Admission requirements
Students should have obtained at least 60 EC of the MSc. Computer Science and Business Studies before starting their Master’s Thesis Research Project. The Master’s Thesis Research Project (22EC) is always done in combination with a Business Research Internship (20EC), for a total of 42 EC (equivalent to the thesis research project in other CS specializations). Prior to starting the internship and the research project, students should enrol and participate in the Master Class for Computer Science and Business Studies.
This course starts in the academic year 2026/2027 and is not offered in 2025/2026.
Description
The Master's Thesis Research Project is an important part of the Master’s programme in Computer Science and Business Studies, and constitutes the final stage of the programme. Conducted in combination with a Business Research Internship, the thesis research project has as primary objective to allow students to acquire and demonstrate skills and knowledge to independently define, plan and execute a research project in an organisational context. Internship and thesis research should build on knowledge and skills acquired throughout the Computer Science and Business Studies programme and should have a clear focus on creating new knowledge, or extending existing knowledge through application in a new domain.
As part of the research project, the student writes a scientific report, the Master’s thesis, and gives an oral presentation explaining the results of the research project, which is followed by a discussion known as the defence. The research project execution and reporting should follow academic principles, including adequate use of academic literature, formulation of a research question, application of rigorous research methods, etc.
Where
The research project is always done in combination with a Business Research Internship, to be conducted at a host organisation such as a company or government agency. In exceptional cases, the host organisation can be a department of the university. Before seeking and accepting an internship position, students must consult the rules and guidelines provided in the Business Studies Internship course (information on the Business Internship Research will become available in the Business Studies Internship course for the academic year 2026/2027).
Course objectives
At the end of the Master's Thesis Research Project, students will be able to:
Apply knowledge, methods, and skills to work independently as a scientific researcher with a professional and responsible academic attitude
Connect scientific problems with organisational issues and conduct scientific research in an organisational environment
Execute a scientific research project: make an independent analysis of a scientific problem, identify and review relevant specialist literature, formulate verifiable hypotheses, design and carry out experiments, construct and evaluate solutions to identified problems, and reflect critically on one’s own research and that of others
Write a coherent, well-argued, and logically structured scientific report about his/her research, including introduction, problem definition, methodology, data acquisition and analysis (if applicable), interpretation, and discussion;
Report publicly on their research project and findings to other students and researchers via an oral presentation;
Provide appropriate and to-the-point answers to questions on their research from an audience following an oral presentation
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of instruction
Conducting research supervised by supervisor(s);
Writing a Master’s Thesis;
Giving a Master's Thesis Presentation (including defence);
Mandatory participation in the Master Class.
Mandatory combination with internship.
Course load
Internship: 560
Practical research work: 500
Report writing: 60
Thesis project: 616Theoretical study: 408
Thesis writing: 140
Presentation and defence 56
Participation Master Class 12
Assessment method
The final grade is the weighted average of the grades for 1) the Master’s thesis (50%); 2) project execution (30%); and 3) the thesis presentation and defence (20%). The thesis grade must be a 6 or higher to be able to pass the thesis research project. The final grade is established by two examiners, following the guidelines and rules as set by the Board of Examiners (see https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/science/computer-science/organisationfolder/board-of-examiners).
The internship is graded separately.
Reading list
Dependent on research field and thesis topic.
Registration
Enrol in the Master Class of the Computer Science and Business Studies Master’s programme.
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Contact
The Master Class coordinators and your thesis supervisor(s).
Remarks
The final draft of the thesis needs to be submitted for a plagiarism check via the Brightspace course titled LIACS Bachelor and Master Thesis.
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.