Header

Search
Institute of Education

Thesis supervision

Thesis supervision and research internship

The first step to write a BA or MA thesis at the Chair is to identify a topic that interests you and fits within the areas supervised by our team. Based on your chosen topic, please contact the relevant team member to discuss possible supervision. You can find an overview of topics and potential supervisors in the list below.
Detailed information on formal requirements and expectations is available in the thesis guidelines (PDF, 153 KB) (in German).

You may also have the opportunity to contribute to one of the Chair’s ongoing research projects as part of your research internship. If you are interested, please reach out to the respective team members for more information.

Important information on the process of writing a qualification thesis

Information on the procedure for writing a Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis can be found in the guidelines for written work of the Institute of Education.

Thematic areas for thesis supervision

Christian Ydesen

  • International organizations and the global governance of education (UNESCO, OECD, World Bank, EU, ILO), including the role of knowledge brokers, expertise, and policy instruments

  • Educational assessment, testing, and accountability in historical and comparative perspective, from IQ testing and psychometrics to contemporary datafication

  • The biologistic and neuro-affective turn in education: the role of psychology, biology, neuroscience, and eugenics in shaping educational science and policy

  • National education reforms and comparative analysis of schooling systems, including Switzerland, the Nordic countries, and the Global South in a global policy context

  • History of special education and inclusive education, including boundary-making between mainstream and special schooling

  • Welfare state, statecrafting, and the agency of professionals and experts in education

  • Education, citizenship, and democracy: equity, inclusion, and (post)colonial perspectives

  • Comparative education as a field: its history, methodological traditions, and contemporary debates

  • Philanthropic foundations and private actors in the historical and contemporary governance of education

Languages of supervision: German and English

 

Sophie Pia Stieger

  • History of educational ideas and historical formation(s) of education as a discipline
  • Comparative histories of educational knowledge and educational practices: Cross-national movements,  travelling ideas and national idiosyncrasies
  • History of psychology, in particular early modern origins and intersections with religious and philosophical traditions
  • Religion and Education in Western Europe (1700 – 1900)
  • Visions of Education and Progress in Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment movements
  • Education and Women’s History
  • Historical formation(s) of the educable subject – From souls and minds to bodies, neurons and genes
  • The Biological Turn in Education: Contemporary disciplinary struggles over educational ideas and policies between the natural sciences and the humanities and their historical predecessors
  • Historical and ideological foundations of contemporary educational discourses

Languages of supervision: German and English

 

Patrick Montjouridès

  • Intergovernmental cooperation in education, historical, and contemporary perspectives.
  • Comparative education policy analysis, surrounding issues of justice and fairness in education
  • Migrant and education, support systems policy analysis
  • Higher Education regional areas (Bologna, ASEAN) comparative perspectives 
  • Legitimacy and authority in education governance
  • Sustainable Development Goals and history of international education agendas
  • Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, the Right to Education and Global Governance
  • Digital humanities and computational social sciences: “Text-as-data” methods approaches, bibliometrics and knowledge graphs
  • Unpacking United Nations resolutions’ argumentative reasoning chains
  • The role of measurement and metrics in shaping modern education systems

Language of supervision: English (French a possibility)

 

Elizaveta Ebner

  • The role of intergovernmental organisations in the development and diffusion of education norms across global, regional, and national governance levels
  • Regionalism and regionalisation in education governance: the role of regional organisations (e.g. Council of Europe, European Union, CARICOM, Asia-Europe Meeting) in policy development, coordination, and integration
  • Inter-organisational relations in global education governance: cooperation, competition, and negotiations among international and regional actors
  • Regionalisation, harmonisation and internationalisation of higher education
  • Human rights, citizenship, and democracy education. Global citizenship and cosmopolitan education. Education as a human right
  • The role of civil society organisations in education governance: advocacy, agenda-setting, and participation in transnational policy development
  • Historical and policy analysis in education, including archival research
  • Contemporary history of education (late 20th to early 21st century): transformations in governance, policy paradigms, and institutional architecture

Languages of supervision: German and English