Research Project Allocation and Advisor Appointment for M.Sc. students

The appropriate Department Chair (or nominee) will serve as the academic advisor for all newly admitted graduate students and will guide the students’ course selection in their first semester of study. Before the end of the first semester, full-time students will have an opportunity to indicate their preferred research projects and research advisors. For part-time students, this is normally completed in the second semester of study.

The Graduate Studies Office will advice eligible students on the research project selection process and appropriate timelines. Generally, students are asked to select from a list of research projects available in the present semester. The research project will form the student’s thesis work. Therefore, each student must contact the Main Advisor of each project they are interested in to discuss objectives and requirements before making the final selection.

Students must submit their project preferences by the specified deadline. In cases where a student does not select a project, one will be allocated based on the recommendation of the student’s academic department.

The final allocation of a research project to each graduate student will be made by a committee and approved by the relevant Department Chair, the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, the Research Office and the Associate Provost for Academic Operations. Once the allocation is confirmed, the faculty member listed as the Main Advisor will take the lead in guiding the student in course selection and supervising his/her research until graduation. The following guidelines apply:

• The Main Advisor must be a faculty member from the student’s home department. An exception to this requirement may be made for multidisciplinary fields such as Robotics and programs that have cross-departmental support, such as M.Sc. in Computational Data Science.
• In addition to the Main Advisor, the student must have one Co-Advisor to provide support to the research supervision process and guidance of the student. The Co-Advisor does not necessarily have to be from the student’s home department. 
• The Main Advisor and Co-Advisor must be full-time members of the KU faculty. Subject to approval, an additional co-advisor may be selected from adjunct professors or on/off-campus experts in  industry or academia.  
  
  

The MEng degree program does not include a thesis component, thus MEng students are not required to participate in the research project allocation process and complete research milestones. The student’s academic advisor will be appointed by the Department Chair.

Students sponsored by external organizations must secure sponsor approval, if required, before a research project is assigned.