Writing a THESIS at itemis: At itemis, we work a lot with working students in our public funded research projects. Since we like to cooperate on the long-term, we also share the phases where our students have to write a thesis, do a R&D project for university, etc. And we are happy to support them with that!
Academic supervisors might have some reservations about an industrial thesis, but at itemis, these are easily dispelled:
- Since we work with students in research projects, the objective is to push the state-of-the art and create something fresh, not some implementation work for a company project.
- We understand that a thesis is the pinnacle of the studies. It should be an opportunity for the student to shine. It will be a relevant item on their CV for the first years of their career.
- A thesis should be a token of proof of the ability to do some serious (academic) research and work. We pick our topics accordingly , always in close coordination with the university.
- We want the student and the university (and itemis) to be able to promote the work. We don't do things that are then bound by a NDA and hidden in a closet. We encourage our students to submit results to journals, academic conferences etc.
A thesis needs to have a well-defined research question / topic, sound methodology and good presentation of the results (amongst others). I would hope that our students agree that we try to provide good support - but we guide and nudge and expect self-driven work.
I am proud to say that I had the privilege of supervising some excellent theses.
So what's in it for us? I will write about that in a second post. Would be interested in your experiences with industrial theses in the comments in the meantime.