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Master's Student at BIOVIT

The master's thesis marks the completion of your master's studies at NMBU. It is an independent scientific work, where you document the independence, knowledge, reflection, maturity, and analytical ability that you have gained throughout your studies.

  • The process in short

    1. Find your master's thesis topic and supervisor(s) in the winter/early spring of your first year.

      The main supervisor must be employed in an academic position at NMBU or as an associate professor II or professor II at NMBU.
    2. Fill out the Contract - degree thesis along with your supervisor(s). Send the signed contract to the study advisors at the faculty where your main supervisor is employed. The contract must be approved by the faculty well before the work on your master's project starts.

      If you collaborate with an external party (company/institution), you must also send the form Agreement - collaborating with a company / external company (simplified version) to the study advisors.

      You can find forms, contracts, agreements, and templates here: https://www.nmbu.no/en/students/forms-and-templates-students
    3. Apply to be registered for the correct master's thesis course well before the deadline for course registration in the semester where you will submit your master's thesis (February 1st or September 15th).

      The code for your master's thesis course can be found below, under Scope (ECTS and number of hours).
    4. When your registration for the master's thesis course is approved, register for examination also well before the deadline for course registration in the semester where you will submit your master's thesis (February 1st or September 15th).
    5. Submit the master's thesis by the submission deadline (normally May 15th or December 15th).
    6. Defend your master's thesis (oral presentation) within six weeks from the hand-in deadline.

    Scope (ECTS and number of hours)

    Your master's thesis corresponds to a certain number of credits (ECTS), depending on your master's program. The number of credits in turn reflects the number of hours you are expected to spend working on your master's thesis. In some programs, you can choose between different scopes. The course codes for the different thesis scopes of each master's program is shown in this table:

    Master's Program (study program code)30 ECTS45 ECTS60 ECTS
    Agroecology (M-AE)M30-AEM60-AE
    Animal Science (M-HV)M30-HVM45-HVM60-HV
    Aquaculture (M-AA)M30-AAM45-AAM60-AA
    Sustainable Food Systems (M-MATSYS)M30-MATSYS
    Genome Science (M-GS)M30-GSM60-GS
    Plant Sciences (M-PV)M30-PVM60-PV
    Urban Agriculture (M-UA)M30-UAM60-UA
    Number of hours75011251500

    Selecting a topic/project

    Your master's project can be a part of the research that is happening at NMBU, or you can participate in research at an external institution. It is your responsibility as a student to find a master's project and supervisor(s). You should start reflecting on what you wish to work on in your thesis and the possibilites that exist early on. You should have decided on the topic and supervisor(s) in the winter or early spring in your first year as a master's student.

    You can find master's thesis proposals at BIOVIT further down on this page. Note that some of the projects may be outdated, but if you find an interesting project you can contact the supervisor/contact person for that project to check the possibilities of doing a similar project. BIOVIT also has a degree thesis day in October/November where you can talk to potential supervisors about master's projects.

    A new website for thesis proposals is currently under work and will be ready in the Autumn of 2024.

    Supervisor(s) and supervision

    In your master's thesis work you will have a main supervisor and alternatively a co-supervisor that assists you in the practical work and writing of the master's thesis. The main supervisor needs to be employed in an academic position or as an associate professor II or professor II at NMBU. You can also have a co-supervisor that is employed at NMBU or externally. If you cooperate with an external institution on your master's project, your co-supervisor will be employed there.

    How much supervision you can expect depends on the scope of your thesis. The supervision hours includes all work where supervisors are directly involved, both in project planning, data collection (lab work/field work etc.), data analysis, writing, and reviewing. If you have more than one supervisor, the supervision hours will be split between them.

    Scope of master's thesisNumber of supervision hours
    30 ECTS40
    45 ECTS60
    60 ECTS80

    Content, presentation, and assessment

    Here you will find guidelines for the thesis content, presentation, and assessment: Template and guidelines for how to write a master's thesis

    Study spaces for master's students at BIOVIT

    Study spaces for master's students with supervisor(s) at BIOVIT can be found in the Animal Science building and the Botanical Climate Lab.

    More information

    At NMBU's webpage for degree theses you can read more about the following:

    • Submission of the thesis
    • Master's projects at other faculties
    • Research ethics, use of personal data, intellectual property rights (IPR)
    • Forms, contracts, agreements, and templates
    • Resources
    • The supervision
    • Special syllabus
    • Health, safety, and environment (HSE)
    • Confidentiality agreement
    • Illness/leave of absence/postponed deadline
    • Assessment and defence/oral presentation
    • The rights of the parties

  • These courses may be useful in preparation for or during the master's thesis work.

    • MINA310 Methods in Natural Sciences
    • MTH300 E-learning Course: Planning and Scientific Writing of a Master's Thesis in Natural Sciences
    • STAT200 Regression Analysis
    • STAT210 Design of Experiments and Analysis of Variance
    • STAT340 Applied Methods in Statistics
    • STIN300 Statistical Programming in R