The Faculty ITC Research Programme is formulated under the following interlinked research themes:
4D-Earth
Acquisition and quality of geo-spatial information (ACQUAL);
Forest Agriculture and Environment in the Spatial Sciences (FORAGES);
People, Land and Urban Systems (PLUS);
Spatio-temporal analytics, maps and processing (STAMP);
Water Cycle and Climate (WCC).
These research themes and activities form the subject framework and organizational structure in which Master's students conduct their individual research. Students have to make a choice of the envisaged MSc research topic during the fourth quartile of the first year. For more information about the content and scope of the Faculty ITC Research Programme, please visit: http://www.itc.nl/research-themes
The purpose of the MSc research phase is; i) to deepen the knowledge and skills of the students within the research themes; ii) to help students to define their own MSc Research Proposal, and iii) to facilitate students to individually write a concise, logical and well-structured thesis.
The first stage of this course is spent on developing an MSc Research Proposal with support and feedback from staff and peers. Through the MSc Research Proposal, the students should demonstrate the ability to undertake independent research. The MSc Research Proposal will be assessed by a Proposal Assessment Board based on a written proposal, a presentation and an oral defence. The Proposal Assessment Board decides if the proposal is acceptable, as one of the conditions to continue with the MSc Research phase*.
The second stage of the course is dedicated to the execution of an individual research project. Each student works independently on the basis of an approved research proposal. Where relevant, students can with their supervisors apply for Research Support Activity budget ** to conduct for instance fieldwork for data collection.
In this final part of the course, the students further develop their research skills, interact with their fellow students, PhD researchers and staff members and, finally, demonstrate that they have achieved the learning outcomes of the Master's programme by research, on a satisfactory academic level.
*) If the nature of the research requires a different timeframe for proposal writing and/or data collection, a tailored solution will be considered. Requests for a tailored solution should be addressed to the Programme Director.
**) RSA budget is limited and only available upon motivated request, supported by the first supervisor and the MSc Research coordinator of the concerned research theme. Covid-19 restrictions might limit the possibilities to execute research support activities.