Research projects and Master theses

Basic Information

In the Masters degree, two research projects are to be completed. This must be discussed with the advisor and registered on myStudies under "Project/Thesis/Paper". The two project theses last for 12 weeks (based on a 40-hour week) and are not bound by the semester dates. If courses are attended parallel to the project theis, the time period of the project thesis will be extended accordingly. Research projects can be carried out outside ETH Zurich. In this case, the master thesis must be carried out at ETH Zurich.

Attention: As of autumn semester 2019 the University of Zurich is considered external!

Goal

The research project gives students the opportunity to familiarize themselves, under supervision, with the thematic area of their chosen field of specialization as well as with the scientific methods of operation and the methodological approaches which are used in current research. This serves as a preparation for the Masters thesis.

Report

Each research project must be completed with a written report, to be submitted to the supervisor within 12 weeks or the specified time, and in any case before the start of the Masters thesis. The report should be prepared in the form of a scientific paper (title, abstract, introduction, results, discussion, materials and methods, literature; the scope of the project is usually 5 to 10 pages).

Evaluation

The supervisor evaluates the written report on a "pass" or "fail" basis. Students with passing projects are awarded 15 credit points. The supervisor is required to carry out a final project discussion with the student.

Declaration of Originality

The students at ETH Zurich must submit with each written project (such as project work, eg) a signed declaration of originality (download form).

List of supervisors, evaluation form

The lecturers in this Downloadlist (PDF, 97 KB) are entitled to supervise and evaluate Master theses.

Attention: As of autumn semester 2019 the University of Zurich is also considered external!

DownloadEvaluation form for MSc thesis and MSc examination (PDF, 834 KB)

Applications to supervise and grade Master theses

It is expected that lecturers who would like to supervise and grade Master theses in the Master program of the Department of Biology, have to be involved in a significant amount of teaching in the Bachelor and/or Master program. For example:

self-organization of a block course in the undergraduate program
at least 7 hours of lectures per year in the Bachelor and/or Master program.

Applications are to include an educational overview by specifying the lecture hours per course, the actual results of the evaluation of instruction and a current list of publications. This documentation is to be submitted to the .

Master thesis submission

The final version of the thesis that is to be graded must be submitted to the D-BIOL Student Administration Office and to the two referees upon the agreed date (according to the registration). The work must be submitted as a PDF to the D-BIOL Student Administration Office. The title page is to contain the following information:

Name of the student
Title of the Master thesis
Place where work on Master thesis was completed
Supervisor
Referee and co-referee
Date of submission

The Master thesis must include this declaration of originality. The "Master Thesis Evaluation Form" (see above link) is used for the final grading of the Master thesis. The Master theses are kept for two years in the D-BIOL Student Administration Office.

Master’s exam

The students have to enroll for the master’s exam on myStudies and the grade can be entered on eDoz.