Fachbereich 9 - Wirtschaftswissenschaften

Forschungszentrum INSTITUT FÜR UMWELTSYSTEMFORSCHUNG


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Bachelor and Master Thesis

At the Department of Environmental Economics, Bachelor's and Master's theses can be written
on environmentally relevant topics within economics (environmental or behavioral economic themes). Topics will be suggested. The supervision is carried out by Prof. Dr. Engel or scientific assistants of the chair. Examiner is Prof. Dr. Engel. The assignment of theses for students of the FB6 is done via the central assignment procedure. Please note that any confirmation of a place is only binding for the semester in which the confirmation is made. The acceptance may be forfeited if you fail to contact the respective supervisor within the given timeframe (i.e. the current semester). In exceptional cases, it is possible to postpone the registration of your thesis to a subsequent semester. In any case, this requires early consultation with the supervisor. It is also possible to propose your own topic; however, this must be discussed with the respective supervisor.

For students of systems sciences, if topics are available, they will be assigned upon request.

Summer Semester 2023

In the Summer Semester 2023 the following topics were issued for Bachelor- and Master theses:

  • Negative Spillover-Effekte im Umweltkontext – Eine literaturbasierte Analyse der Auswirkungen auf umweltbewusstes Verhalten und Politikgestaltung
  • Eine empirische Analyse des Zusammenhangs zwischen individuellen Umwelteinstellungen und subjektiver Lebenszufriedenheit
  • Instrumente des Green Marketings zur Förderung von umweltfreundlichem Verhalten – eine systematische Literaturanalyse
  • Impact of citizen science on pro-environmental behaviour
  • ESG-Ratings und nachhaltiges Wirtschaften – eine kritische umweltpolitische Einordnung
  • Spillover-Effekte von umweltfreundlichem Verhalten – Eine Kategorisierung der Mechanismen, Implikationen und Potentiale
  • Happiness courses as an intervention to increase well-being and sustainability
  • Biodiversity credit markets - Trading for sustainability?
  • Eine Analyse zu Gerechtigkeitsdimensionen des Klimawandels und des Klimaschutzes und deren Implikationen 
  • Nudging für eine umweltfreundliche Ernährung: Einblick in die Auswirkungen von Menu Design und Labels auf den Fleischkonsum
  • Embedding mini-publics in environmental policy: examining coupling – between citizens and policymakers – to increase influence and trust
  • Das Potenzial von Nudges zur Reduzierung des Energieverbrauchs an der Universität Osnabrück

Winter Semester 2022/2023

In the Winter Semester 2022/2023 the following topics were issued for Bachelor- and Master theses:

  • Information architectures of sustainability labels and their influence on consumers’ behavior when buying chocolate
  • Behavioural economic factors affecting farmers’ decision to convert their farming business from conventional to organic
  • Biodiversity offests - a policy instrument to reconcile economic development and biodiversity conservation?
  • Information architectures of sustainability labels and their influence on consumers’ behavior when buying chocolate
  • Agricultural policy in industrialized nations: comparing the cases of the European Union and the U.S.A.
  • How effective are community-based approaches to natural resource management and nature conservation in the developing world? A synthesis of experimental and quasi-experimental studies. 

Summer Semester 2022

In the Summer Semester 2022 the following topics were issued for Bachelor- and Master theses:

  • Decarbonizing the building heating sector
  • Agriculture, ecosystem services and externalities
  • Barriers and solution approaches for the adoption of wind power plants in local community
  • Extreme weather events and warning communication
  • The ethics of digital nudging
  • Barriers and solution approaches for the adoption of solar energy by private households
  • The agricultural policy of Switzerland – A comparison with the European Common Agricultural Policy
  • Distributional effects of carbon pricing: a global perspective
  • Agri-environment schemes in the European Union
  • Nudging im Bereich des nachhaltigen Konsumverhaltens
  • Gelabelt schmeckt gut, Vertrauen schmeckt besser –
    Bewertung von Nachhaltigkeitslabeln und ihre Beeinflussbarkeit durch Informationsstrukturen
    auf Schokoladenverpackungen
  • Kategorisierung und Vorkommen
    sozialer Präferenzen und ihre Bedeutung für soziale Dilemmata
  • Economic incentives and stakeholder participation
  • Agricultural policy in industrialized nations: comparing the cases of the European Union and the U.S.A.
  • Barriers and solution approaches to the acceptance of peer-to-peer bike-sharing

Winter Semester 2021/2022

In the Winter Semester 2021/2022 the following topics were issued for Bachelor- and Master theses:

