Thesis

The MSc Programme in Global Forestry with a specialisation in Livelihoods and Governance includes a thesis corresponding to 30 ECTS, as described in Appendix 2, to the shared curriculum at the Faculty of Science.

The thesis must be written within the academic scope of the programme. It must include at least one month of fieldwork in a middle or low-income country. Subject to available funding, students will obtain financial support for thesis fieldwork if they have completed all compulsory courses.

The thesis can be combined with an internship at international organisations, NGOs, universities or similar.

Theses on degree programmes taught in English must be written in English. The thesis must be accompanied by a summary/abstract in Danish or English.

If the thesis is written in Danish, Swedish or Norwegian, it must contain an abstract in English. If the thesis is written in English, it must contain a summary/abstract in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian or English.

The language used to defend the thesis must match the language of the thesis.

The student must register for the thesis by completing a thesis contract via the Self Service system. The status of the contract must be changed ‘ready for approval’ prior to the registration deadline for the block, in which the student will start the thesis. A thesis contract setting out the thesis framework and content is drawn up prior to commencing the thesis. The thesis contract must be approved by the student, the main supervisor, the head of studies and the head of the department at which the supervisor is employed. The head of studies is responsible for approving the academic part of the thesis contract, including the problem formulation and plan for supervision. The plan for supervision must be submitted in the digital thesis contract under the field ‘Other information’.

The approval of the head of department is not required on inter-faculty degree programmes where the student chooses to write their thesis at a faculty other than the Faculty of Science.
Before completing the thesis contract, the student(s) and the main supervisor must agree a plan for the thesis supervision that covers issues including the following: how often and how supervision is to be carried out, what is expected of the supervisor and the student(s) at supervision meetings, conditions concerning the collection of primary data/experimental work, and general mutual expectations for the working relationship.

The main thesis supervisor must be ‘internal’, i.e. employed at the Faculty of Science. In order to function as the main supervisor, the person in question must meet the following three criteria:
• Employment at the Faculty of Science (this definition also covers contracts for affiliate associate professors and affiliate professors)
• PhD qualification or similar
• Requisite pedagogical skills.

For degree programmes at the Faculty of Science, the following groups of employees fulfil the aforementioned criteria:
• Professors
• Associate professors and external lecturers
• Teaching associate professors
• Teaching lecturers
• Postdocs
• Assistant professors
• Senior researchers, senior consultants and senior advisers
• Affiliate associate professors and affiliate professors

PhD students may not take on the role of signatory supervisor, but they may handle practical advisory assignments (e.g. as co-supervisor). In cases of doubt, the head of department will decide whether a potential supervisor fulfils the criteria.

If the thesis is completed at an external institution (e.g. a company), the student must have an internal main supervisor from one of the departments at the Faculty of Science and a supervisor from the external institution. The internal main supervisor acts as the internal examiner and has formal responsibility for the quality of the thesis supervision vis-à-vis the University. The supervisor from the external institution participates in the planning of the thesis studies in collaboration with the internal main supervisor

When approving the thesis contract, the head of studies ensures that the main supervisor has the requisite academic qualifications within the field of the thesis topic.