What is the MS Thesis?
A "thesis" is, in simple words, an essay or dissertation involving personal research. And "research", in simple words, means an activity that breeds innovation in a given academic domain. In research, the student acquires knowledge about a particular computer science domain, identifies how different global research groups in academics and industry have advanced the state-of-the-art in this domain, and then try to bring innovation to this state-of-the-art.

In this regard, the student is supposed to discover an innovative algorithm, methodology, framework, entity, or an application, which is clearly distinguishable from the state-of-the-art research. Then, the student implements this innovation and attempts to demonstrate that it works or performs better or at least at par with current research trends. Finally, the student will attempt to publish these findings in a conference, workshop, symposium or journal paper.

What is the motivation for taking MS Thesis?
Besides bringing our students at par with international standards, the MS Thesis provides an excellent motivation, head-start and a robust platform for PhDs studies, or industrial research activities. MS Thesis students are also expected to publish their work for general recognition in the research community.

What are some example topics in MS Thesis?
Following are some examples:

  • Applying and re-inventing a particular regression algorithm (e.g., MLR) to predict domain-specific KPIs (e.g., ATM transactions throughput)
  • Using and re-inventing deep learning algorithms for predictions, data generation and data augmentation
  • A unique big data wrangling framework targeted towards processing retail data
  • A unique text analytics framework targeted towards processing natural disaster-related tweets
  • A reinforcement learning-based or AI-based E-Commerce platform
  • A framework for E-Commerce analytics

What is the duration of MS Thesis?
The MS Thesis is executed over two semesters. In the first semester, the student is required to complete MS Thesis I. If successful, the student will register for MS Thesis II in the second semester

What is my scope of work in MS Thesis I?
In MS Thesis I, the student is required to initially identify the research gaps in state-of-the-art of a selected research domain. Then, the student should identify some novel/innovative research direction. These two basic tasks are required in MS Thesis I.

What is my scope of work in MS Thesis II?
In MS Thesis II, the student builds up on work done in MS Thesis I to implement the novel/innovative approach and attempt to demonstrate the superiority of this approach over state-of-the-art through detailed experimental results.

Who will supervise my MS Thesis?
For MS Thesis, the student has to register with a supervisor who is a full-time faculty member with the Department of Computer Science. This full-time faculty will supervise both MS Thesis I and MS Thesis II. Visiting faculty members are not allowed to supervise MS Thesis.

How to Select the MS Thesis Supervisor?
The list of potential thesis supervisors with their research domains and emails are as follows. You are required to contact them before the start of the semester and the registration period for that semester.

Name

Research Areas for MS Thesis Supervision
Dr. Shakeel Ahmed Khoja Learning technologies, Multimedia, Web Programming, Information Retrieval, HCI
Dr. Sajjad Haider Text Analytics, Data Science, NLP, Bayesian Inference, Robotics, AI
Dr. Shahid Hussain Theoretical Computer Science, Graph Theory, Algorithms, Complexity, Cobminatorial Optimization, Discrete Mathematics
Dr. Faisal Iradat Cybersecurity, IoT, Next generation networks, SDNs, RISC-V architecture, Wireless networks, Information systems
Dr. Imran Rauf Algorithms, Enumeration problems, Network Flows
Dr. Syed Irfan Nabi Project Management, Ontology, Cybersecurity
Dr. Tahir Syed Learning under imperfect data/environmental settings (and more generally, using deep learning models and structures)
Dr. Jibran Rashid Quantum Information & Computing, Theoretical Computer Science
Dr. Imran Khan Systems Engineering, Ontology Management, Knowledge Discovery and Data mining, Entrepreneurship
Dr. Tariq Mahmood Deep Learning, Big Data Analytics
Dr. Syed Ali Raza Machine Learning, Robotics, Human-Robot Interaction
Dr. Salman Zaffar Computer Architecture, Parallel Processing, Operating Systems, Control Systems

By when do I have to register for MS Thesis?
Typically, the MS Thesis I and MS Thesis II registration deadlines will coincide with the course registration deadline of a semester. The registration deadlines will be updated here: https://cs.iba.edu.pk/msthesisproject/deadlines.php

How do I register for MS Thesis?
For MS Thesis I, select your supervisor after discussing with him/her in person the details of your project and thesis. The supervisor for MS Thesis II is the same as for MS Thesis I.

Then, download the following form: MS.Thesis.I.II.Registration.Form

Fill out the form, as per the details of Thesis I and Thesis II discussed with your supervisor.

Email the form before the registration deadline to riazali@iba.edu.pk and tmahmood@iba.edu.pk with your supervisor in CC.

Your supervisor will then send an acknowledgement of this in response to the same email.

Please note that, without the submission of the form, you will not be registered in MS Thesis I/II; simply sending an email will not be enough.

When do I become eligible to take an MS Thesis?
You can register for MS Thesis I after completion of 18 credit hours. MS Thesis II has to be registered in the semester succeeding MS Thesis I (under condition of its successful completion).

What grades are assigned for MS Thesis?
For MS Thesis I and MS Thesis II, Pass/Fail grades are assigned

How will I be evaluated for MS Thesis I?
You have to submit a mid-semester progress report as well as an end-semester progress report, along with a final report at the end of the semester. The mid-semester progress report carries ~30% weightage and the end-semester progress report + final report carries the remaining ~70%. The exact breakage of assessments is up to the supervisor. You will also need to defend your thesis work before a designated committee.

How will I be evaluated for MS Thesis II?
You have to submit a final report at the end of MS Thesis II. This report carries 100% of the marks. However, it is supervisor's discretion to break down this 100% over multiple assessments. There are no progress reports for MS Thesis II. You will also need to defend your thesis work before the designated committee.

Where can I find the templates for progress report and final report for MS Thesis?
The templates for the reports are as follows:

What if I have an unsatisfactory performance in MS Thesis I/II?
In case of unsatisfactory performance in MS Thesis I, a maximum grade of B+ will be assigned by the supervisor, and MS Thesis I will be converted to a MS Research Survey.

In case of unsatisfactory performance in MS Thesis II, the student will be given an F grade (Fail). He/she will need to register and repeat MS Thesis II in the upcoming semester.

Who will inform us of the deadlines for registrations, progress reports and final reports?
All deadlines will be updated here: https://cs.iba.edu.pk/msthesisproject/deadlines.php

Submission of your MS Thesis Data on IBA's iRepository
You need to submit your MS Thesis I Progress Reports, and MS Thesis I and II Final Report to IBA's official online repository. IBA Library has subscribed to Digital Commons (https://bepress.com/products/digital-commons/), an online hosted solution to manage research and project submissions along with conference management, journal management and other related software. The name of IBA's license is iRepository (https://ir.iba.edu.pk/).

You will be required to upload all your documents for MS Thesis on this portal for better management, record and analytics. For that, kindly follow the instructions here to create an account.

​According to the deadlines provided by the MS Coordinator, you must upload all the required data to this portal.