  • Digital nudging and precision agriculture
  • Behavioral economic barriers and solution approaches for taking the bike to work
  • Economic inequality, fairness perceptions and cooperation
  • Do Payments for Ecosystem Services crowd-out intrinsic motivations for nature conservation? A meta-analysis of experimental studies
  • Wealth and income impacts of Payments for Ecosystem Services in Western Uganda
  • Assessing the State of the Art in Behavioural Agricultural Economics – Choice Experiments with Farmers
  • Potential of citizens’ assemblies (‘Bürgerräte’) in climate policy
  • Assessing the State of the Art in Behavioural Agricultural Economics – Laboratory and Field Experiments with Farmers
  • The role of participatory approaches in promoting a sustainability transition in agriculture

Summer Semester 2021

In the Summer Semester 2021 the following topics were issued for Bachelor- and Master theses:

  • The behavioural effects of participation
  • Potential of citizens' assemblies ('Bürgerräte') in climate policy
  • Honesty in Experimental Economics
  • The Agricultural policy of Australia - A comparison with the Common Agricultural Policy
  • The future of the Common Agricultural Policy
  • Environmental Policy in times of crisis
  • Extreme weather events and endogenous time preferences
  • The effects of land tenure formalization on deforestation: theoretical links and empirical evidence
  • Nudging for biodiversity-friendly behaviour
  • Zahlungen für Umweltleistungen - Eine Option zum Schutz des Wolfes?
  • Payments for Ecosystem Services, transactions costs and peer monitoring - lessons from microfinance
  • Nature appreciation of the urban vs. rural population and their actions to preserve it
  • Anpassung an den Klimawandel in der Landwirtschaft: Welche psychologischen und sozioökonomischen Faktoren beeinflussen die Übernahme von Anpassungsmaßnahmen?
  • Do Payments for Ecosystem Services crowd - out intrinsic motivations for nature conservation? A review of the literature
  • The benefits of nature in times of crisis
  • The Agricultural policy of China - A comparison with the Common Agricultural Policy
  • Using social and behavioural sciences to support COVID-19 pandemic response
  • Nudging in the public space
  • Using auctions to design agri-environment measures - potentials, perceptions and pitfalls
  • Pledges to promote pro-social an pro-environmental behaviour
  • What makes people buy sustainable products?

Winter Semester 2020/2021

In the Winter Semester 2020/2021 the following topics were issued for Bachelor- and Master theses:

  • How effective are interverntions that aim to promote pro-environmental behaviour through changing social norms?
  • Digital Nudging - Assessing the potentials to induce pro-environmental behavioural change
  • Behavioural economic barriers and solution approaches for the exchange of household heating systems to mitigate climate change
  • Community-supported agriculture from the consumer perspective
  • Environmental behaviour and gender (stereotypes)
  • The potential of behavioural insights to make life in urban areas more sustainable
  • (Behavioural) Economic tools to approach waste management in households
  • Environmental economic barriers and solution approaches for the adoption of reduced meat consumption
  • Boosts - Assessing their potential to induce pro-environmental change among farmers
  • Benefits of Nature in Times of Crisis

Summer semester 2020

In the Summer Semester 2020 the following topics were issued for Bachelor- and Master theses:

  • Environmental protection as a social dilemma – conditional cooperation and group size
  • Behavioral barriers and solution approaches for the adoption of electric cars
  • Bounded willpower in environmentally relevant behaviour
  • Spatial distribution of environmental preferences in Germany
  • "Goal setting as a management & regulatory tool for pro-environmental behaviour"
  • The relationships between social cohesion and natural resource conflicts?
  • Perceived self-efficacy and environmentally-friendly behaviour
  • "The potential of nudges to increase the acceptance of agri-environment measures"
  • The Wolf is Back in Germany - Conflicts, Regulation and Costs
  • Who donates to environmental protection? - An empirical analysis of socio-economic characteristics
  • Goal setting as a management & regulatory tool for pro-environmental behaviour
  • Behavioral economic barriers and solution approaches for the adoption of reduced meat consumption
  • Community-supported agriculture – a new paradigm for producer-consumer interaction
  • Impact of Natural Catastrophes on Socio-Economic Values
  • The EU Green Deal: Critical evaluation from an environmental economics perspective
  • The ethics of nudging – What policymakers should keep in mind

Winter Semester 2019/2020

In the Winter Semester 2019/20 the following topics were issued for Bachelor- and Master theses:

  • A behavioural economic analysis of food waste in private household
  • Biodiversity Conservation in Domestic Gardens - Willingness and Barriers of Measure Implementation
  • Klimamigration - Berücksichtigung wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse bezüglich
  • Extremwetterereignissen im Zusammenhang mit Flucht und Migration in Prognosen
  • Using nudges for promoting sustainable farmer behaviour – Conceptual design of a smartphone app for nitrate management
  • Bestäuberrückgang – Ökonomische Relevanz und Pestizidsteuer als Regulierungsansatz“
  • Energetische Gebäudesanierung für den Klimaschutz: Barrieren und Lösungsansätze
  • Umweltfreundliches Verhalten aus Selbstinteresse oder für andere? Erkenntnisse zur Wirksamkeit aus experimentellen Studien