BSc and MSc Final Projects

Here is a mostly complete list of final projects I have (co-)supervised at DTU.

Are you a student? Are you considering me as a possible supervisor for your MSc or BSc final project? Here is how you can start and what you can expect.

Requesting a Project Supervision

I receive many project supervision requests, and I am often unable to accept all of them. If you follow these instructions, you will improve your chances.

1. Contact me as soon as possible – ideally, at least two months before your project is expected to start.

2. When you contact me, please include your exam transcript.

3. If you already have a project idea, please include a tentative project description as outlined below.

Project Description

Before your project starts, I will ask you to write a project description in plain text (not PDF!) containing the following information:

• Project title (in English and Danish);
• Expected project start date;
• Number of ECTS (30, 32.5, or 35);
• One paragraph providing some background about the project;
• One paragraph describing what problem(s) or research question(s) the project addresses, and what is its objective;
• One paragraph outlining the intended approach.

Moreover, if the project involves a supervisor from a company you’ll need to specify:

• Name and email address of the company supervisor(s);
• Whether you expect the final thesis to be kept confidential (e.g. because it may reveal private data about the company producs or systems);
• Whether the project supervision will be provided:
  • (A) mainly by DTU, or
  • (B) mainly by the company, or
  • (C) by both DTU and the company in collaborative fashion.

The information above is usually quite short (one A4 page or less) and I will ask you to write it down to make sure we agree on the project objectives an scope. After we reach an agreement on the project description, I’ll register it on the DTU system and the project will officially start.

During the Project

We will schedule weekly supervision meetings (or bi-weekly meetings, if I am not the primary project supervisor). For each meeting, you are expected to set a meeting agenda that will usually consist of a status update and a list of topics to discuss.

Within one month after the beginning of the project you will need to submit a project plan:

• I typically expect a Gantt chart with one-week granularity and a brief description of each task and milestone;

• It is important to establish how you will evaluate the project results and plan the project activities accordingly;

• I recommend identifying a “minimum viable product” (MVP) for the project and planning and prioritising the project activities to reach the MVP milestone around 1/2 or 2/3 of the project time frame. After the MVP, the project plan can continue with improvements and extensions; this will ensure some flexibility in case of difficulties or delays.

I recommend maintaining a working draft of your thesis during your project: you can start early by outlining the section titles (see “Writing Your Thesis”) and add notes and update the contents as your project progresses. The last weeks of the project can be focused on thesis writing – and if your working draft is well-kept and up-to-date, the writing will proceed more smoothly.

Writing Your Thesis

I recommend the excellent Chalmers Writing Guide.

Here is a typical thesis structure: it usually works well (especially for projects involving software development) but it can be adapted as needed.

• Introduction with some background information, the problem statement, and an outline of the project objectives and achievements.

• Background: information that the reader needs to know in order to understand the rest of the thesis.

• Design/method: how you designed your solution in order to meet the project requirements and achieve the objectives. Here you can refine and prioritise the project requirements and objectives; the MoSCoW method can help.

• Implementation: how you implemented your solution, based on the project design/method.

• Evaluation: how you assessed whether the project requirements were met and the objectives achieved.

• Related work: discuss the related literature and similar projects and products; analyse similarities, differences, and limitations of your work.

• Conclusion: summarise the results of the project. This section usually includes discussion and reflection (e.g. on alternative approaches, or things that in hindsight could have been done differently), and future work.

• Optional appedices with technical content that may be too verbose to present in the main text of your thesis (e.g., depending on the project: long code listings, user survey questionnaires, detailed mathematical proofs…).

Submitting Your Thesis

When you submit your thesis, please include:

1. The main PDF file of your thesis;

2. If your project involves a software implementation, an archive containing the project source code and build instructions. Please remember to choose a license for your code:

   • Here are some suggestions on open source licenses (I usually recommend the MIT license);
   • In any case, you own the copyright of the code you write, so the choice is yours.

3. A separate PDF file containing the plan submitted during the first month of the project. If necessary, you can include a discussion on whether the project plan was followed, or whether there were significant divergences.

NOTE: for projects that are co-supervised by a company, we may agree on different arrangements (e.g., you may not need to submit the code).