Master of Science in Informatics at Grenoble
MoSIG 2nd Year

Semester 10 – Master Project (30 ECTS)

Defenses in Summer 2026 will be held the week of June 22nd, 2026

Defenses in Fall 2026 will be held the week of August 31st, 2026

The final semester is devoted to an individual research project conducted at a local public or corporate research laboratory, under the supervision of the academic supervisor, counting for 30 ECTS (accounting for half the second-year master grade). It should last at least 18 weeks (20 weeks for Ensimag students), and cannot exceed 6 months. Defenses can be held before the end of the internship, after at least 18 weeks of internship. Two sessions are proposed: Summer and Fall.

For students who want to apply for a Doctoral School internship, a defense in Summer 2026 is necessary.

Research Masters Projects

A research project provides hands-on training on how to perform scientific research. The project must address a well-defined problem situated within the context of an existing scientific community. By nature, the scientific research project should be conducted within a research laboratory, under the direct supervision of a qualified researcher (i.e., having a doctoral degree). MoSIG students are strongly encouraged to perform their project in the research laboratories of the INP/UGA/CNRS or INRIA.

In a research project, the student is expected to:

  1. Provide a clear definition of the problem and its scientific and technological context.
  2. Demonstrate mastery of the scientific literature related to the problem,
  3. Propose an original solution to the problem.
  4. Validate and/or evaluate this solution through experiments and/or formal demonstrations.
  5. Explain how the obtained results impact the existing scientific literature, including limits to the results, and open problems that remain to be explored.

The project will be evaluated on the basis of: mastery of the scientific state of the art, depth of analysis and understanding of the problem, originality of the proposed solution, and quality of the validation or experimental performance evaluation.

If successfully completed with a grade above 12, the scientific research project demonstrates research aptitude and meets the formal requirements for admission to a doctoral program.

Students performing a professional project must have a external expert. The role of the external expert is to provide a neutral scientific evaluation of the project. The external expert must be found by the supervisor(s).

Professional Masters Projects

Professional projects provide professional experience in the context of industry projects and needs. In professional project, the student is expected to design, implement, and evaluate a system that solves a real-world problem.

Professional projects are evaluated using the following criteria:

  1. The difficulty of the challenge posed by the project.
  2. The competence, initiative, autonomy and aptitude displayed by the student in performing the project;
  3. Quality of the project plan and plan execution;
  4. Quality and professionalism of the project results including validation tests, performance evaluation, and documentation of the resulting system.

Professional masters projects do not provide research training and do provide admission to the doctoral program.

Students performing a professional project must have a local academic tutor. It is the responsibility of the student to find the tutor.

Important Steps

Although the formal project period begins in February, students are encouraged to find their project and project director as soon as possible.

Steps to sign an internship contract:

  1. Choose and apply for an internship. You can find internship in several places: the [PCarré] site, the sites of the local research labs (LIG, Verimag, LJK, G-SCOP), and internship published by local companies. You can also find internships outside the Grenoble area.
  2. Send the subjects to the MoSIG directors for approval.
  3. If you choose an internship outside Grenoble or in a company you have to ask a professor to be your tutor. If your internship is a research one, your supervisor must find an external expert that can evaluation
  4. Once your subject approved you have to register, by choosing the date of your defense (Spring or Fall) and filling other information, using this [form].
  5. Proceed with steps to sign your internship contract (“convention de stage”). Depending on where you are registered, the steps may be different. In the case of UGA you can find the details [here].

Internship Defenses

The defenses will take place in front of a jury formed of: the president of the jury, your university tutor, your external expert (if research internship), and your supervisor(s).

The defenses are in a hybrid format: online and on-site. Physical on-site presence is strongly recommended. If attending a physical defense, please bring your own computer for the presentation.

The structure of the defense is the following:

  • 25 minutes of presentation,
  • 15 minutes of questions, and
  • 15 minutes of jury deliberations.

You will be given a brief feedback after the defense, but not the final grade.

Masters Report

For both research and professional internship, you will need to write an internship report. You have to submit this report at least one week before the Summer or Fall defenses to the president of the jury and your tutor and/or external expert.

You can find suggested templates in Latex and Word formats [here].