MSc thesis topics by Supervisor Harm Bartholomeus dr. HM (Harm) Bartholomeus Universitair docent MSc thesis topic: Can we detect small temporal differences in spring/fall phenology with high spatial and temporal resolution remote sensing data? Changing climate means that also trees have to adapt to new conditions. To study which tree from which location will be best adapted to future climate... MSc thesis topic: Mapping the effects of Rewilding on Woody-plant regeneration and Open-woodland Mosaics Rewilding is a form of nature restoration that gives room for natural processes so as to regenerate self-sustaining resilient ecosystems. Myriads of... MSc thesis topic: Use of Terrestrial Laser Scanning to update form factors for Dutch forests Sustainable forest management requires a good measurement of standing timber volumes and volume increment rates. Tree volumes are estimated from... MSc thesis topic: Using LiDAR to understand nest selection of the great spotted woodpecker The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) is the most common woodpecker species in Western Europe. The Dutch population has been increasing due... Johannes Balling dr. J (Johannes) Balling MSc Onderzoeker MSc thesis topic: Assessing patterns of tropical forest disturbances [using the RADD alerts] 03 April 2024 - Student information - The RADD (RAdar for Detecting Deforestation) alerts offer insights into tropical forest disturbances. Leveraging data from Sentinel-1, a SAR satellite... MSc thsis topic: Pan-tropical analysis of the temporal relationship of forest disturbances and precipitation 03 April 2024 - Student information - The RADD (RAdar for Detecting Deforestation) alerts offer insights into tropical forest disturbances. Leveraging data from Sentinel-1, a SAR satellite... Aldo Bergsma ir. AR (Aldo) Bergsma Lecturer MSc thesis topic: Impact of Fish Farms on the Environment in the Mediterranean World fisheries and aquaculture production showed a 45 percentgrowth over the years 2000–2021. The majority of the production includes Marine... Kirsten de Beurs prof.dr. KM (Kirsten) de Beurs Professor/Chair MSc thesis topic: Comparing spaceborne LiDAR data with Holdrige’s forest plots This MSc topic will inventory available LiDAR data over Costa Rica to identify if there are LiDAR footprints overlapping the 48 sample plots from the... MSc thesis topic: Environmental justice in Oklahoma: the growth of regulated and unregulated poultry farms This MSc topic focuses on the identification of active and passive poultry farms in Northeast Oklahoma to better understand the rapid growth of... MSc thesis topic: From croplands to urban: land cover change in the Netherlands This MSc topic will use the Land Use Database of the Netherlands to investigate land use changes in the Netherlands. MSc thesis topic: Relating Amazonian rainforest photosynthesis to clouds The MSc topic will deal with the interaction between the Amazonian rainforest and an atmosphere characterized by clouds. MSc thesis topic: Relating Amazonian rainforest structural propertiesto clouds The MSc topic will deal with the interaction between the Amazonian rainforest and an atmosphere characterized by clouds. MSc thesis topic: Using Remotely Sensed data to map development in seagrass fields over time along the North Sea coasts This MSc topic will use satellite imagery to map seagrass beds in the Wadden Sea and Zeeland. Sytze de Bruin dr.ir. S (Sytze) de Bruin associate professor MSc thesis topic: Coverage path planning for autonomous field operations Soil compaction is an important problem in modern agriculture. Agricultural machines tend to become larger and heavier which may severely damage soil... MSc thesis topic: Data Driven Utility Route Planner: Maps4Cables Alliander is a Distribution System Operator (DSO), responsible for a reliable, sustainable and affordable energy network for roughly one third of the... MSc thesis topic: Feature Space Coverage and Uncertainty in Spatial Biomass Prediction Accurate estimates of forest biomass at subnational to global scale are essential for monitoring the carbon balance and to realise climate goals. The... Laura Elena Cue La Rosa LE (Laura) Cué la Rosa Onderzoeker MSc thesis topic: Combining Sentinel-1 Imagery and Environmental Variables for Deforestation Prediction in Tropical Forests Using Deep Learning Deforestation in tropical forests represents one of the most critical environmental challenges of our era, resulting in devastating consequences,... MSc thesis topic: Estimating Deforestation Risk in Tropical Forests Through Deep Learning Deforestation in tropical forests is a major environmental challenge that leads to habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and escalated global... Alemu Debay AB (Alemu) Debay Promovendus , Promovendus MSc thesis topic: Exploring the impact of land-use dynamics and eutrophication on aquatic vegetation in Lake Tana and Abaya-Chamo lake basins: a three-decade study. One of the consequences of unsustainable land-use practices and transitions is disturbance of water bodies. