Getting a supervisor
and defining your topic
Oda Asbjørnsen Aune
Kjell Arne Brekke
Schedule today
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16:15 General information16:30 Grants, Macro / ESOP //16:45 Vitenskapsbutikken, Marcus Hagedorn, Menon, Tone Ognedal // OFS 17:00 Lan Lan // Henrik Sigstad
17:15 Break
17:22:30 NIFU17:30 NIBR // Vista 17:45 NUPI // SSB18:00 Cicero // Frisch18:07:30 PIZZA
Important information online
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Apply for supervisor
• Mandatory
• Deadline: 16 March 2020
• Delayed? We might not assign
a supervisor now
– 2 year master: need 20
credits
– 5 year master: need 190
credits
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Demography as an example
• Why do Norwegian women give
birth to fewer children today
than what they did a few
decades ago?
• Why is the number of children
even lower in most other
developed countries?
• Do married people live longer
than unmarried people?
• Is education and income a
strong determinant of people’s
life expectancy?
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Mandatory online form
• Choose topic
– First, second and third
choice
• Choose your method
– Theory or empirical
• What is most important to you?
– Method or topic?
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Go see your preferred supervisor
• Don’t be afraid,
– They love to hear that you like their topic and that they are the
preferred supervisor
– At worst they are too busy
• I cannot fulfill all promises
– Too many may want the same supervisor
– Too many may want the same topic
• It is still your responsibility to find a topic
– The supervisor will help
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Finding topic to write about
• Read newspaper
– Lots of economic discussions:
• Dropping oil prices, interest rates
• But also issues not immediately related economics
• Optimal snow removal
• Free public transport if you sell your car?
• Don’t think too large
– Crisis in the Euro-zone in newspaper every day
– Don’t expect to solve the crisis in your master thesis (earn your
Nobel price later)
– Note: In your courses you read the best papers from experienced
researchers. Don’t consider that a template for your thesis
• Look at the problems from ECON3010
• See existing thesis at: duo.uio.no
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Timeline until October 16th 2020
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If possible, meet with the supervisor before
the summer
In collaboration with the supervisor, work
out a plan for the thesis
The plan has to be approved
If revisions are needed a new
deadline will be given
The project plan
• A detailed plan for the entire thesis• The chapters of the thesis• You should have verified that data are available, and in what form• The plan must specify methods• What do we currently know, and what is your contribution
After the project plan is approved
• The main work on the
master thesis is
during spring 2021
• The project plan
should give you a
clear direction for
how to approach the
problems
• Research is
unpredictable, so
plans changes
The INNOPROD scholarship
• Grant of NOK 12 000
• Invitations to research seminars and
workshops
• Conditions:
– master's thesis must be relevant to INNOPROD's
research areas
– have at least one supervisor among the
INNOPROD's research staff
– contact their supervisor to discuss a project plan
• Application deadline: 20 October, 2020
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Scholarships in
Advanced Methods and Research
• Three grants, NOK 15 000 per grant
• Invitation to all Department seminars
• Conditions
– choose Advanced Methods/Research as
programme option
– complete two requisite 5000 courses
– write a thesis that could be the start of a
doctoral dissertation
• Application deadline: April 20, 202015
OFS scholarship
• Grant of NOK 15 000
• Invitation to OFS research seminars and
workshops
• Conditions:
– master's thesis must be relevant to one or more of
OFS's research areas.
– have at least one supervisor among the
OFS research staff.
• Application deadline: October 20, 2020.
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The ESOP scholarships
• Grant: 15 000 NOK
• Office space with a computer
• Invitations to ESOP’s research seminars and workshops
• Conditions– thesis must be relevant to one or more of ESOP's
research areas.
– applicants are supposed to have at least one supervisor among the ESOP research staff
• Application deadline: October 20, 2020.