Research Internship (4–6 months)
M2 MVA · Internship · 20 ECTS
Contents
- Introduction and overview
- What the module asks
- How to prepare
- Deliverables and assessment
- Official sources
Introduction and overview
| Module | Research Internship (4–6 months) |
| Official title | Stage de recherche |
| Supervision | a host tutor and a referent MVA instructor, who sign the internship form |
| Period | From 5 April 2027, after the end of the chosen courses; deadline to start: 10 May 2027 for the first jury |
| Credits and volume | 20 ECTS · at least four months (master-mva.com); four to six months (Université Paris-Saclay programme page) |
| Label | Mandatory |
| Assessment | A written report (about 30–40 pages expected, strictly individual) and a mandatory oral defence with at least the host tutor and the referent instructor; an evaluation form with a proposed mark out of 20, which the jury may harmonise. A mark above 10/20 is required to obtain the master. |
| Juries | First jury 24/09/2027 (report and defence before the evening of 10/09); second jury 12/11/2027 (before the evening of 31/10), mainly for double-degree students |
This is a framing page, not a course. The internship is the research half of the MVA year: 20 ECTS out of 60, after the eight course modules.
master-mva.com insists that it must be a research internship on the themes taught in the master, with a real scientific research stake and the applied development of one of the master’s themes. Internships in quantitative finance or trading are explicitly prohibited. Once committed to a host, a student cannot change.
What the module asks
- A research question in mathematics, vision or learning, stated in a one-page topic written along the official guidelines and attached to the internship form.
- Four months at least, on site (unless the host’s conditions say otherwise in the agreement).
- A report and a defence that account in detail for the research done.
How to prepare
- Choose the topic from the courses you liked most. Each course page of these notes ends with a research-directions chapter and paper-study projects: they are the natural starting points of an internship topic.
- Use the internship forum (2 December 2026) and the directory of offers kept by the secretariat.
- Allow time for validation: the internship form, signed by the host tutor and the referent instructor, with the one-page topic, goes to the secretariat at least 15 days before the start; the internship agreement is issued by the institution of administrative enrolment only after that validation.
- Think about the PhD early: many internships offer a continuation as a PhD, and the public PhD funding deadlines run from February to June (see the official page on doing a PhD after the MVA).
- The end-of-year projects of these notes are rehearsals of the same skills at a smaller scale.
Deliverables and assessment
- Report: as complete and illustrated as possible; about 30–40 pages are expected; strictly individual; available only to the jury (a non-disclosure agreement is possible in exceptional cases).
- Defence: organised by the student before the final report deadline, with at least the host tutor and the referent instructor (or another MVA instructor); a provisional report is sent to the referent beforehand.
- Evaluation form: completed by the tutor and the referent after the defence, with a proposed mark out of 20 that the jury may adjust.
- Weight: the internship mark counts for 20 ECTS in the average and must exceed 10/20.
These are the official rules from master-mva.com; this page adds no assessment of its own.
Official sources
- master-mva.com, internship page (guide for students and for host organisations, internship form, topic guidelines, evaluation form): https://www.master-mva.com/formation-mva/stage/.
- master-mva.com, planning 2026–2027: https://www.master-mva.com/formation-mva/planning/.
- master-mva.com, doing a PhD after the MVA: https://www.master-mva.com/formation-mva/faire-une-these-apres-le-mva/.