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is... MSc thesis topic: The evolution of land-use in lake basins: insights from satellite imagery and deep learning in Lake Tana and Abaya-Chamo lake basins. Socioeconomic factors increase the complexity of land-use transitions in the tropics. Assessing long-term land-use dynamics is important for... Tim van Emmerick dr.ir. THM (Tim) van Emmerik Universitair hoofddocent MSs thesis topic: Plastic Plants: Using water hyacinths as a proxy todetect plastic pollution from space Tropical rivers are both home to the invasive water hyacinths (WHs), and the majority of the world’s freshwater plastic pollution. Recent... MSc thesis topic: Spotting Plastic Hotspots in Rivers from Space Plastic pollution is an emerging contaminant threatening terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Most land-based plastic waste never reaches the ocean,... Maryam Ghodsvali dr. M (Maryam) Ghodsvali Universitair docent MSc thesis topic: Optimizing sustainability in urban natural resource flows Urbanization has led to increased demands for energy, water, minerals, and other natural resources. Cities rely heavily on resource imports to meet... MSc thesis topic: Spatial characterisation of synergies in Socio-Ecological Systems for resilience Cities are complex and dynamic, shaped by the intricate interactions between human and nature. These interactions form what we refer to as... Jascha Grübel dr. JU (Jascha) Grübel Assistant Professor for Digital Twinning MSc thesis topic: Embed ODTP digital twins anywhere on Earth with AnywhereXR Complex simulations and machine-learning models increase in application in research, industry, and governance. However, applying these systems with... MSc thesis topic: Explainable Artificial Intelligence in Mobility Prediction Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing many applications in Geo-Information Science. The transportation sector offers many opportunities to... MSc thesis topic: Nowcasting the Dutch weather in ODTP In a changing climate, rapid access to precise short-term weather forecasts is vital for proactive actions against sudden threats such as hail storms,... MSc thesis topic: Open Digital Twin Platform: Developing a Netherlands scenario for mobility Building digital twins is still a difficult task that requires bringing together a complex stack of technologies. The Open Digital Twin Platform... MSc thesis topic: Visualizing crop growth in a Digital Twin: combiningUAV data and a crop growth models Understanding crop growth in the field is an important condition to improve food production. Large amounts of data are being acquired from in situ... Lukasz Grus dr.ir. L (Lukasz) Grus Medewerker onderwijsontwikkeling , Opleidingsmanager , Assistant Professor Geo-information Science; Education Coordinator Data Science MSc thesis topic: Ethics in Geo-infromation Science. Building a framework for considering the issues of ethical and moral aspects of using location data Ethical aspects of information use becomes an increasingly relevant topic in many data-reach fields of science. As a digital society we create... MSc Thesis topic: Evaluate AgroDataCube usability for Agro/Food application use cases (Open) big data offer research and business community opportunities to explore and create new insights in environmental domains by using data science... MSc thesis topic: Impact of open geodata The last decade and increasing number of data has been made available as open data. The majority of this data are geospatial. Governmental... Gerard Hazeu drs. GW (Gerard) Hazeu researcher Remote Sensing & GIS MSc thesis topic: Alternative method to derive CLC2024 The upcoming year the European Environmental Agency (EEA) is requesting WENR to update the CLC2018 dataset for the Netherlands. The update with... Gerard Heuvelink prof.dr.ir. GBM (Gerard) Heuvelink Professor MSc thesis topic: Incorporating uncertainty in spatial decision making Spatial data play a key role in various decision-making contexts, including spatial planning, ecosystem management, and land degradation mitigation.... MSc thesis topic: Interpreting training data weights in random forest predictions Today, machine learning is frequently utilized to tackle regression and classification issues. This study specifically delves into one machine... Tianyi Jia T (Tianyi) Jia Promovendus MSc thesis topic: Identifying potato disease in UAV imagery with deep learning Potato is an attractive crop due to its high yield potential and nutritional benefits. However, it is estimated that approximately 32 percent of... Jennifer Koch MSc thesis topic: Environmental Health Inequalities in a Historically Redlined Neighborhood in Oklahoma City This MSc topic focuses on georeferencing and integrating spatial data from many studies, agencies, and other sources, documenting the historical and... Lammert Kooistra prof.dr.ir. L (Lammert) Kooistra Personal Professor Remote Sensing MSc thesis topic: Detecting reindeer carrion in the Arctic tundra of Svalbard Dead organic matter comprises the basal trophic level of many food webs globally and promotes biodiversity and ecosystem stability. Dead organic... MSc thesis topic: Quantification of biomass and nitrogen of grasslands using proximal and satellite remote sensing data Grasslands are pivotal in the global ecosystem, serving as a vital carbon sink and offering essential ecosystem services. Precise measurement of... MSc thesis topic: Scaling Sun induced Fluorescence (SIF) over agricultural fields