MT Literature Research

This is part 1/2 of your master graduation project; it consists of the problem analysis and literature research. This part is assessed on basis of your literature study report, which includes a plan of approach for the thesis part (second part of the graduation project), a.k.a. MT54035.

The text below is the same as for MT54035.

When you are ready to begin your master thesis project, you need to make a new case on "myCase.tudelft.nl" To be eligible to begin and make a new "case", you need at least 54 ECTS. We strongly recommend you have already completed all obligatory courses as well, though you can begin before this in consultation with your (intended) supervisor.

From the start date, you will have maximally 1 year to complete your MSc thesis (nominally it should take under 9 months). If you need longer and there are no extraordinary or extenuating circumstances (or these have not been communicated in time to your supervisor and MSc coordination staff), the project is considered a fail and you will need to find a new subject and supervisor.

The thesis project is an individual project in which the student is challenged to apply the knowledge obtained in the past years over a period of 9 months. This project is often performed in collaboration with a maritime company (as part of an on-going joint research project for instance). It can also be performed as an "in-house" graduation, i.e. with only the university involved in the supervision.

Start about 3 months in advance with the following:

1. Check the MT program Brightspace website for available assignments and contact the registered supervisor.

2. Contact the academic staff members of your specialization to see if there is a project available that you might like. In a discussion you can both find out what subject interests you and if there is a graduation project available, or can be defined, that relates to that subject. In most cases a rough problem description of about ½ an A4 is available or can quickly be written. If not, academic staff members can tell you where to search or who to contact to help find a suitable project.

3. Another option is to contact a problem owner (e.g. maritime company or PhD student) yourself (e.g. through your own network). If they agree to take you as a graduation student on a subject you find interesting, you should write a short description of about ½ an A4 and send it to the relevant academic staff member for evaluation. This is usually sufficient to check if a problem is a viable subject to graduate on.

Based on the initial description and discussions with all involved parties, you should extend the description to a more detailed Plan of Approach that ensures that both you and your supervisory team agree on what you will do in the next 9 months. Usually at this point, you should also be assigned a daily supervisor (the problem owner) and an academic supervisor (from TU Delft). You present and discuss your Plan of Approach at a kick-off meeting with the supervisor(s) and graduation committee chair person present. If all parties agree with the content and (time) plan, you are set to start your graduation project.

Detailed description of the process and graduation guidelines can be found on Brightspace.