Suggestions for Bachelor and Master Thesis
General remarks
- Most of the topics can be done either in German or English.
- All topics are suggestions and may be changed if necessary. Own initiative ideas related to the field of agricultural markets analysis are very welcome!
- Instructions for Academic Papers (in German, pdf-Format)
- Analysis of market power (e.g. food retail; agricultural technology; seed, pesticide/fertilizer markets; or own proposal). [Bachelor, Master]
- Policies and analysis of market integration, e.g. of smallholder farmers in the Global South. [Bachelor, Master]
- Structures in the global dairy markets – An analysis of key market players and their influence on individual dairy product markets [Bachelor]
- Pricing in international markets for dairy products – factors influencing price trends and a comparison of price forecasting methods. [Bachelor, Master]
- The significance of intra-European trade in dairy products in a global context. [Bachelor]
- Trade in green products: What are the practical implications of CBAM? [Master, analytische, deskriptive Arbeit]
- Degree of internationalization & price stabilization in the German pork market: An empirical analysis. [Master, analytische Arbeit]
- How do large-scale weather patterns affect European cereal yields: A comparison over the last few decades. [Master/analytisch]
- Market-based approaches to improve biodiversity and/or soil/water management (e.g. nature credits, funds, water pricing, tradable water rights). [Bachelor, Master]
- Water pricing and water valuing: A WTP-analysis. [Bachelor, Master]
- Water price elasticity analysis. [Bachelor, Master]
Buyback programs to improve environmental conditions (e.g. in fisheries, land/water rights). [Bachelor, Master]
- Agricultural/water governance in Germany (e.g. focus on water associations) or in other countries. [Bachelor, Master]
- Different water tenure arrangements. [Bachelor, Master]
- Wasserbilanzierung und -überwachung in Deutschland. Water accounting and monitoring in Germany. [Bachelor, Master]
- Trade-offs in agricultural policy (e.g. between water and energy policy programs). [Bachelor, Master]
- Solare Landwirtschaft/Bewässerung als neue Einkommensquelle für Landwirt:innen. Solar farming/irrigation as a new income source for farmers. [Bachelor, Master]
- Trade policy and water sustainability (e.g. price signals, non-tariff measures, trade agreements). [Bachelor, Master]
- Water futures market to reduce farmers’ water scarcity risk. [Bachelor, Master]
- Ökonomische Auswirkungen von Dürrezeiten auf die Landwirtschaft. Economic impacts of droughts on agriculture. [Bachelor, Master]
- Different scales of water use efficiency and the Jevon’s Paradox. [Bachelor, Master]
- Sustainable water productivity Index (incl. physical, economic, nutritional, social, environmental). [Bachelor, Master]
- Potential of remote sensing data for water productivity analysis (e.g. FAO WaPOR data).
- Measuring irrigation/water resilience. [Bachelor, Master]
- Labels for water footprint and water efficiency (e.g. Australia’s Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS)). [Bachelor, Master]
- Scarcity-related water footprint indicator. [Bachelor, Master]
- Irrigation development and adoption in African countries (e.g. using LSMS data). [Bachelor, Master]
- Access to water for women and girls in India (data available). [Bachelor, Master]
- Literature review on influencing spatial factors on farmer behaviour (e.g. neighbourhood characteristics). [Bachelor, Master]
- Integrating water into equilibrium models. [Bachelor, Master]
- Agricultural/water governance in Germany (e.g. focus on water associations) or in other countries. [Bachelor, Master]
- Urban expansion and loss of productive rice land [Bachelor, Master]
- Identifies whether urban growth occurs on high-value agricultural/rice land
- -Remote-sensing, geo-spatial analysis, QGIS, Google Engine etc.
- Land-use change policies in major rice producing Asian countries (literature review) [Bachelor, Master]
- What policies influenced how rapidly land-use change is happening
- Water productivity of rice farming in the Philippines: A provincial panel analysis [Bachelor, Master]
- province-level evidence on where rice production is water-efficient or water-intensive;
- How does water productivity in rice farming vary across Philippine provinces, and what factors explain these differences over time?
- “Water stress and rice production in the Philippines: Identifying provincial hotspots” [Bachelor, Master]
- Rice trading in Southeast Asia [Bachelor, Master]
- Can be meta-analysis, literature review
- Climate change and rice production: Gains, losses, opportunities [Bachelor, Master]
- Market analysis of rice production in southeast asia [Bachelor, Master]
- No specific topic yet or gap but will revolve around bargaining power
- Who gains from trade, who has more market power etc
- Rice monocropping: culture, society, and environment [Bachelor, Master]
- Why other food systems or sustainable diet might not work in the Philippines?
- Adaptation strategies of an arable farm to eco-schemes and conditionality: whole-farm optimization and impacts on gross margins. [Bachelor, Master]
- Economic assessment of extensification and set-aside options (GAEC/Eco-schemes) in arable farming: opportunity costs and production effects. [Bachelor]
- How do EU environmental requirements affect the competitiveness of EU arable farming relative to third countries? A literature-based assessment. [Bachelor]
- The 2022 suspension/adjustment of CAP environmental requirements: Did it have measurable production effects? [Bachelor, Master]
Dr. Juliane Hänsch