Thesis Project

At the second year you have to complete a Thesis Project for 24 ECTS, by carrying out an internship in preparation for the final examination, within and/or outside of the University, in Italy and/or abroad.

The Supervisor must be a professor/reasearcher of the Department of Physics and Astronomy (DIFA) or a professor on contract within your Degree Programme, who will assess the validity of your proposal in relation to your study plan. The supervisor is in charge for the final approval and assesment of your thesis activity and manuscript. It is also possible to indicate additional co-supervisors, either internal or external (the latter being mandatory in case of full or partial external thesis activity, in Italy or abroad). With the approval of the Degree Programme Board, students may, on an exceptional basis, propose their thesis to professors or researchers belonging to other degree programmes of the University of Bologna.

Thesis Project Form

As soon as you have planned your thesis project, and at least six months before the Application deadline for Uploading the Dissertation, you must complete the Thesis Project Form, following these steps:

• Contact your supervisor and agree a thesis project, and compile the Thesis Project's Agreement.
• Upload the Thesis Project Agreement, signed by the supervisor, within the Thesis Project's Form.

The form must be submitted before beginning the activity. Please, note, that the credits related to internship or other alternative activities for preparation of the final examination will not be registered if you don’t follow this process according to standard procedure and times, then you will not be accepted for the presentation of your Master Thesis.

Choosing Activities and Credits

You can choose among three main different modalities for the final thesis project:

• "Internship in preparation for the final examination": It must be noted that Every training activity entailing practical activities (including experiments, software development, data collection and analysis) shall be considered as "Internship" and can be either carried out within UniBO, or within other institutions (Academic and Companies). Students who wish to perform an "Internship" activity for their thesis project can find all the information in this page.
• "Preparation for the final examination abroad”: The thesis project will be fully (24 ECTS) carried out in a foreign institution (Academy or Company). Students have to apply for scholarships/financial support, through the following programmes:
  • a study grant for the preparation of the final examination abroad 
  • international mobility programmes 
• "Mixed solutions" where different activities can be combined together. In any case, the overall number of ECTS for all these activities must be 24 ECTS. This option may also include a bunch of credits for "Preparation for the Final Examination" in case the internship accounts for fewer than 24 ECTS. 

Study Plan and ECTS Allocation

The "88039-Internship for the Preparation for the Final Examination" (24 ECTS) is designated by default in the study plan of all the students.

In case it becomes necessary to change or update the study plan according to the actual activity indicated in the Thesis Project's Form, the study plan for the thesis activity will be modified by the University offices after approval from the Director of the Master’s Degree and/or the Internship Committee.

For further clarifications contact the Thesis Project's Team: physics.thesis@unibo.it