Master Project Guidelines
About
These pages describe the new structure of the Master Thesis Projects (hereafter Master's Projects, MP) to be implemented at the Department of Astrophysics from the beginning of the SS/2021.
- Information for supervisors: link, templates, and submission forms can be found at the "Master's Projects - Department of Astrophysics" Moodle page (link).
- Information for candidates: a list of the currently available Master Projects can be found here.
Acronyms
MP: Master's Project
MPC: Master Project Coordinator
SPL: Studienprogrammleitung
SSC: Studies Service Center
CfP: Call for Projects
RF: Registration Form
LA: Learning Agreement
EoP: End-of-Project form
General SSC guidelines, Documents, Forms and Links:
Table of contents
1. Duration
2. Evaluation & Grades
3. Call for Projects (CfP)
4. Selection & pre-registration
5. Registration
6. Monitoring
7. Forschungsseminar & Exposé
8. Master Thesis
9. Defense
10. Master’s day (optional)
11. End-of-project
12. Code of Conduct (CoC)
13. Transition period for MPs started before SS/2021
14. Timeline & milestones
15. Roles & duties
Master Project Guidelines
1. Duration
Each Master Project (MP) will have a recommended maximum duration of 9 months (equivalent to 26 ECTS + 4 ECTS as part of the Forschungsseminar + 4 ECTS for the Defense). Longer projects are only advised in special cases (e.g. students with a full-time job outside astronomy). Further extensions to this period could also be granted under exceptional circumstances (see Sect. 11.2). Master projects are advised to be conducted within the Academic year.
Master students are strongly recommended to have completed a minimum of 60 ECTS of their Master studies before starting their MP. From these, 12 ECTS should be in the same research area in which they are planning to carry out their MP.
2. Evaluation & Grades
In addition to the research work, each MP will include:
Participation on the Forschungsseminar + submission of Exposé (Sect. 7)
Preparation and submission of a final report (aka Master Thesis) (Sect. 8)
Master's Defense (Sect. 9)
The evaluation procedure will follow those regulations included in the official Astronomy Curriculum. Projects will be graded according to (a) the quality of the work carried out by the student during the MP, (b) the Master's Thesis (aka final report), and (c) the Thesis Defense. Projects extending beyond the designated time limit without proper justification (see above) could result in a lower grade.
The final grade of the MP is calculated by the SSC via i3v and uses the grades of both the Master's Thesis and Defense. The Master's Thesis grade is provided by the main project supervisor. Nonetheless, the (optional) participation of a second reader (e.g. co-supervisor) is highly recommended. After submission, additional quality checks will be carried out by the MPC and SPL, including plagiarism. Upon nomination of the SPL, two committee members + chair (aka examination committee) will be present and will evaluate the public Defense including an oral presentation of the Master's work as well as an examination of additional Master topics (Sect. 9).
3. Project Proposals & Call for Projects (CfP)
Professors and postdocs can propose stand-alone MP as main and only supervisors. PhDs could only be added as co-supervisors. Project topics can be offered any time by the corresponding main supervisor after the approval of the SPL. Both candidate and supervisor(s) will be responsible for notifying the SPL and MPC as soon as the project starts.
To increase their visibility and advertise the different MP topics available, there will be two Call for Projects (CfP) at the beginning of the Winter Semester and Summer Semester. All potential supervisors will be requested to submit their projects in advance including a detailed description of the goals, milestones, and requirements for each project (see below).
Each project announcement must include (max. 2 pages; see template at the Moodle page (link)):
Title
Expected duration (e.g. 9 months) & starting date
Supervisor(s) & contact information
Project description & Goals
Working plan & Milestones (including final thesis)
Requirements / special skills (optional)
References (optional)
All available projects will be announced in an internal database at the beginning of each Academic Semester. All candidates are suggested to contact the potential supervisor(s) to get additional information about their projects. This information and webpages will be coordinated and maintained by the MPC. Both candidates and supervisors are recommended to submit their projects within the designated CfPs. In all cases, supervisor(s) and candidates are encouraged to comply with all the additional guidelines included in this document.
- Supervisors: please submit your projects using our Moodle page (link)
- Project submission information: see template (link)
- List of available projects
4. Selection & pre-registration
Each supervisor(s) is responsible for the selection of candidates within the designated times following their own selection criteria. The supervisor(s) must communicate his/her decision to the MPC using the pre-registration form in our Moodle page within the next 2 weeks after the selection of the candidate for organization purposes in order to keep the list of ongoing and available projects up-to-date.
