Bachelor & Master Theses

Thank you for your interest in a thesis at our group! This page provides general information and a link to our thesis topics page in e-learning.

Expectations for theses at our group

Here we clarify what we expect from a thesis at our group and in turn what you can expect from us.

Overall investment and goal

A typical thesis at our group is integrated into our research and at its peak should be considered as an investment close to a job. You’ll work on a current question of scientific interest in close cooperation with us, with weekly meetings. Your work typically contributes to one of our group's research projects, which in turn aims at high-quality publications at competitive scientific venues in the international Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research community.

Tasks

We conduct research in HCI and applied Machine Learning / AI. Note that HCI as a science involves computer science and engineering (e.g. solving algorithmic problems, implementing systems), design (not graphic design - we mainly mean e.g. interaction design, user interface design) and empirical research (e.g. measuring human behaviour when using computer systems). Therefore, theses at our group typically involve the following tasks:
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• Literature research: What’s the current state of the art?
• User research (e.g. surveys, interviews)
• Design of an interactive system, user interface and/or interaction technique 
• Implementation of the designed concepts into a working prototype (e.g. we often use a web frontend for the UI + Python for the ML/AI parts)
• Designing and conducting a user study to evaluate the implemented prototype
• Analysis of the data collected in the study. We typically collect both qualitative and quantitative data, yet with a heavy focus on large-scale, quantitative data and related analyses.
• Writing your thesis

This is an abstract overview. Individual thesis topics may focus on a subset more strongly. For example, a particular thesis topic might have a theoretical focus, engineering focus, design focus or data analysis focus.

Support from us

You do not need to have prior experience in all of the aspects mentioned above. We consider a thesis a way to acquire new skills and believe your choice of topics should be in line with what you want to learn and get out of what might be the last project of your studies. In this light, we are committed to strongly supporting you in your learning and each practical step. Ideally, the perspective on a thesis is to become a “junior member” of our group for a limited timeframe. We have extensive experience with this, from 50+ theses and further student projects, many of which have contributed to publications. 

Get in touch with us

If you’re interested in a thesis please visit our e-learning page for theses topics.