We are pleased about your interest in writing your thesis at the Chair of Transport Studies and Transport Planning (VPL). We work on a wide range of mobility-related topics and can offer expertise in the following areas:
 

1. Mobility Behavior and Behavioral Change

• Attitudes and preferences in travel behavior
• Mobility behavior from a behavioral psychology perspective
• Impact and acceptance of (temporary) mobility measures and approaches to behavioral change

2. Mobility, Society, and Space

• Car dependency
• Differences in mobility between urban and rural areas
• Urban mobility interventions and the design of public space in the context of the mobility transition

3. Transport Planning and Infrastructure

• Regional public transport planning
• Rail-based local transport
• Planning of transport infrastructure projects

4. New Mobility and Technologies

• Electromobility
• Innovative mobility concepts and future transport system

5. New Mobility and Technologies

• Quantitative surveys
• Analysis of spatio-temporal big data (e.g., sensors, mobile communications)
• Agent-based modeling
• AI applications (generative AI, machine learning, etc.)

You are, of course, also welcome to propose your own topic. In this case, we will assess whether the topic aligns with our areas of expertise and whether qualified supervision can be ensured. Please note that our expertise covers different thematic and methodological areas to varying extents. Assignment to a supervisor will ultimately be based on their specific expertise and experience.

Helpful Tips for Choosing a Topic

To help you refine your research interests and the focus of your thesis, please consider the following guiding questions:

• Which concepts, theories, or research questions have particularly interested you during your studies? Use your thesis as an opportunity to deepen your knowledge in this area and, if appropriate, to further qualify yourself for your future academic or professional career
• Which research gap would you like to address? Gain an overview of the current state of research and identify a question that has not yet been sufficiently investigated. Also reflect on potential challenges in your research project, such as methodological or data-related limitations, and consider how you might address them.
• Which methods would you like to use? Consider which methodological skills you already possess and which competencies you would like to further develop during your thesis. Ideally, your work should combine existing skills with methods relevant to your future goals.
• What outcome should your work produce? It can be helpful to think about your thesis “from the end.” Consider what concrete product or added value you want to create. For example, should your work develop policy recommendations, a mobility concept, a policy brief, a strategy, or an empirically based decision-making tool? From this, derive the information and analyses required to achieve your goal.

Once you have selected a topic or research question, please write a short proposal (two to three DIN A4 pages) including the following information:

• Background, problem statement, and/or rationale for the topic
• Objectives, research questions, and, if applicable, hypotheses
• Methodological approach
• Expected outcome/end product
• Preliminary timeline
• Preliminary structure of the thesis
• Bibliography

The proposal serves as the basis for the first consultation meeting. During this meeting, the planned approach, thematic focus, research question, and methodology will be discussed, and any open questions or potential challenges will be clarified at an early stage

Use of AI

The use of AI tools in theses is permitted and can meaningfully support the academic workflow. However, students should be aware of the limitations of these technologies, as AI systems can produce errors, distort relationships, and present content in an insufficiently differentiated way. AI should therefore primarily be used as a reflective sparring partner to help structure and question one’s own arguments and to identify potential blind spots. The goal is to promote critical thinking, not the unreflective generation and adoption of text. Any AIbased suggestions used in the thesis must be independently verified, academically contextualized, and, if necessary, revised. Responsibility for the content and quality of the thesis remains with the author.

Technische Geräte

Studierende können für ihre Abschlussarbeit technische Geräte unseres Fachgebiets ausleihen.
Da die Verfügbarkeit begrenzt ist und vom konkreten Forschungsthema abhängt, bitten wir Sie, die Ausleihe vorab mit Ihrer Betreuung abzustimmen. In manchen Fällen ist eine Nutzung nur unter Aufsicht möglich. Wir empfehlen, frühzeitig Rücksprache zu halten, um den Einsatz der Geräte optimal planen zu können.
Zu unseren verfügbaren Geräten gehören unter anderem: Radarpistolen, Lasermessgeräte, Partikelmessgeräte, Lärmmessgeräte und Streckenmessräder.

Supervision

Please first consult our website to find out which staff member is generally available to supervise your topic. Note that Master’s theses supervised by nondoctoral academic staff must be conducted in combination with a professor or a doctoral-level colleague. Additionally, only one supervisor may be a member of the VPL chair. External supervisors from other faculties, universities, or research institutes must hold a doctoral degree or habilitation. In this case, the second supervisor must be a professor within the Faculty of Spatial Planning.
 

Consultation Meetings

During the preparation of your thesis, your supervisor will be available for individual consultation meetings. We are happy to support you with questions related to:

• Topic selection and focus
• Development of research questions and hypotheses
• Structure, organization, methodology, and work/time planning
• Theoretical and conceptual foundations
• Empirical analysis, as well as interpretation and reflection of results
• Methodological approaches
• Specific questions arising during the research process
   

The number of consultation meetings depends on your progress but should generally not exceed three. We recommend one meeting to discuss the proposal, one before data collection, and, if necessary, a third meeting to address challenges in data analysis or to discuss results. Students are expected to take the initiative in scheduling these meetings.

What We Expect from You

The VPL team expects above-average commitment at both the subject-specific and methodological levels, as well as a willingness to engage with a scientific topic in an interdisciplinary and creative manner. We consider strong communication skills and the ability to independently initiate information exchange beyond the university to be particularly important. The thesis should be written in a way that assumes basic knowledge of planning concepts and relationships, while clearly explaining topic-specific aspects. It must adhere to the rules and standards of academic writing.

We regard appropriate formal design as a learning objective. The Faculty of Spatial Planning citation guidelines and the guidelines for the formal design of reports serve as templates. Tables and figures should follow APA style.

The length of the thesis should not exceed 75,000 characters (excluding spaces) for a Bachelor’s thesis and 175,000 characters (excluding spaces) for a Master’s thesis. The thesis may be written in German or English in agreement with the examiner.

Theses are evaluated based on the following criteria:

Upon submitting your thesis, we ask you to provide a poster (DIN A3) for the chair’s website (as a PDF file), presenting either partial results or an overall overview of your work in a graphical format (e.g., maps, plans, figures, tables, and explanatory text). This serves both to showcase your thesis within the chair and to support your external presentation (e.g., in job interviews). The PDF file may also be submitted up to two weeks after handing in your thesis. The contact person is Sabine Benedix (vpl@tu-dortmund.de).