In general, a thesis for the M.Sc. in Cybersecurity has original and innovative content and is written independently by the candidate, under the supervision of at least two advisors (one of whom must be member of the Board of the M.Sc. and belong to the SSD: ING-INF/*, INF/01). It can document a theoretical result or an innovative practical or experimental project, even one relevant for the industry.
All the students must fill out the following form to notify the beginning of their thesis work to the chair of the M.Sc.. The form must be completed by the student before starting the thesis work, once the supervisor had agreed to supervise the thesis. Note that the form is just for communication, hence no reply will be sent back.
Note that the form includes the name of at least two supervisors. The first supervisor is a professor chosen by the student, while the name of the second supervisor is to be proposed by the first supervisor and approved by the M.Sc. Chair. If not indicated the chair of the M.Sc. will assign one.
Note also that either the first or the second supervisor must be member of the Council of the M.Sc. and belonging to the SSD: ING-INF/*, INF/01.
If the thesis is in a company, the supervisors from the company may be indicated in the field “other supervisors”.
Thesis in a company
In general, it is possible to take a thesis in a company. In this case you are (warmly) invited to find an academic supervisor for your thesis before looking for the company. Note also that the company must sign/have a formal agreement (a convention) with the Department of Information Engineering.
Some thesis proposals are available at this page.
Here is a mailing list for thesis and job offerings (managed by the Engineering School, you can freely subscribe it):
You can find information on external thesis at this link. Note that:
- at the moment this information is only in Italian;
- the procedures for external thesis are managed by the School of Engineering (not by the M.Sc.)
- you can contact: didattica@dii.unipi.it for further information
Thesis abroad
thesis abroad are possible. Also in this case the student must have two supervisors from the M.Sc. in Cybersecurity, but he/she will also have one or more supervisors from the hosting institution.
The entire procedure for thesis abroad is managed by the School of Engineering.
More information can be found here: http://www.ing.unipi.it/it/internazionale/mobilita-in-uscita/mobilita-extra-bando-free-movers
Discussion of the thesis
At least 5 days before the final defense of the thesis the candidates will have to upload the final version of the thesis (in pdf format) and the slides for the presentation (either in pdf or ppt/pptx) in the portal https://laureandosi2.ing.unipi.it/ (in the section “Caricamento di tesi e presentazioni” of the M.Sc. Cybersecurity). The site will request authentication by means of the students credentials.
The day of the defense each candidate will have 15 minutes to present the thesis with the slides and 5 minutes for the discussion with the evaluation committee.
Evaluation of the graduation average
The graduation average is the average of the grades obtained at the exams weighted each with the corresponding weight in CFU. In the calculation of the average, exams with honors (30 e lode) are evaluated 32/30. This average mapped in a scale of 110 is then rounded to the closest integer (that is, 109.5 becomes 110 and 109.49999 becomes 109). Note that exams that are not included in the study plan are not considered for the graduation average.
The final graduation mark is given by the graduation average plus the evaluation of the thesis and of the discussion (up to 7 points).