MSc Topics
We regularly announce topics for potential Master’s theses (see list below). These projects serve as starting points that can be aligned with your interests and background, depending on the project’s scope and data availability. Students are also welcome to propose their own ideas, which can be refined together with potential supervisors in our group.
We also welcome collaborative theses developed with external partners — including industry partners, government bodies, NGOs, and planning agencies — as well as academic collaborations with universities and research labs.
During term time, we host weekly group supervision meetings (Fridays, 12:30–13:30) for all Master’s students working with us. Individual meetings are arranged as needed. Please note that we can only supervise theses written in English.
Increasing Walking to HGZZ (UZH Zentrum)
The HGZZ area — which hosts the main campuses of UZH, ETH, and the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) — generates significant mobility demand, particularly during morning and evening peak hours. Currently, most staff and students travel between Zurich HB and HGZZ by tram, putting pressure on the transport system. UZH, ETH, and USZ regularly conduct mobility surveys to better understand travel behaviour and to identify strategies such as constructing a staircase or outdoor escalator alongside the Polybahn, widening footpaths, improving signage, and implementing behavioural campaigns to promote walking.
One of the key goals of the UZH Mobility Strategy is to encourage a shift toward walking to ease peak-hour tram demand. This project will analyse survey results and assess the potential of various strategies to increase walking trips from HB to HGZZ. Depending on the student’s interests, the project may include: (1) analysis of HGZZ survey data to identify mobility patterns and barriers to walking, (2) literature review of behavioural interventions in similar contexts, (3) walkability modelling of route and infrastructure improvements, and (4) estimation of behaviour change under different scenarios.
Locations of social connections of Zurich residents
According to the latest Swiss national travel survey, 10% of regular trips and 15% of day trips are undertaken for the purpose of visiting friends and relatives. These trips are traditionally hard to model, owing to a lack of information on where people's social contacts are distributed. Older research established some typical distance ranges, however this has rarely been updated for the growth of working from home, social media, and the post-Covid era. There are also potential differences in the reachability of social contacts depending on city form (eg radial, sprawling, compact) and demographic factors (cities attracting greater in-migration, housing shortages, etc). which have not been investigated. The goal for a masters project would be to design and pilot a survey investigating the location, type, and perceived reachability of respondents' social contacts - both those they regularly visit in person and those they do not. In future work, the survey will be implemented across multiple cities. The implications of this work are not just improved transport planning, but understanding of how urban planning, transport networks and city form can contribute to increased social wellbeing and decreased loneliness.