Theses

The preparation for the application as well as the writing of the Bachelor or Master's thesis at the Department of Finance entails different steps, whereby the application process is described in detail here.

1. Search respectively application for topics: You have the following two options:
   1. You find your own topic, write a Research Proposal and submit it via DF Thesis Market.
   2. Choose one of the provided Topic Proposals and apply for the corresponding topic on the DF Thesis Market including a letter of motivation.
2. Supervisor: If your Research Proposal has been accepted or your application for an existing topic has been successful, you will be contacted by the person who will supervise you in your thesis. Based on your Research Proposal inputs, your supervisor will formulate the thesis assignment.
3. Thesis assignment on OLAT: The task assignment includes your official thesis assignment for the written thesis. It can be collected on OLAT from the moment you have been informed by your supervisor. Once you collect the thesis assignment on OLAT, the time limit of six months starts.
4. Time limit: Start working on your thesis early and discuss problems with your supervisor. Nevertheless, remember that a Bachelor or Master’s thesis is to be written independently.
5. Submission: You must submit your thesis via OLAT i.e. you upload your thesis and any additional documents/attachments as a ZIP-file to OLAT.
6. Grading of task: You receive your grade within a month after submission.

The following Video in German shows the recording of a presentation (PDF, 276 KB) in which the students were informed. It goes more into detail about the individual steps.

The prerequisite for writing a Bachelor and Master's thesis at the Department of Finance is relevant prior knowledge in the corresponding subject area. In particular, the relevant lectures must have been attended and passed. Provided Topic Proposals may contain further requirements, which you will find in the respective proposal.

It is also important that the rules and instructions of the Dean's Office (study and graduation) are generally to be noted. The responsibility regarding compliance with these regulations lies with you.

In order to write a thesis at the Department of Finance, a digital application via the DF Thesis Market is required. You will need the following documents for the application:

• Curriculum Vitae (as PDF)
• Transcript of records (as PDF, current export from the Module Booking)
• Research Proposal (if you propose a topic of your own)

For the application via the Department of Finance Thesis Market, you also need your UZH login credentials (shortname and password).

There are two ways to apply for a thesis at the Department of Finance:

Option A: Own topic

Elaborate your own suggested topic and write a Research Proposal. On two to three pages, the Research Proposal summarises your motivation, the objectives, the planned procedure and the expected results. The following documents serve as a guide:

• Instructions for writing a Research Proposal (PDF, 69 KB)
• Example of a Research Proposal (PDF, 205 KB)

If you would like to write an empirical paper, check before submitting your application whether the data you need can be found in the available databases. It is advisable to check with a concrete example whether the data quality is sufficient (e.g., availability of time series).

It is important that you assign your Research Proposal to the correct research area so that it can be made available to appropriate supervisors. The research areas and fields of interest listed in the table below can serve as a decision-making aid. The links of the Professors lead to the Bachelor and Master's theses that they supervised so far. They can give an intuition on typical topics for writing a thesis.

Based on your Research Proposal, the final thesis assignment will be issued. However, the Department of Finance reserves the right to ask for improvements to the proposal, to make changes, to provide a different topic or to reject the application.

Option B: Provided topic

Apply for a topic provided by a supervisor via DF Thesis Market. Look at the topics on the marketplace, choose one and apply. Note that in addition to a CV and transcript of records, a short letter of motivation is also required for the application. Describe how the provided topic matches your skills and interests, and how the topic fits into your course of study.

As guidance to help you estimate the length of a thesis, we provide you with two sample theses:

• Bachelor’s thesis: The different theories of the 2010 Flash Crash with main focus on high-frequency trading (PDF, 1 MB)
• Master’s thesis: Strategic Allocation to Return Factors (PDF, 1 MB)

Additionally you can find a template for LaTeX (ZIP, 414 KB).

The Department of Finance strongly recommends that you start finding a topic for your Bachelor or Master's thesis at an early stage. The application must be submitted at least one month before the desired starting month. For example if you want to start writing your thesis at the beginning of May, you must apply by the end of March. 

The matching process usually takes about a month, sometimes longer (especially for your own proposals), since all supervisors supervise several theses, and your own proposal must match the interests of your supervisor in terms of content. We will inform you as soon as the matching process is completed, or if we need further information or adjustments from you. If you want/need to start as soon as possible, you also have the option to apply to one of the posted proposals.

The DF endeavours to offer all applicants the opportunity to write a thesis at the Department of Finance, but we cannot guarantee a specific topic or a specific supervisor. Temporary bottlenecks may occur in the supervision. If you have any questions or problems in connection with your application, please contact the study coordinator and Managing Director of the DF, Dr. Benjamin Wilding, at theses@df.uzh.ch.