from ground to airborne and satellite Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is a promising proxy of the dynamic photosynthetic process in natural vegetation and agricultural crops.... MSc thesis topic: Using satellite images to assess the impact of crop rotation on soil quality Maintaining healthy soils is essential for successful crop growth and yield, and to ensure sustainable food security for a growing population. Soil... Alvaro Lau Sarmiento dr.ir. AI (Alvaro) Lau Sarmiento MSc Docent MSc thesis topic: Exploring forest regrowth dynamics in the Peruvian Amazon using temporal analysis of remote sensing data Conserving primary forests has to be combined with forest recovery efforts by the people who live in forest landscapes. Amazonian forest landscapes... MSc thesis topic: Improving mobile LiDAR pointclouds in an urban environment Many fields of research make use of LiDAR, one of those fields is urban monitoring. Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) has been used for monitoring... MSc thesis topic: Matching tree pointclouds from different LiDAR systems based on their tree structure Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has been proposed as a suitable technique for mapping forest. A number of parameters can be derived from these 3D... Arend Ligtenberg dr.ir. A (Arend) Ligtenberg Assistant Professor MSc thesis topic: Exploring resilience in Socio Ecological Systems This thesis topic combines Agent Based Modelling with methods that can be used to quantify the resilience of a Social-Ecological Systems. Msc thesis topic: Perception of Places in an Urban context The goal is to get insight in de development and dynamics of places amongst different groups of people as well as the effects of (mass) tourism and/or... MSc thesis topic: Virtual reality and agent-based models Computer simulations such as agent-based models are powerful tools for understanding the behavior of complex systems and what contributes to results... Dainius Masiliūnas D (Dainius) Masiliunas MSc Docent MSc thsis topic: AI for land cover change monitoring Monitoring land cover change is essential for understanding and adapting to many challenges we are facing today from climate change to sustainable... MSc thesis topic: Automated change detection and classification at a large scale in BFAST Lite BFAST Lite is a newly developed change detection algorithm based on the established foundation of BFAST (Breaks For Additive Season and Trend) family... MSc thesis topic: Comparison of land cover change detection methods at a global scale Land cover change monitoring is essential for sound policymaking and keeping track of what effects policies have over time. Automatic land cover... MSc thesis topic: How well can we update land cover fraction maps? Land cover fractions are a new way to represent land cover. Each fraction is an indication of how much area of the pixel is occupied by that land... MSc thesis topic: Scaling SIF: from point observations to the entire field using UAV-based SIF and multispectral data Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is an important measure of plant stress that can be obtained using remote sensing. However, it requires... MSc thesis topic: Unmixing the SIF signal across land cover and spatial scales Sun-induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence is an important measure of vegetation status, but it is difficult to quantify as it is a weak signal compared to... Robert Masolele RN (Robert) Masolele MSc Onderzoeker MSc thesis topic: Cashew Mapping across Continents with Location Information Cashew mapping emerges as a critical endeavor, particularly in regions like Africa and Southeast Asia, where it stands as a vital cash crop cultivated... MSc thesis topic: Commodity crops recognition in satellite images using Fourier transform: A new look at signal to frequency domain for detecting commodity crops. Commodity crops play a significant role in global agricultural production and economic development. Accurate detection and monitoring of commodity... MSc thesis topic: Decoding the optimal time for detecting commodity crops after deforestation. Commodity crops play a pivotal role in the livelihoods of a significant population across pantropical regions. However, their cultivation often... MSc thesis topic: Domain adaptation for mapping commodity crops in Africa Earth observation data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence offer an automated way to monitor climate change challenges [1]. However, there... MSc thesis topic: Using high-resolution satellite imagery and deep learning to map artisanal mining footprint in DRC Artisanal or small scale mining (ASM) is an important source of livelihoods for a significant population in the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC) but... Titia Mulder dr.ir. VL (Titia) Mulder Associate Professor (SGL) Johannes Reiche dr. J (Johannes) Reiche Associate Professor MSc thesis topic: Integrate satellite-based forest disturbance products with multi-element analysis and for improved timber tracing Illegal timber trade is a huge environmental problem, and is often associated with organized crime and deforestation. Legislation to fight illegal... Gerbert Roerink ir. GJ (Gerbert) Roerink DLO Onderzoeker MSc thesis