Thesis Control and Operations

The MSc programme in Aerospace Engineering is completed with an MSc thesis, the final graduation project, which comprises 45 EC. It is intended to provide students to research a particular area of interest in-depth and make a considerable contribution to the knowledge for that area of expertise. Students address a specific research question, and are responsible for the planning and execution of the project. Typically, students carry out their research within the Faculty's research groups, where the student is normally engaged as part of a research team working within a particular area. However, students can also work in industry for their thesis.

It is expected that the thesis will include a comprehensive and critical synthesis of the relevant literature and also embodies a substantive contribution to theoretical knowledge, an empirical investigation or a design contribution.

More information can be found on Brightspace: Master Thesis Aerospace Engineering.

At the end of the MSc thesis project, students are required to defend their thesis before an examination committee. The assessment is performed by an expert committee, based on a final report, public presentation, and private defence session.

The written report should describe the work performed in the thesis project. The public presentation is to be held in front of a broad audience and should last about 30 minutes plus a discussion, and is followed by a one-hour private defence with the examination committee, where the student is questioned by their supervisor(s) and most of the times also external experts on the project as a whole.

For assessment of the thesis work, the following aspects are considered:

1. content and scientific en engineering approach (choose design or scientific significance

2. Literature study en research proposal

3. Report

4. presentation en defence

5. creativity en initiative

6. project management.

The assessment of the Master thesis will be done on the basis of the final objectives of the MSc curriculum. The faculty has introduced a new schematic using a rubrics for this, for students started the master in 2022 and after. Students who started the master in 2021 and before, the “old” rubrics will be used.