MSc Topics

We're often asked what themes we have available for potential Masters students. Rather than post a long list of possible topics, here is our advice about looking for a theme.

1. Start early – then we have time to discuss things with you, and make sure that everything (supervisors, computing resources, data and arrangements for any field work) are in place when you start.

2. We occasionally advertise for specific Master theses. You can find these call for Master theses below on this page. If there is nothing advertised (or nothing that interests you) look at previous Master theses supervised in our group as well as our Publications. Broadly speaking we cover three main themes, which you can see here. However, as you'll see these themes are not exclusive, and if you are not sure whether the idea for a thesis that you have would fit in our group, just come and talk to us. If we think we are able to make useful inputs to your work, we're ready to help you.

3. Come and speak to us. As a starting point, send a mail to Ross Purves (ross.purves[at]geo.uzh.ch) or just drop by my office (25J82) and I'll be happy to talk over your ideas with you. Sometimes others in the group will get involved too, or we will look for outside help.

4. Think about what interests you – this thesis will be the pièce de resistance of your studies, and you'll work on it for 6 months or a year. You need to be excited about your work.

5. What are you good at? What are you not so good at? Don't see your thesis as only being a chance to do things you can already do well – it can also be an opportunity to learn new skills, that you will take with you to the job market.

6. Don't forget that a Masters thesis is a primarily scientific piece of work – that means it must be more than a project which might be undertaken in a GIS consultancy – what are the research questions you will investigate? Often, this seems scary at the start of a Masters thesis, but don't worry, making sure that you can achieve this is what we can help with in supervising your work. Lots of Masters students in our group go on to be authors or co-authors on papers based on their theses.

Motivation
The potential physical impacts of future climate change on landscapes are well-documented, yet its effects on landscape values, such as collective identity and the sociocultural meanings tied to place, remain understudied. Grounded in landscape research, landscape is not merely as an ecological system, but as a repository of meaning, memory, and cultural heritage shaped by collective social experience. Acknowledging these values is growing in scientific discourses to support well-being of humankind, but also to garner social support based on shared values to safeguard the landscape we live in. In this regard, this proposal is motivated to turn our attention to the invisible values of landscape which are at risk under climate change.

Possible directions of your thesis
This proposal is exploratory by nature and open to research questions you wish to bring. Possible directions include tracking shifts in landscape value narratives over time (e.g., before and after a specific event), cross-regional or cross-national comparisons of landscape values, or an analysis of how landscape value narratives differ across data sources.

In terms of data, we are interested in large-scale text sources such as newspaper articles, urban planning documents, and social media — but we are also open to curating a smaller dataset through online surveys or interviews. Methodologically, the thesis will involve computational text analysis, drawing on NLP approaches such as topic modelling and supervised text classification, as well as qualitative methods such as close reading within a solid theoretical framework. Prior programming experience (e.g., Python) is beneficial but not strictly required, depending on the chosen direction. 

Next step 
If you find this topic interesting, please send an email to Dr. Inhye Kong (inhye.kong@geo.uzh.ch) with a brief description of your background and the research direction(s) you find most compelling. You are welcome to propose your own angle — the scope of this project is intentionally open. It may also be helpful to read some foundational papers on landscape values beforehand, such as:  

• Díaz et al., 2018, Assessing nature's contributions to people, Science
• Himes et al., 2023, Why nature matters: A systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values, BioScience

* This thesis will be co-supervised with Dr. Veruska Muccione, a scientific staff at Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL.

Motivation 
Digital technologies have become deeply embedded in how people engage with the world around them. Mobile devices, social media, digital platforms, wearable sensors, and emerging forms of digital interaction increasingly influence how people discover, experience, document, and reflect upon natural environments. 

These developments raise important questions at the intersection of environmental psychology, human-computer interaction, digital media, geography, sustainability, and information science. How do digital technologies influence people's relationships with nature? What kinds of experiences do they enable, transform, or even replace? How can digital tools support meaningful engagement with natural environments while avoiding unintended consequences? 

This thesis offers an opportunity to contribute to an emerging research area that combines digital innovation with questions about human experiences of nature and environmental engagement. 

Possible directions of your thesis  
The exact focus of the thesis will be developed together based on your own interests and background. Possible directions include, but are not limited to: 

• Understanding how digital technologies influence people's experiences and perceptions of natural environments. 
• Investigating user experiences, motivations, and behaviours related to digital engagement with nature. 
• Exploring opportunities and challenges associated with digital mediation of nature experiences. 

Key method(s) to operationalize the thesis might vary to the methodological strength or interest you might have, and one we have strong competitiveness in this field is a quantitative or mixed-method analysis of digital texts, e.g., NLP, LLMs, machine learning, often combined with qualitative analysis as a pre- (annotation) and post-analysis (interpretation). 

Next step 
If you would like to discuss the project or explore whether it aligns with your interests, please write me an email Dr. Inhye Kong (inhye.kong@geo.uzh.ch), with a brief introduction about yourself and your interests. We are happy to discuss potential research ideas and tailor the thesis topic to your academic background. 

Motivation 
Your MSc thesis will focus on UGS in the city of Zurich. This proposal is exploratory in nature and open for specific research questions you might bring. Data-wise, we are interested in analysing (large-scale) text data, such as newspaper articles, urban planning documents, and social media.  

Methodologically, it is feasible to work on NLP, such as topic modelling and supervised text classification, accompanied with close reading of this text, to uncover how urban green spaces are framed, perceived, and contested. Prior experience with programming (e.g., Python) is beneficial but not strictly required, depending on the chosen direction of the thesis. Also we are here to help.  

Next step 
If you find it interesting, please write me an email Dr. Inhye Kong (inhye.kong@geo.uzh.ch). We can talk what we can do. It might be already helpful for you to read some MSc theses done in our group, such as,  

•     Sturzenegger 2022. What Makes an Urban Public Space Popular? 866 
•     Kirsteina 2022. Characterising London City Parks Using Open data. 892

* This thesis proposal is motivated by Public Data Lab (https://publicdatalab.ch/en/), where the GeoComputation Unit at Geography Department is involved in, funded by the City of Zurich.