5. Registration
- Registration Form (RF): Uebernahme_des_Masterarbeitsthemas_EN_2019.pdf
- Regulations relating to good scientific practice form (RRGSP): SL.W1_Regulations_relating_to_good_scientific_practice.pdf
The student is responsible for registering the corresponding MP by sending the RF + RRGSP to the SSC at the beginning of the project. Any MP should be registered at least 4 months before its evaluation. Non-registered projects will not be eligible for evaluation. For updated information please check the SSC webpage (link).
The full registration process will be as follows:
- Online pre-registration via Moodle (Sect. 4) including the name and contact information of the candidate and supervisor(s), and the start and planned end dates of the project.
- Signing of the Learning Agreement (LA) during the kick-off meeting between the candidate, supervisor, and MPC (Sect.6.1)
- Completion of the RF including signatures of the student, supervisor(s), SEL, plus SPL (#).
- Completion of the RRGSP
- Submission of the RF + RRGSP to the SSC
(#) Note that the LA might be requested by the SPL in order to sign the RF.
6. Monitoring
The MPC will monitor the execution of the MP as well as the work carried out by both candidate and supervisor(s) in a series of meetings during the execution of the MP (see below). Additional measures (e.g. follow-up meetings & reports) are expected under special circumstances (e.g. misconduct) in coordination with the SPL.
6.1. Kick-off meeting
As part of the registration process, the MPC will meet the selected candidate and the supervisor(s) to clarify all details about the corresponding research project (goals, expectations, etc). Special attention will be paid to discussing the candidate’s working plan (time available, duration, workload…) in order to define a realistic deadline for the execution of the project according to the candidate’s situation. After this meeting, all participants will complete a Learning Agreement including signatures from the candidate, the supervisor(s), and the MPC. The LA will include the final research plan and timeline agreed upon by the candidate and supervisor(s) (e.g. similar to the one included in the CfP). The MPC is responsible for sending copies of this LA to all parties.
6.2. Checkpoint
Around 4-5 months (i.e. ~50% completion) after the beginning of the project, the MPC will coordinate a joint meeting between the candidate and supervisor(s). The goal of this meeting is to (re-)evaluate the feasibility and execution of the MP at this stage (execution plans, final goals, and timescales). If necessary, the MPC is responsible for following up on any personal issues between the student and the supervisor(s) and communicating them to the SPL for further evaluation.
6.3. Person-of-trust (PoT)
Confidential issues can be discussed with the MPC, SPL and/or the designated Person-of-Trust by the student.
7. Forschungsseminar & Exposé
All Master's candidates must successfully take part and complete the Forschungsseminar course (4 ECTS) regularly offered as part of the Curriculum. Participants should carry out a public presentation of the current progress of their Master research (irrespectively of the stage of the project). In coordination with their supervisor(s), each candidate should submit their Exposé to the lecturer(s) responsible for the Forschungsseminar as well as the MPC and SPL before the designated time for their presentation. The Exposé (aka thesis abstract) should have a maximum length of 2 pages and should describe the context, goals, strategy, and expected outcome of the Master's Thesis.
8. Master's Thesis
By the end of their MP, all candidates must elaborate a manuscript including the results of their research work (find the template + explanation at the SSC webpages: https://ssc-geo-astronomie.univie.ac.at/services-info/informationen-und-formulare/studienprogrammleitung-28/masterstudium/ ). This manuscript should include a description of the current state-of-the-art, the techniques and the analysis implemented during the execution of the project, and the main results obtained as part of this work. Within the recommended duration of ~9 months of the project, supervisor(s) are encouraged to reserve some time in the project for this matter (typically the last 2-3 months of the project) and provide regular support and constructive feedback to the candidates during the elaboration of this manuscript. Candidates are responsible for contacting the MPC with the final version of the Master Thesis. The SPL will carry out the corresponding plagiarism checks within 2 weeks. The supervisor(s) (and optimally second reader) are responsible for submitting their grade and report within the next 2 months after the reception of the Thesis.
