Opportunities for Master's theses at D-MTEC
Explore opportunities to write your Master's thesis at a research group at D-MTEC or an associated lab. The feed is based on SiROP placements.
Machining Feature Detection in 3D Geometries
Manukai employs machine learning methods to identify machining features in 3D geometries. Identified features can be classified, which is relevant for downstream task automation, such as the programming CNC machines.
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machine learning, artificial intelligence, automation, CNC, python, tensorflow
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Semester Project , Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2025-02-03 , Earliest start: 2025-02-03 , Latest end: 2025-12-31
Organization Chair of Production and Operations Management
Hosts Wälchli Daniel
Topics Engineering and Technology
Master thesis: Calculating the cost of biodiversity conservation at the Swiss dairy farms
Biodiversity is widely recognized as a critical challenge to agricultural production (Dainesem et al., 2019). This issue has been acknowledged by many European countries, leading to the implementation of specific policies and instruments, such as agri-environmental schemes aimed at reversing biodiversity decline (Pe’er et al., 2017). In Switzerland, two primary policy instruments address biodiversity conservation. The first is a set of cross-compliance requirements, known as the Proof of Ecological Performance, which mandates that farmers allocate a portion of their land to ecological focus areas (FOAG 2021). The second, which complements the first, involves action-based and result-based direct payments designed to preserve and enhance biodiversity (Huber et al. 2024). The success of such agri-environmental schemes often depends on the level of compensation provided to farmers and the costs of farms to comply with the regulations in agri-environmental schemes. Consequently, some studies use production-based approaches with farm-level data to approximate the cost of biodiversity conservation (e.g. Peerlings and Polman 2004; Gullstrand et al. 2014; Dalheimer et al. 2024). However, two significant gaps remain: 1) no study has calculated the cost of biodiversity conservation at the farm level using these approaches for Swiss dairy farms 2) no study has examined whether the choice of the farm level biodiversity measure can affect the magnitude of the estimated. Addressing both gaps can be very informative for the efforts of Swiss agricultural policy for designing effective biodiversity conservation schemes.
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Dairy farming, biodiversity, Swiss agriculture, sustainability
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2024-12-22 , Earliest start: 2025-01-01 , Latest end: 2027-01-01
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-MTEC
Hosts Parikoglou Iordanis
Topics Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences , Economics
Master thesis: The effect of soil erosion risk on Swiss dairy production
Healthy soil is essential of agriculture and a key resource for meeting 21st-century human needs such as food, feed, fiber, clean water, and clean air (Amundson et al., 2015). However, soil degradation is a major problem for agriculture globally but also in Switzerland. Agriculture significantly contributes to soil degradation due to its reliance on resource-intensive practices, such as overgrazing (see Borrelli et al., 2017, and references therein). From a theoretical perspective, soil erosion can have a dual effect on agricultural production. On one hand, it degrades soil quality, reducing the effectiveness of land and other inputs, such as fertilizers, and subsequently lowering agricultural output. On the other hand, at higher levels of soil erosion, farmers may adopt advanced technologies that enable more efficient use of land and inputs, allowing them to adapt to ongoing erosion risks and potentially increasing agricultural output. Thus, the net effect of soil erosion on production depends on whether the negative impacts outweigh the positive adaptations or vice versa. The relevance of soil erosion and production also holds for dairy production in Switzerland, e.g. due to the relevance of on farm feed production. Despite its importance, there is a lack of farm-level studies examining the dynamics of soil erosion within the production structure of dairy farming. Addressing this gap could provide valuable policy insights for promoting sustainable farming practices to mitigate soil erosion.
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Dairy farming, soil erosion, Swiss agriculture, sustainability
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2024-12-22 , Earliest start: 2025-01-01 , Latest end: 2027-01-01
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-MTEC
Hosts Parikoglou Iordanis
Topics Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences , Economics
Masters Thesis: Urban Remote Sensing
We offer you the opportunity to use the fast resources of our chair not only to complete the last step of your Master's degree, but also to contribute to an existing field of research and possibly start your way to a PhD position with a high-ranking publication. Specifically, we offer supervision by a multidisciplinary team of data scientists and economists, the opportunity to integrate your research into a larger research project, and powerful computational resources. We have extensive in-house datasets and deep learning models that we are happy to share. Students should be trained in remote sensing, econometrics, GIS, data science or similar. Your specific academic background is less important than research interests that align with ours, a high level of motivation and the technical skills you bring to the table. If you are interested, please fill in the form at the bottom of the page.
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2024-12-12 , Earliest start: 2025-01-01 , Latest end: 2025-10-31
Organization Chair of Applied Economics: Innovation and Internationalisation
Hosts Papini Sebastiano
Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology , Economics , Architecture, Urban Environment and Building
Master Thesis at ETH Zurich in Applied Computer Science: Development of an ML Algorithm for Drunk Driving Detection
Driver state detection systems will become mandatory in many countries in this decade. In this thesis, you will use a unique multi-sensor dataset with 55 drivers collected by us in a in a real car on a test track to develop a ML drunk driving detection algorithm.
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applied computer science; driver state detection; data analytics; explainable machine learning
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2024-12-11 , Earliest start: 2024-10-21 , Latest end: 2025-07-31
Organization Bosch IoT Lab
Hosts Deuber Robin
Topics Mathematical Sciences , Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Engineering and Technology
Master thesis: Crop protection in organic and non-organic pesticide-free arable farming
Pesticide-free (non-organic) crop production is currently gaining ground in European agriculture as a new alternative pathway between conventional and organic farming. To successfully produce crops without using pesticides, farmers must adopt sustainable crop protection measures, e.g., following the principles of integrated crop protection (IPM) or agroecological crop protection (ACP). Even though both production systems, i.e., pesticide-free non-organic and organic, work without pesticides, the alternative crop protection measures used may differ between organic and non-organic farms. To date, little is known about potential differences between farming systems without pesticides regarding the adoption of alternative crop protection strategies.
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crop protection, pesticide-free, organic, integrated pest management (IPM), wheat, maize, Switzerland
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2024-11-27 , Earliest start: 2025-02-02 , Latest end: 2026-01-22
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-MTEC
Hosts Akter Sharmin
Topics Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences
Economic impacts of heat stress in Swiss dairy production
The global increase in temperature and humidity amplifies local impacts on livestock husbandry. Climatic extreme events like heat waves negatively affect milk producers, especially because cows experiencing heat stress may imply lower milk and milk component yields in Switzerland. This thesis uses rich data from swissherdbook and MeteoSwiss and provides causal estimates of temperature humidity shocks on milk production using an econometric analysis. Based on this assessment, the thesis quantifies its economic relevance, considering both quantity and price effects. Knowledge about climate change impacts on milk production provides highly relevant information for farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
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Agricultural economics, dairy cows, heat stress, milk production
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2024-11-26 , Earliest start: 2022-05-18
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-MTEC
Hosts Kliestenec Katarina
Topics Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences