Searching for a MSc thesis – tips – International programme students at LiU

Hej everyone, today I will talk a bit about the master thesis! The thesis is quite an important part of your master studies so it’s good to already start thinking about it at quite an early stage :). Finding the right topic and supervisor can be a challenging process, but with some preparation and research you will do just fine. I’ll share my personal experience and hopefully give some helpful tips!

Start early

It’s never too early to start thinking about your master thesis! You will probably get more information about it later in your program, but it’s always a good idea to think about what you would like to do and if you would like to do it in Sweden or somewhere abroad. For me I didn’t really think about it and when we had the introduction talk, I realized we didn’t have that much time anymore – and getting replies from organizations/professors usually takes a while so it was a bit stressful to find something. Mostly programs have a list of theses that are available at the University or at companies, however for my program (Applied Ethology and Animal Biology) research at the University is mostly focused on chickens which is not my prime interest.

Research what your field of interest is

It is a good idea to read up on some literature and write down for yourself what topics you are interested in. Try to be a bit specific, but don’t just focus on one tiny subject because that might limit your options quite a bit. For me personally, I had a hard time actually figuring out what I wanted to do, so at the beginning I just emailed researchers that wrote an interesting article or had an interesting research field, however I never was concrete in my email what I like and wanted to do. I feel like you come across as more serious when you know what you want and you did some research in your field of interest.

Talk to your teachers and fellow students

After you’ve had a few courses, you probably know some teachers and their research area which could be really helpful with your search for a thesis. Define your interests for yourself and see if any of the teacher’s research interests/areas overlap with your own interests – if so, don’t hesitate to talk with them! Even if your interests are not 100% overlapping it’s still good to reach out, teachers usually have a lot of connections in the field. Personally, I talked with a lot of teachers from my program, and they were really helpful with giving me contact information of researchers that do research within my field of interest. Sometimes fellow students have a super nice project which is doable for more than one person, so it’s always good to talk about the thesis with fellow students.

Pick your first choice, but have a back-up plan

When you are in contact with more professionals and have interesting topics, it is good to keep them as options – figure out what your first choice is and have the rest as backup plan until your first choice is official. Just to make sure that you will have a project before the deadline :).

I will write my thesis about acoustic behavior of pilot whales in Denmark and Madeira, so it’ll probably be a lot of fun! I’m sure you will read a bit more about that once I start. Finding a master thesis can be a challenging process, but with some effort and persistence, you can find a topic that is both interesting and fulfilling. Remember to start early, talk to your teachers and fellow students, think about potential topics that are interesting to you, and don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. Good luck with your search! Talk to you soon. // Milou