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

Supervisor Connect A directory for Honours and Master's Thesis projects in the Faculty of IT.

Thesis Coordinator Dr Buser Say (Buser.Say@monash.edu)

See the application process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses below.

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

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.

Course structure

Bachelor of Computer Science (Honours) (C3702)

How to apply:

Ensure you are aware of the eligibility requirements for Honours – if you are an external applicant you will need to supply academic transcripts that demonstrate equivalent academic performance.

Apply online for Honours now

How to enrol and re-enrol:

BCS Honours students will be able to enrol or re-enrol in thesis units via the Web Enrolment System (WES). To enrol in your level 4/5 elective units, please submit an Enrolment Amendment form with your chosen units and we will enrol you manually.

You should discuss elective options with your thesis supervisor.

Course outline

Approved electives:

Computer Science students must choose three 6-point electives in their degree. This page shows possible elective units:

• FIT5003 Software security
• FIT5032 Internet applications development
• FIT5037 Network security
• FIT5042 Enterprise application development for the web
• FIT5046 Mobile and distributed computing systems
• FIT5047 Fundamentals of artificial intelligence
• FIT5124 Advanced topics in security
• FIT5129 Cyber operations
• FIT5137 Advanced database technology
• FIT5145 Introduction to data science
• FIT5147 Data exploration and visualisation
• FIT5149 Applied data analysis
• FIT5152 User interface design and usability
• FIT5163 Introduction to cryptography for cybersecurity
• FIT5196 Data wrangling
• FIT5197 Statistical data modelling
• FIT5201 Machine learning
• FIT5202 Data processing for big data
• FIT5212 Data analysis for semi-structured data
• FIT5215 Deep learning
• FIT5216 Modelling discrete optimisation problems
• FIT5217 Natural language processing
• FIT5221 Intelligent image and video analysis
• FIT5222 Planning and automated reasoning
• FIT5223 IT forensics
• FIT5225 Cloud computing and security

Not all units are available in any one year.

Other approved electives can be taken under FIT4008 Reading unit.

Bachelor of Computer Science Advanced (Honours) (C3001)

How to apply:

No application to Honours year required. Refer to how to apply for course entry.

Approved electives:

Computer Science Advanced students must choose two level 4/5 6-point electives in their degree. This page shows possible elective units:

• FIT5147 Data exploration and visualisation
• FIT5149 Applied data analysis
• FIT5196 Data wrangling
• FIT5197 Statistical data modelling
• FIT5201 Machine learning
• FIT5202 Data processing for big data
• FIT5215 Deep learning
• FIT5216 Modelling discrete optimisation problems
• FIT5217 Natural language processing
• FIT5221 Intelligent image and video analysis
• FIT5222 Planning and automated reasoning
• FIT5223 IT forensics
• FIT5225 Cloud computing and security

Other level 5 units may be approved with the approval of the course director.

Note that level 5 units must be enrolled manually - submit an Enrolment Amendment Form for enrolment into level 5 elective units.

Bachelor of Science (Honours) - in Computational Science (S3701)

How to apply:

You need to apply to the Faculty of Science to enrol in an Honours course.

Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours) (C3703)

How to apply:

Apply online for Honours now

Course outline

Approved electives:

Any Level 4/5 FIT coded unit subject to Course Director and Supervisor approval and meeting individual unit prerequisites.

Not all units are available in any one year. Refer to the Handbook.

How to enrol and re-enrol:

BIT Honours students will be able to enrol or re-enrol in thesis units via the Web Enrolment System (WES). To enrol in your level 4/5 elective units, please submit an Enrolment Amendment form with your chosen units and include a screenshot (full discussion) of the approval from the Course Director and Supervisor.

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 AND based at the same campus as you)

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.
• 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

1. Ensure you are aware of the eligibility requirements for the research stream (refer to the Handbook entry for your degree)
2. You and your supervisor complete the "Supervisor Agreement Form" to be uploaded to your application
3. 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

Apply Now

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

1. Thesis candidates are not permitted to repeat any thesis component units for which they have received a fail mark and grade.
2. Supplementary assessment is not available for any component unit of the program.
3. 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.