9. Defense
Master's candidates will hold a public Defense (4 ECTS) in front of 2 examiners + chair designated by the SPL. The Thesis Defense consists of two parts: (1) a presentation of the scientific results obtained as part of the MP (20-30min), and (2) a public examination about topics related to the Master's studies with a suggested total duration of up to 45min. The time and location of the meeting will be defined by the SPL upon the proposal from the student (see registration for the Thesis Defense:
SL.P2_Anmeldung_Abschlusspruefung_Diplom-Magister-Masterstudien_2016.pdf). The candidate and supervisor(s) are responsible for contacting the MPC and SPL at least a month in advance in preparation of this meeting. Candidates are encouraged to coordinate this activity within the academic semesters.
The Defense committee is composed by 3 members: 1x chair plus 2x examiners. The chair is in charged of the Defense exam and must be an habilitated person at the University (e.g. a professor). The other 2 examiners can be staff or researchers with a doctoral degree within the field. The candidate can propose the names of the panel members although the vSPL has the last word on deciding the composition of the committee.
10. Master’s day (optional)
The MPC will organize a public event at the IfA (e.g. during a Institute Seminar/PhD seminar) by the end of each Academic Semester. This “Master’s day” will be open to all members of the Institute and aims to give visibility to the Master's projects presented in the last months. All Master's students are invited to present their works in a series of short talks followed by a social celebration.
11. End-of-project
11.1 Final steps
A MP will be considered completed after (a) the submission of the Master's Thesis and (b) its public presentation and examination during the Thesis Defense. The End-of-Project (EoP) form could be signed during the Defense event after the approval of both the presentation and public examination. The candidate is responsible for uploading his/her thesis to the official database, and sending a PDF copy of the manuscript to the MPC. The supervisor(s) must provide their grades and reports within two months after the reception of the final manuscript.
11.2 Completion, extensions, and delays
Candidates are strongly encouraged to follow the timeline defined in their LA (Sect.6.1) and complete their MP before the designated project end-date (deadline). Extensions to these periods could be granted under special circumstances (illness, maternity/paternity leaves,...). If necessary, the MPC and SPL must be informed in a timely manner. Unjustified delays may impact the final MP grade (see Sect.2).
12. Code of Conduct (CoC)
All activities associated to the execution of any Master Project must comply with the University Code-of-Conduct: Link to Univie Code-of-conducts
13. Transition period for MPs started before SS/2021
Those MPs started before SS/2021 will benefit from a transition period of 1 year. All previous MPs should be registered at the beginning of the SS/2021 period indicating the date when each of these projects started. Candidates and supervisors are responsible for communicating the necessary information to the MPC. All MPs benefiting from this transition period are recommended to end by Oct. 1st, 2021 including the submission of the Master's Thesis and the corresponding Thesis Defense. Their evaluation will follow the same criteria as the new MPs.
14. Timeline & milestones
The standard timeline and milestones for a regular 9-month long MP are described below. Candidates and supervisor(s) are encouraged to observe these steps and times:
14. Roles & duties
(Co-)Supervisor:
The design and implementation of a coherent and realistic research plan
Selection of candidate(s) + registration
Direct and regular supervision of the research activities of the Master's student
Mentoring and support during the duration of the project
Provision of an adequate research infrastructure (room, computer, desk, …) (TBD)
Compliance of deadlines and requirements
Final report & Evaluation + Thesis grade (main supervisor)
Master's student / candidate:
Execution of the project for a total of 26 ECTS
Participation on the Forschungsseminar (4 ECTS)
Registration of the project by sending the RF to the SSC
Compliance with the LA and project deadline
Execution of the research program + Preparation of the Master Thesis
Public presentation + examination during the Thesis Defense (4 ECTS)
Master Program Coordinator (MPC):
Support of the SPL duties
Maintenance of webpages including all the project information
Organization + coordination of initial kick-off meeting between the candidate and supervisor(s)
Sending copies of the Learning Agreement to both candidates and supervisors
Communication with all Master's students
Organization of the 50% completion check-point meeting + Follow-up on any issues
Organization of the Master’s day celebration (TBD)
Communication with the SPL
Studienprogrammleitung (SPL):
General coordination of the Master’s program
Coordination with the MPC
Official acceptance and signature of University documents
Organization of the Thesis Defense (dates, committee, etc…)
Official responsible for solving conflicts
Final decision on the Defense grade
Signature of the final Master’s certificate
Person-of-trust (if necessary):
Follow up on any confidential problem arising between the candidate, the supervisor(s), and the MPC
Protection of the interests and integrity of the candidate
Second reader (optional):
Reading and evaluation of the final Master thesis