Supervisor

Writing a Master's thesis is an opportunity for independent research in a clearly defined research area under the supervision of one or more members of staff of the ILLC. The thesis work is supposed to give you the opportunity to learn about the subject matter, research practice, writing techniques and standards of scientific behaviour.

For a successful thesis project, you need to find the right supervisor and the right topic. This is not an easy task. You should start looking in your third semester.

Make it a habit to regularly attend research seminars to find out what topics people work on, what they find interesting, and what they consider important open questions. Browse through the webpages of ILLC staff members to find out what they have been publishing on recently. Also think back to some of the classes you found interesting and did well in: maybe a lecturer mentioned an advanced topic for which there was no time in class but that could lead to a thesis topic. Your mentor can also help you find out which staff members might have interests close to your own and thus might be good supervisors.

You should discuss possible thesis topics with several ILLC staff members. A decision should be made roughly 6 months before the intended graduation date.

Typically, the thesis supervisor is a senior member of staff at the ILLC. Guest professors or other researchers associated with the ILLC can be supervisors too, but in that case, the student needs a co-supervisor from the ILLC (as contact for the MSc Logic administration).

As soon as you and your prospective supervisor agree on a topic, you should request the Examinations Board Logic for the approval of the thesis project in DataNose:

https://datanose.nl/#yourprojects