topic: Potential of remote sensing techniques for carbon farming Atmospheric carbon is a well-understood cause of climate change. Soils can store much more carbon than the atmosphere and increasing soil organic... Msc thesis topic: Using Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 for mapping crop emergence This topic deals with the mapping of the moment of emergence of various agricultural crops (in the Netherlands). This information is crucial for crop... Msc thesis topic: Using Sentinel-2 for monitoring grazing activities in the Netherlands This topic deals with the mapping and monitoring of grasslands in the Netherlands, particularly the difference between using it for grazing by cattle... Sasja van Rosmalen SJ (Sasja) van Rosmalen MSc Promovendus , Promovendus MSc thesis topic: Identifying anthropogenic pressure on beach vegetation by means of footsteps on UAV images The physical requirements of new dune development and vegetation growth have previously been researched, but a second factor that determines their... Marc Rußwurm dr. MC (Marc) Russwurm Assistant Professor MSc thesis topic: Can a Satellite-Geoguesser playing Neural Network predict cancer risk? Many environmental and social factors influence our planet's appearance captured in Satellite images (Figure, left side). These factors can be... MSc thesis topic: Deep Learning AI Models for Crop Type Mapping with Sentinel-2 Our food supply utilizes few highly optimized crop species, to achieve high yields and compete in the global commodity markets (Van Zanten et al.,... MSc thesis topic: Evaluating the Impact of Deep Foundation models on Forest Inventory Current deep learning models are based on vision transformers (ViTs) that can ingest data at various spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions. When... MSc thesis topic: Exploring the potential of high-resolution and hyper-spectral Satellite Imagery for River Plastic Mapping Plastic pollution in rivers is an emerging environmental risk, threatening aquatic life and human livelihood. Plastic accumulates at specific... MSc thesis topic: Multi-temporal log yard monitoring with PlanetScope & Sentinel-1/2 Advances in computer vision can help to track where, how and in what quantities timber products are processed. Such insights are essential for... MSc thesis topic: Open-World Land Cover Classification In Land Cover Classification, we represent the richness and heterogeneity of our open world into a (small) set of distinct land cover classes. This... Bart Slagter B (Bart) Slagter MSc Promovendus , Promovendus MSc thesis topic: Mapping the history of logging road developments in Congo Basin forests with satellite imagery The Congo Basin forests have experienced high rates of logging road constructions in the last decades, built to access and selectively harvest... Maciej Soja dr. MJ (Maciej) Soja DLO Onderzoeker MSc thesis topic: Forest biomass mapping in the Netherlands with satellite radar Accurate mapping and monitoring of forest biomass is needed in many applications, including climate research where more accurate estimates of carbon... Erika Speelman dr.ir. EN (Erika) Speelman Universitair hoofddocent Msc thesis topic: Agent-based simulation of the forest-water-people nexus Approximately half of the human population needs to cope with too much, too little and/or low quality water. The complex relationships between... MSc thesis topic: Exploring agro-ecological intensification in topical agricultural landscapes through agent-based modelling: the case of semi-arid Burkina Faso Agro-ecological intensification as a strategy towards increased sustainability and resilience has become increasingly popular. Efficient use of... MSc thesis topic: Exploring system dynamics as a result of human decision-making; the case of the Agrodiversity v.2 agent-based model Biodiversity loss associated to agricultural intensification is one of the most important issues on the global change agenda. Till recently,... MSc thesis topic: Gaming for active participation in (local) landscape planning Participatory gaming is an upcoming method increasingly being used for supporting and exploring (collective) decision-making processes in complex... Arno Timmer AJ (Arno) Timmer MSc Docent MSc thesis topic: Mapping movements of knowledge based on bibliographic data The useful knowledge project is a collaboration between the economic history group of Wageningen University and the London School of Economics. The... MSc thesis topic: Studying space use of Humpback Mahseer in the Cauvery river basin in Karnataka India The Humpback Mahseer (Tor reamdevii) is a type of fish that is endemic to the Cauvery River basin in South India. It was once found abundantly across... Nandika Tsendbazar dr. NE (Nandika) Tsendbazar Assistant professor MSc thesis topic: Assessing spatial fairness of maps with deep learning The quality of remote sensing based land monitoring is often varies across space. In data rich regions such as Europe and North America, the maps tend... MSc Thesis topic: Garbage in garbage out? understanding the impact of training datasets on remote sensing based monitoring Remote sensing based land monitoring frequently uses training and calibration datasets to predict different aspects of the earth's cover, e.g.,... Msc thesis