Master thesis

lbirc2200  2019-2020  Louvain-la-Neuve

Master thesis
Note from June 29, 2020
Although we do not yet know how long the social distancing related to the Covid-19 pandemic will last, and regardless of the changes that had to be made in the evaluation of the June 2020 session in relation to what is provided for in this learning unit description, new learnig unit evaluation methods may still be adopted by the teachers; details of these methods have been - or will be - communicated to the students by the teachers, as soon as possible.
27 credits
Language
French
Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.
Main themes
The master thesis is a personal work that each student must complete during his master cycle. This thesis is an initiation to scientific research that allows the future engineer to study a topic of his own preference. As a future engineer, the student must identify and address a specific question by respecting the following general approach :
(1)   Summarize the current knowledge about the chosen topic ;
(2)   Set an experimental protocol (in a wide meaning of the term) ;
(3)   Do observations (in the field or in a laboratory) ;
(4)   Analyze and interpret these observations ;
(5)   Draw appropriate conclusions ;
(6)   Present this material in a scientific document ;
(7)   Publicly defend his work
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 At the end of the master thesis, the student is able to :
·       analyze scientific publications that are related to his master thesis topic, master and discuss the corresponding content and present this content in a summarized way ;
·       design a consistent and sound approach in order to answer a scientific question by using a state-of-the-art knowledge about the question ;
·       set up an experimental protocol (in a wide meaning of the term), analyze and interpret the corresponding results by the light of the scientific literature at hand and by taking into account the corresponding limitations ;
·       communicate the results and justify them using a rigourous scientific language, both in a printed document and during a public oral presentation in front of a jury.
M.1.3, M1.4., M.1.5., M.2.3., M.2.4, M.3.1. - M.3.9., M.6.1 - M.6.8.
 

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Content
Typically, possible topics for the master thesis are proposed by promoters. A student can however suggests a new topic and thus can look for a potential promoter that would accept to supervise him.
Upon acceptance by the Faculty, a part of the master thesis can be done outside of the university, in Belgium or abroad. This applies for example to Erasmus master theses and internships master theses. The master thesis supervision is under the responsability of a promoter (possible two copromoters). The (co)promoter(s) is in charge of supervising the quality and the timing of the work that must be done by the student. These aspects are evaluated as a specific item, i.e. the 'Evaluation of the personal work made the student', which is part of the final score.
It is advised that students choose both the topic and the promoter for their master thesis during the second semester of the first year in the master cycle. All the way long during their master thesis, students must fulfill the master thesis regulation as described in the document that can be found at https://intranet.uclouvain.be/fr/myucl/facultes/agro/memoire-fin-etudes-masters-bioingenieur.html. This document also specifies the specific rules that apply for students that are registered to the CPME programme.
Evaluation methods
The master thesis must be presented during one of the examination sessions that take place during the master cycle. A student that registers for the master thesis examination but who does not present it before or during the last September session will fail for the year.
The master thesis will be defended in English.
The work that has been made by the student during the year and in the framework of the master thesis will be evaluated by the promoter (possibly co-promoters) of the master thesis. A jury evaluates both the quality for the printed document, for the oral presentation and for the public defense. The jury takes a final decision about the score for the master thesis using a weighted average that accounts for the work during the year (30%), the printed document (50%) and the public defense (20%). The score for the oral presentation is reported as the score for the 'Master thesis Master thesis' accompanying seminar'.
Faculty or entity
AGRO


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Chemistry and Bioindustries