Theses
Open topics for Bachelor and Master theses at the Institute for Food and Resource Economics.
These topics are suggestions and are typically related to ongoing research projects. You can approach the groups if you have a topic proposal that fits their research.
Further information is available on the groups' websites.
Current topics for theses deal with e.g. consumers' acceptance of sustainable packaging, consumers' liking of meat substitutes or farmers' acceptance of novel technologies.
Please visit our website for current topics and further information.
Our research questions focus on three major fields: economics and sustainability on the farm and firm level, digital transformation of the agribusiness as well as circular economy. Therefore, if you are interested in writing your thesis on a topic related to one of these future-oriented fields, consider our group as the one supporting you on this way.
Bachelor and Master:
- Digital technologies in Agriculture: A systematic review (Supervisor: V. Berghoff)
- Wastewater reuse for food ingredients (Supervisor: V. Berghoff)
- Time preferences in agriculture (Supervisor: V. Berghoff)
- Information provision to reduce pesticide use on the farm level (Supervisor: Hermann/Möhring)
Get further information on our website.
Our group is applying novel data science tools in the area of agricultural and environmental economics. But we also offer literature reviews or qualitative research topics related to our ongoing projects. One focus is on investigating the economic and environmental aspects of farm-level agricultural technology. Topics for thesis cover the understanding under which conditions farmers adopt novel technologies, their application in practice, and the economic and environmental consequences resulting from this.
Bachelor:
For current topics and further information, please visit our website.
Master:
- Exploring the drivers of farmers’ cropping decisions across space and time in Europe using quantitative approaches (Supervisor: Josef Baumert)
- Erfassung landwirtschaftlicher Praktiken in Deutschland - Analyse von Bodenbearbeitung und Glyphosateinsatz im deutschen Ackerbau (Supervisor: Alexa Leyens)
- [External Master Thesis position] Comparative econometric analysis of conventional, integrated and organic production systems in Switzerland, joint supervision with FiBL, Switzerland (For question contact: Hugo Storm)
Our chair has its main focus on agricultural and food policies. Beyond we are working in the areas of rural development and structural change as well as agro-environmental relations. Another important area of research is quantitative methods in econometrics and simulation modeling. Topics for B.Sc. or M.Sc. theses are in most cases determined in discussions with interested students, but concrete topics are also announced below. Students interested in writing their thesis at our department may either contact individual researchers or lecturers whom they already know, or may approach Prof. Dr. Thomas Heckelei who will help finding a thesis topic and supervision among our colleagues.
Bachelor:
No specific topics at the moment.
Master:
A gendered analysis of farmers’ preferences for companion trees in coffee agroforestry systems in Uganda (Supervisor: Hanna Ihli)
Get further information on our website.
Bachelor:
No specific topics at the moment.
Master:
No specific topics at the moment.
Get further information on our website.
We analyze environmental policies for the governance of land-based natural resources in developing and industrialized countries. Topics for theses cover the understanding, application and determinants of success of such policies including agricultural technological innovation and the concept of the bioeconomy.
Bachelor:
No specific topics at the moment.
Master:
Transformative change interventions for biodiversity in the EU‘s food and biomass systems (Supervisor: Daniel Braun)
Get further information on our website.
- Evaluating the Causes and Impacts of Agri-Environmental Policies (various topics available)
- The Agricultural and Environmental Effects of the European Union
- Adoption and Impacts of Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Developing Countries
- Modelling the Global Potential of Alternative Wetting and Drying for Sustainable Rice Production (joint with IRRI)
- Impact assessment of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative - Combining household survey and Earth Observation data (joint with ICRAF)
- The impact of the adoption of tree planting and Farmer managed natural regeneration on nutrition and household income (joint with ICRAF)
- Shrubs for Change - Adoption and early impacts of Fodder Shrub scaling in Western Kenya (joint with ICRAF)
- The Global Landscape Forum: An assessment of the theory of change using available monitoring data (joint with ICRAF)
Bachelor:
We supervise bachelor theses in the following areas:
- Economic development of German/European agricultural production based on key figures
- Sustainable crop protection: evaluation of policies and policy measures, evaluation of innovative practices and technologies, evaluation of decision-making behavior
- Economic effects of environmental changes on agricultural production
- Investment and profitability analysis of adaptations and changes in agricultural production
Master:
- Information and pesticide use reduction
- Evaluating the economic potential of soil additives to reduce post-harvest nitrogen losses in agriculture
- Analysis of the sales prices of calves and their determinants: the case of Rheinland Pfalz
- Potential and barriers to the pollination insurance market
- Evaluating the impact of soil biodiversity loss on farming productivity: Empirical evidence from EU countries
- An overview of the transformation of European agricultural production systems
- Reducing Pesticide Treatments in Root Crop Production in Germany: Alternative Strategies and their Economic and Agronomic Impacts
Get further information on our website.
Our research group is primarily concerned with consumer behavior in the context of sustainable diets, particularly the interaction of choice environments and decision making. The goal is to better understand dietary behavior in order to promote environmentally friendly, healthier, and more socially just diets. This requires behavioral nutrition research and nutrition policy analysis. Hereby, we are focusing on the following topics and accompanying theses are welcome: the supply formats of legumes, nudging interventions in the nutrition sector (e.g. in canteens and cafeterias), the market design and guidelines of food retailing, and cooperative and alternatively structured grocery stores.
Bachelor:
- Attention and Food Choices (Supervisor: Dominic Lemken):
- Consumer characteristics and information search behavior in food choices with information overload
- Main method: information display matrix
- Context: complexity in food choices
- Injectable weight-loss medication’s role on sustainable nutrition (Supervisor: Pauline Suski)
Master:
- Upcycle foods from a consumer’s perspective (Supervisor: Aline Simonetti)
- Birth of sludges and their storyline (Supervisor: Ana Ines Estevez Magnasco)
- Injectable weight-loss medication’s role on sustainable nutrition (Supervisor: Pauline Suski)
Get further information on our website.
Falkenstein Projektmanagement GmbH offers a Bachelor's or Master's thesis in the field of "Zukunft der Fleischwirtschaft".