topic: Global earth observation products: are they useful for countries? Accurate monitoring of forest, land use and land cover at the national level has become essential for the successful implementation and evaluation of... MSc thesis topic: Monitoring land cover changes and seasonal variations in the wetlands ecosystem Noorderpark, the Netherlands Wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services such as freshwater supply, flood control, groundwater recharge and climate change mitigation. They are... MSc thesis topic: Quantification and driver attribution of land transitions at high resolution using sample and map-based approaches With the urgency to act on climate change that is facing the Earth, it has become ever important to monitor changes occurring on the Earth’s... MSc thesis topic: Unlocking the Value of Existing Reference Datasets: A Remote Sensing Approach Remote sensing based land monitoring is an important part of implementing and assessing various policies targeting climate change mitigation and... Marian Vittek M (Marian) Vittek MSc DLO Onderzoeker MSc thesis topic: Data cubes in agriculture and biodiversity context Data cubes are complex data representations enabling researchers to integrate and analyse data across multiple dimensions such as space, time, and... Mieke van Vlaardingen M (Mieke) van Vlaardingen MSc Promovendus , Promovendus MSc thesis topic: Exploring novel quinoa variants: High-throughput phenotyping data analysis under drought stress Image-based phenotyping platforms enable precise monitoring of plant behavior, providing insights into plant traits that enhance resilience to abiotic... MSc thesis topic: From pot-to-plot: Correlating high-throughput phenotyping data from a greenhouse experiment to field performance Image-based phenotyping platforms allow us to monitor plants behavior in a very detailed manner. These details are very useful, especially if we could... Maarten Voors dr.ir. MJ (Maarten) Voors Associate Professor MSc thesis topic: Estimating Foregone Forest Loss around a REDD project Carbon financing through REDD projects have become a core tool to help fight climate change. Many projects have been implemented over the past decades... Corné Vreugdenhil LC (Corné) Vreugdenhil MSc Docent MSc thesis topic: Dutch Forest Monitor - AHN based forest change detection in the Netherlands ALS | Airborne Lidar Scanning data (ALS) provides height information in XYZ points. ALS is commonly used to derive digital elevation models for larger... MSc thesis topic: Improving Bird Species Distribution (and Abundance) Models By Integrating Uncertainty Species distribution models (SDMs) are commonly used to describe and predict the spatial distribution and abundance of species. Observational data,... Wies Vullings dr.ir. LAE (Wies) Vullings Teamleader Applied Spatial Research MSc thesis topic: Evaluate and Test Open Data Cube You will be part of an international, cutting-edge and active EU Horizon project FAIRiCUBE with the mission of enabling players from beyond classic... Sietse van der Woude SP (Sietse) van der Woude MSc Promovendus , MSc thesis topic: Prediction of forest parameters by linking SAR satellite observations and national forest inventory data Accurate and timely information on the state of European forests is of great importance for the provision of wood, carbon sequestration and... Jess Wreyford dr. JM (Jess) Wreyford Docent MSc thesis topic: Comparative Evaluation of Data Visualization Methods Compare and evaluate different data visualization methods to determine their effectiveness in conveying information to users. The research could... MSc thesis topic: Integration of Renewable Energy Systems in Urban Environments Developing strategies for the integration of renewable energy systems, such as solar(thermal), hydro(kinetic), wind turbines, or geothermal systems,... Chenglong Zhang C (Chenglong) Zhang Onderzoeker MSc thesis topic: High-resolution UAV imagery for fruit counting in orchards utilizing deep learning Advances in sensor miniaturization are increasing the global popularity of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in agriculture. In the context of smart... Jiayan Zhao J (Jiayan) Zhao PhD Universitair docent MSc thesis topic: Agent-based modeling and simulation of shared space in virtual reality Agent-based modeling (ABM) is an advanced computational approach used to represent dynamic interactions between humans (aka “agents”) and... MSc thesis topic: Augmented reality display on windshields: Improving the spatial awareness of autonomous car drivers The craving for self-driving vehicles keeps growing in society. Along with major technical breakthroughs, researchers have raised concerns about the... MSc thesis topic: Eye-tracking in immersive virtual environments: Collection, validation, and analysis Spatial data and its analysis can take many forms. Virtual environments, for example, are inherently spatial and allow for collecting an abundance of... MSc thesis topic: Immersive virtual environments based on open geospatial data: Generation, improvement, evaluation, and application The proliferation of remote sensing and GIS technologies has tremendously increased the volume and variety of geospatial data available on the... Linkedin Whatsapp Twitter Email