So many proposals for students’ own dissertation topics

In principle, I like it when students design their own dissertation topic. It shows initiative and inspiration, and it is satisfying to give a student a topic they are evidently interested in. Originally it wasn’t pointed out to them that they could, but you would have always have a few who would raise the issue themselves. Now I actively encourage it. And the numbers have been rising. The total number of students fluctuates quite a bit, so raw numbers don’t say much, but since I took on the module it went from 1% of the cohort to 6% and 7% Last year I had 18 submissions by the deadline for new proposals. This year I had 43.

Occasionally I give my ok to a proposal straight away. Generally, though, I need to bounce it back at least once. This mainly is because I either need to be convinced there is enough data for answering the research question; it is not uncommon, for instance, that a student wants to explore what will happen to a certain parameter under climate change, and then they have enough data about the parameter, but no actual data about the projections of climate change. And it’s also not unusual for students to just list data sources without specifying what exact data from that source they want to use how, and then I have to ask for clarification. 

With 43 proposals and a fair number of additional email inquiries it took up a lot of my time. I did have something to show for it, though; at the time of the deadline I had approved 11 proposals. That is already 8% of the students! And there were still 20 that could possibly get it all done before the deadline for approved proposals. But I was really glad to reach the deadline, because then the deluge reduced itself to a trickle. Five more students managed to get over the line in the time between the deadline for new proposals and the final deadline. A record number!

I have approved projects about marine heatwaves, dolphin calf mortality, primary productivity in the Southern Ocean, the relationship between turtle strandings and NAO, how tides affect deglacial climate evolution, and many more. Very interesting stuff! And even one about micro- and nanoplastics causing neurotransmitter deterioration in marine organisms through induced neurotoxicity (yes really). I’m sure some really interesting dissertations will come out of this! 

A plankton bloom in the Southern Ocean. Pic by NASA