MAEN5900 Master's Thesis Course description

The master's thesis will take the form of individual, independent, supervised research or development work in one of the key subject areas of the Master's Degree Programme in Energy and Environment in Buildings. The master's thesis must apply scientific theories and methods, and the result must contain elements of new knowledge or new methods. 

The course will serve as a preparation for the planning and implementation of the Master's thesis. Particular emphasis is placed on elucidating research methods and research ethical issues that are relevant to the engineering students' planning and implementation of a master's thesis.

No formal requirements over and above the admission requirements for the programme.

Project work. Individual, independent work with a scope of 750 hours, which culminates in a master's thesis (report) and an oral presentation. 

Supervision 

Each student will be assigned an internal supervisor and is entitled to up to 20 hours of supervision during the semester. Via their supervisor, students can become affiliated to groups composed on the basis of academic criteria and participate in seminars, study groups and supervision groups. The master's thesis can be related to a relevant R&D project at the university or be developed in cooperation with different disciplines and research environments, including industrial enterprises, with which the university collaborates. If the thesis is written in cooperation with an external client, an external supervisor will be responsible for supervision in cooperation with the student's internal academic supervisor at the unviersity. 

The master's thesis  

The work conducted on the master's thesis shall be based on research principles. The master's thesis shall take the form of a written report prepared in the format of a scientific report. The report must describe the research question, the work carried out and explain the results. The report has two types of adjustments compared to a scientific report:: 

• The introduction may contain a significantly longer description of the topic of the master's thesis. The discussion section may contain a significantly more comprehensive discussion. Quality-assured source references and a pertaining list of sources will be required. 
• A substantial part of the master's thesis may be linked to a client's issue, even if this is not of a directly scientific nature. The university supervisor will ensure that the thesis contains a sufficient element of scientific issues, solution methods and critical reflection. 

Prototypes and/or other products that the student has developed can be included as part of the thesis.  

None.

The teaching will consist of participation in lectures and project work.

The following work requirements must be approved in order to be qualified for the exam:

Written concise project description of the student's master's thesis, approximately one A4-page. Must be used for selection of master's theses and must therefore be available for the teachers after submission.

Graded scale A-F

Two examiners, of whom at least one must be external.