MSc Thesis Topics Soil Geography & Landscape

If you consider doing your MSc thesis with the Soil Geography & Landscape group, please make an appointment with the MSc thesis coordinator Jakob Wallinga. This document serves as a first orientation prior to meeting the coordinator.

> MSc thesis topics

At the Soil Geography and Landscape group we offer a list of MSc thesis topics. However, we also encourage you to design your own thesis topic together with your supervisor of choice. To provide some inspiration, we present a general description of a thesis for each of the three suggested learning paths of the Soil Geography and Earth Surface Dynamics specialisation:

Thesis Soil Geography and Data Science

You will work with data and related models that have a spatial and/or temporal component and are usually soil or landscape related. Examples of thesis topics are conventional and digital soil mapping, statistical validation of soil maps, remote and proximal sensing, soil monitoring and spatial sampling design, pedotransfer functions, big data applications, urban soils, machine learning and spatial interpolation. Potential supervisors include (along with field of expertise in this context):

prof.dr.ir. GBM (Gerard) Heuvelink	Mathematical and statistical techniques
dr. A (Annegret) Larsen	Biota, humans and fire on earth-surface-processes
dr. PSJ (Philip) Minderhoud	Spatial-temporal modelling of deltaic subsidence
dr.ir. VL (Titia) Mulder	Remote sensing; spatial, temporal and soil-landscape modelling
dr.ir. CR (Cathelijne) Stoof	Fire risk, mapping and behavior
dr.ir. JJ (Jetse) Stoorvogel	Soil-land use interactions
dr. V (Slava) Vasenev	Internet of things technologies and remote sensing to monitor urban soils and green infrastructure

Thesis Earth Surface Dynamics

You will investigate changes at the earth surface, resulting from natural and/or human influences. Subjects include erosion and sedimentation, archaeology, urban soils, land subsidence in deltas, bog developments. Your project will often include fieldwork and mapping, followed by laboratory work (e.g. luminescence dating) and analysis, or modelling (e.g. landscape evolution modelling using LAPSUS). Potential supervisors include (along with field of expertise in this context):

dr. R (Roy) van Beek	Landscape archaeology; interdisciplinary research; cultural heritage management
dr. JHJ (Jasper) Candel	Fluvial geomorphology, river restoration
dr. EL (Liz) Chamberlain	Marine sedimentology and particularly research dealing with fine-grained marine and estuarine sediments; OSL dating
dr. A (Annegret) Larsen	Sediment erosion and transfer in the landscape
dr. IM (Ingrid) Lubbers	Soil biota, ecosystem services
dr. A (Bart) Makaske	Geography, geology, soil sciences, geological sedimentation, deltas, rivers, geomorphology, physical geography
dr. PSJ (Philip) Minderhoud	Subsidence and relative sea-level rise in coastal-deltaic areas
dr. JM (Jeroen) Schoorl	Lapsus: dynamic landscape evolution model
dr. V (Slava) Vasenev	Urban soils; soils and green infrastructure
prof.dr. J (Jakob) Wallinga	Dynamics of soils and landscapes; development OSL dating

Thesis Sustainable Land Use

You will investigate nature-based solution approaches for sustainable land-use. Subjects include: multi-functional land evaluation, soil and landscape resilience, soil biodiversity, rewilding, agriculture, wildfires, and carbon sequestration. With all those topics, the focus is primary on landscape scale, and research topic usually include interactions and feedbacks of natural processes and human/societal actors. Typically a thesis includes fieldwork, and perhaps also interviewing stakeholders, followed by data analysis. Potential supervisors include (along with field of expertise in this context):

dr. JHJ (Jasper) Candel	River restoration
dr. A (Annegret) Larsen	Soil and landscape resiliance
dr. IM (Ingrid) Lubbers	Soil biodiversity
dr. PSJ (Philip) Minderhoud	Subsidence of coastal-deltaic areas; creating awareness and coping strategies
dr.ir. VL (Titia) Mulder	Soil carbon dynamics, ecosystem dynamics, and climate change adaptation
dr.ir. CR (Cathelijne) Stoof	Fire risk, impact and management, cross-risk approaches
dr. JM (Jeroen) Schoorl	Erosion
dr.ir. JJ (Jetse) Stoorvogel	Soil fertility management, tropical soil related diseases
prof.dr. J (Jakob) Wallinga	Ecosystem services on landscape level