1. URP Master Thesis Projects 2014-2015 Information meeting

2. Structure Why projects? What does it mean? Projects How to inform yourself? – Alternative arrangement Registration “Extra’s” – Research assistent – Internship – Fieldwork abroad Overview deadlines

4. Why Projects? More focused More structured Guided by staff’s expertise Peer group and help of fellow students  Higher success rate

5. What does it mean? Peer group meetings – towards research proposal kick-off meeting in December theory meeting in January at least 2 meetings more from February on Bilateral meetings – towards definitive thesis arrange with your supervisor …in what groups?

6. Projects Covering URP topics: Metropolis in transition; transitions in strategic planning and urban development The dilemma of urban mobility, and beyond Private arrangements for ‘public goods’ The urban escalator: migration and urban development in The Netherlands Housing: People, Place and Policy Big data: social-spatial implications of new (spatial) data sources Shenzhen: from factory of the world to world city

7. How to inform yourself? Start – read documents Thesis Topic Guide (distributed) Writing a master’s thesis (upcomming) Course Manual Thesis Project (upcomming) Follow up – General questions about the projects: contact coordinator (b.m.hissinkmuller@uva.nl)b.m.hissinkmuller@uva.nl – Project specific questions: office hours of supervisors – through e-mail/individual meetings » see Thesis Topic Guide

8. Alternative Arrangement

9. Registration Ultimately Sunday 16 November 2014 First and Second Choice – What if project is full?

10. Extra Call for Research Assistants Research Assistant Apart from joining the thesis projects, interested students (also those not writing there thesis about this topic) are invited to participate in the research in a wider sense, for example to carry out interviews or assist in focus group discussions for which funding is available. Please express your interest by sending an e-mail to k.pfeffer@uva.nl, no later than 20 December 2014 k.pfeffer@uva.nl

11. Internship Own responsibility and at your own risk – supported, but not facilitated pros: find out about stakeholders, get closer to your research object, gather or access data cons: extra conditions, extra expectations, possible delay, sometimes issues of confidentiality

12. Foreign Fieldwork Own responsibility and at your own risk – no funding Not in countries with a negative travel advice (negatief reisadvies) – fill in the ‘Thesis contract for fieldwork abroad’ appendix in Writing a master’s thesis

13. Overview Deadlines TaskDeadline 1 st chance research proposal Monday 16 March, 2015, 10hr 2 nd chance research proposal Monday 30 March, 2015, 10hr 1 st chance master thesis Monday 22 June, 2015, 10hr 2 nd chance master thesisMonday 17 August, 2015, 10hr