Information about the supervision of master theses by Univ.-Prof. Claus Lamm and other members of the Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit (SCAN-Unit)

Formal guidelines master thesis SCAN-Unit

General guidelines master thesis

Master thesis submission: general process

 

General information regarding supervision of master theses and research seminar

Several researchers at the SCAN-Unit generally co-supervise master theses. If you have a special interest for the research focus of one of the researchers of the SCAN-Unit you can contact them directly. In this case keep in mind to contact Prof. Lamm as well, as he will be your actual supervisor, while individual researchers can act as so-called co-supervisors (which needs to be documented on a special form, which you can find HERE, once you have come to an agreement) Additionally you can always contact claus.lamm@univie.ac.at and studmit.scan@univie.ac.at to express your interest to write your thesis the SCAN Unit. If none are available, you will be added to a backlist which we use to contact you if there is a new topic available for which we are looking for Master thesis students.
Note, that only students who are already admitted for a master thesis at the SCAN-Unit get a place in the research seminar.
Please make sure you've considered the specific requirements for supervision of master thesis.

The grading of the Master theses follows the general evaluation criteria set forth by the Study Program Director of Psychology. Thus, each thesis is evaluated based on the criteria included in the grading sheet available for download here:

Gutachten zur Masterarbeit_Vorlage

 

General requirements

  1. Bachelor-degree in psychology

  2. Focus on master study "Geist und Gehirn" ("Mind and brain") or similar studies with neuroscientific background. 

  3. Ideally completion of the course "Theorie und Empirie wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens" (TEWA) with focus on biopsychological methods.


Next steps when tentative accepted as master student

  1. Students, who use EEG, tDCS and/or TMS for their research: Assistance in at least 15 EEG- or TMS- or 5 tDCS-measurements. 

  2. Presenting your research-intention ("Planungsreferat") in the research seminar ("Masterarbeit-Seminar"). This should include theory (background), hypotheses, research design, material and methods incl. sample and intended statistical analysis (in english).

  3. Writing a detailed exposé. This should include scientific aspects as well as a concrete time schedule.

     

After this steps and the affirmation of the exposé (by Claus Lamm, or another intern supervisor) follows

  1. the approval of the experimental design,

  2. the allowance to work autonomously in the labs of the SCAN-Unit,

  3. and with it the official acceptance for supervising the master-thesis.

Master students are obligated to participate at the research seminar ("Masterarbeit-Seminar"). Every master student has to give two presentations on his/her master thesis- a presentation on the design ("Planungsreferat") and a presentation on the results ("Auswertungsreferat").

For further information about the research seminar, please see the following page: Master's Thesis Seminar (Masterarbeits-Seminar)

For external supervision of master thesis, please see the following page:
External Supervision of Master Thesis