The Master Thesis represents the successful completion of the Master study track and the student “business card” for entering professions. Therefore, special emphasis is put on the realization of a thesis in line with the high ambitions of the Master Degree.
The Master Thesis entails an original, high-level scientific manuscript prepared by the candidate under the guidance of one, or more, supervisor(s). Its preparation requires students to operate for an extended internship period within a research group.
The final exam needed to obtain the Master Degree (Laurea Magistrale) consists in a thesis defense (Viva exam), to be held in specific dates (Appelli di Laurea 2024, Appelli di Laurea 2025) in front of an appointed Thesis Committee (Commissione di Laurea).
Forthcoming thesis defense sessions can be found here.
Any of the research groups of the four University departments (DICI, FIS, DII, DCCI) and Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) involved in the MSc are eligible for carrying out the thesis work. To have an idea of possible thesis topics, students may find useful to have a look at:
- the list of past thesis works in the etd database, by searching for the “Corso di Studi” Materials and Nanotechnology;
- the list of lecturers involved in the MSc, along with a link to databases where their scientific activity is reported in terms of scientific publications. It is natural for students to ask lecturers to play the role of supervisors and our students can fully enjoy the high level and huge range of scientific and technical expertise of the involved lecturers.
Students can also carry out their thesis internship outside the University, for instance in one of the research facilities linked to the Master Degree and located in the Pisa area, in a private company (you may find useful to have a look at companies having a running agreement with University of Pisa), in any other research group in Italy, or abroad. Note that, at least one of the supervisors must belong to the Study Council. In case of need, an Internal Supervisor will be appointed within the Council members.
The minimum weight of the final thesis work is 30 CFU (teaching credits), officially broken into 15+15 CFU for the “Training” (Tirocinio) and “Final exam” (Prova finale), respectively, and roughly corresponding to six months of work. Owing to the diverse requirements of the research in the various fields of interest to the MSc in Materials and Nanotechnology, students can extend the weight up to 42 CFU, roughly corresponding to nine months of work, by converting up to 12 CFU of the free choice exams into the thesis work.
Additional information on the final mark, links to relevant documents to be filled by the candidates, details on the Thesis Defense can be found here.