours) - in Computational Science (S3701)
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All Honours applicants must fill in a Supervisor Agreement Form with their supervisor once a supervisor and project have been confirmed. Students should ideally find a project and supervisor by Friday of Orientation Week (O-Week) for the semester in which they’ve been offered. The Faculty will be in touch with further instructions on how to submit this form closer to the semester in which you start your research project.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the postgraduate research stream, students must have:
- successfully completed at least 24 credit points of Level 5 FIT-coded units
- achieved an overall WAM of at least 80% across all Level 5 units
- achieved at least 75% in FIT5125 - IT research and innovation methods
- achieved an overall course WAM of at least 70%
- a project and supervisor organised prior to submitting your application for the research stream (your main supervisor MUST be from the Faculty of IT)
Notes
- Students who achieved an overall WAM between 75-79% across all Level 5 units must have demonstrated research capability with written support from a prospective supervisor (while meeting all of the remaining requirements above)
- For mid-year entry into the research stream, you don't need to wait until your semester one results are released before you apply or find a supervisor. Apply before the deadline, even if you're unsure about meeting all of the WAM requirements above, and your application will be assessed once semester one results are released.
- For research projects in Bioinformatics, students must also have achieved at least 75% in BMS5021 - Introduction to Bioinformatics
- Master’s students can commence their research in either Semester 1 or 2. The research project MUST be completed across the final two semesters of your degree.
Enrolment in the research units is also dependent on available supervisors and projects. Students will be ranked based on their entire academic record and assessed for their suitability to undertake the research component of this program. Students MUST have a project and supervisor organised prior to submitting their application for the research stream.
The research stream is available in the following courses:
- Master of Information Technology (C6001)
- Master of Cybersecurity (C6002)
- Master of Business Information Systems (C6003)
- Master of Data Science (C6004)
- Master of Artificial Intelligence (C6007)
How to Apply
- Ensure you are aware of the eligibility requirements for the research stream (refer to the Handbook entry for your degree)
- You and your supervisor complete the "Supervisor Agreement Form" to be uploaded to your application
- Complete and submit the Application for entry into the Research Stream of IT Coursework Master's Degrees by the deadline. Students will be notified by email when applications open each semester
Application Deadlines
- For commencement of the research stream in semester 1: 9:00 AM, Monday, 8 February 2027
- For commencement of the research stream in semester 2: TBD
How to enrol and re-enrol
Enrolment into thesis units will be manually processed by faculty staff. Students will not be able to enrol or re-enrol in research units via WES.
Thesis conditions
- Thesis candidates are not permitted to repeat any thesis component units for which they have received a fail mark and grade.
- Supplementary assessment is not available for any component unit of the program.
- Students receiving a fail mark and grade for a thesis unit will need to transfer to the Industry Experience stream of their IT Masters program.
Finding a Supervisor
- Review the projects on Supervisor Connect (note that you don't need to choose a project from here specifically, but these will give you an idea about what is possible and what type of research is being undertaken in the Faculty).
- Consider units you've enjoyed studying or topic areas you want to expand your knowledge in through research. Talk to your lecturers in those units about research options in the area.
- Discuss possibilities with the Honours/Minor Thesis Coordinator or your Course Director.
- Contact potential supervisors via email to discuss possible projects/supervision in the fields you are interested in.
Tips
- Reach out early as you must have a supervisor and project confirmed before you apply for the minor thesis (supervisors may fill up quick)
- Email more than one supervisor at a time but don't spam!
- Be careful when writing your email to potential supervisors - have you checked what you have written?
- Ensure you tailor your email to demonstrate why supervisors should supervise you for your project.
- Follow up if you don't hear back
- Be open-minded when considering your supervisor and project
- Be realistic - If you are an MBIS or MIT student, it is unlikely you are going to get an AI project (when the MDS and MAI students are likely to be more competitive for this area). BUT you might be able to persuade an academic in Human-Centred Computing (HCC) to do something related to AI.
- If you are having difficulty finding a supervisor, please reach out to your course director or the thesis co-ordinator for assistance.