Before applying for a student thesis in our group, please read the following guidelines carefully. These guidelines contain information about the choice of a topic, the communication with the supervisor and the thesis procedure in general. Not following the guidelines may lead to your request being not answered by our group.

In general, you have to look at the available topics and topical areas first and contact a supervisor afterward. Further steps will then be discussed with you.

Choosing/Proposing a topic:

• The choice of a topic for a thesis is an individual agreement, considering the experience and capabilities of the candidate and the capacity and focus of the supervisor.
• A list of potential topic ideas and topical areas in general can be found here. This list contains contact addresses for concrete topic proposals, as well as for topical areas.
• The topic of the thesis is not bound to the aforementioned list. You can come up with own ideas within the listed topic areas and propose to a supervisor who may be interested in.
• The topical scope of the thesis may change in the initial phase significantly.
• Listed topics or supervisors may be currently unavailable.

Communication with the supervisor:

• After reviewing the list of topical areas and concrete thesis topics, you can start contacting one of the supervisors mentioned for your topical area or concrete topic.
• Your initial request for a student thesis has to cover the following points:
  • Your background, experience and special interests from your studies so far
  • Your initial time plan for writing the thesis
  • Your concrete expectations or detailed ideas for the thesis topic
• Omitting any of the aforementioned points in your initial request may lead to leaving your message unanswered without further notice.
• Unspecific requests, AI generated messages, mass messages being sent to multiple people or inappropriate requests in any form will be ignored.
• Depending on the schedule of the supervisor, answering your request may take several days. Refrain from sending multiple messages in a short time frame.
• In case the supervisor has capacity to offer a thesis and there is a potential topic, an initial meeting will be arranged to discuss any further details.

Thesis Procedure

• When you and your supervisor successfully agreed on executing a student thesis, you will have to do an initial preparation. The supervisor will set a deadline for your initial preparation. Missing the deadline or not communicating with the supervisor within the deadline will lead to a rejection of your student thesis, and you will not be allowed to register the thesis.
• After the supervisor accepts your initial preparation, you will give a 5–10 minutes opening presentation in our student seminar. An appointment will be arranged through your supervisor. After successfully giving the presentation, you are allowed to register the thesis. The official thesis deadline counts from that day on.
• If you don't invest sufficient efforts during the thesis period or do not communicate frequently enough with your supervisor, you will not be reminded by us. Insufficient work will lead to failing the thesis.
• After handing in your thesis, you will have to give a final presentation (15–20 minutes) in order to finalize your thesis. An appointment will be arranged through your supervisor.
• The introduction and final presentation have to be given in person. Exceptions can only be provided with proper reasoning and not for personal comfort reasons.