Aalto University Chemistry and Materials Science Master’s Thesis Guide for the 2026–2028 Curriculum

Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in Chemistry and Materials Science is a 120 ECTS, two-year Master of Science (Technology) programme organised by the School of Chemical Engineering. For students following the current 2026–2028 curriculum, the degree includes 91 ECTS of major studies and 29 ECTS of elective studies, with the 30 ECTS Master’s thesis included inside the major studies.

The programme is deliberately broad. Students can build expertise across inorganic and organic chemistry, electrochemistry and physical chemistry, soft materials and polymers, functional materials, microtechnology and nanotechnology, modelling, and research-project work. That breadth matters for thesis planning because a suitable Chemistry and Materials Science thesis does not have one mandatory method. Depending on the research problem, the project may be laboratory-based, computational, modelling-oriented, materials-characterisation focused, or combine several forms of evidence.

This guide is based on the current 2026–2028 curriculum and School of Chemical Engineering thesis instructions verified on 27 August 2026. It deliberately does not import rules from Aalto’s School of Business, another technical programme, or an older curriculum.

Degree structure and where the thesis fits

The current curriculum totals 120 ECTS:

• 91 ECTS major studies, including the 30 ECTS Master’s thesis;
• 29 ECTS elective studies.

Within the major curriculum, Aalto currently lists 21 ECTS of compulsory taught studies. One of these is CHEM-E4113 Learning, Thesis, and Career, 1 ECTS. The curriculum then provides 40 ECTS of selected studies across chemistry, materials, modelling and research-project themes, while the Master’s thesis is listed separately as CHEM.thes, 30 ECTS.

This distinction is important. The 1 ECTS Learning, Thesis, and Career course is not a thesis-seminar credit and should not be added to the thesis to create a fictitious 31 ECTS thesis requirement. The thesis itself remains 30 ECTS.

The applicant-facing programme page says that compulsory and specialisation studies are intended mainly for the first year, while the second year is dedicated to elective studies and the Master’s thesis. Students should still start exploring possible supervisors, research groups, companies and topic areas before the formal thesis period if they want a smoother start.

The 30 ECTS thesis is a complete research project

The School of Chemical Engineering defines the Master’s thesis as a 30 ECTS project, not merely a long report. The project consists of the thesis report, a maturity test, and a seminar or presentation related to the project.

That wording creates two important boundaries. First, the current curriculum does not publish a separate additional thesis-seminar ECTS value. Second, the required presentation and maturity test are still real completion requirements even though they sit within the 30 ECTS thesis project.

Aalto describes the purpose of the thesis as solving a problem related to the student’s field and advanced studies. A strong topic therefore needs an academically meaningful question, suitable evidence or data, an appropriate method, analysis, and conclusions. Producing material, running an instrument, completing simulations or collecting spectra may be part of the work, but those activities are not by themselves the research question.

Choosing a Chemistry and Materials Science topic

The programme’s breadth gives students many possible thesis environments. Current curriculum themes include inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, electrochemistry and physical chemistry, soft materials and polymers, functional materials, microtechnology and nanotechnology, modelling, and research projects. The applicant-facing programme also emphasises molecular and materials design, synthesis, characterisation, modelling, sustainability, energy, pharmaceuticals and electronics.

Possible thesis questions may therefore involve areas such as:

• synthesis or functionalisation of molecules or materials;
• structure-property relationships;
• electrochemical materials, batteries or hydrogen-related materials;
• surfaces, films, coatings or deposition processes;
• polymers and soft materials;
• spectroscopy, microscopy or other materials-characterisation strategies;
• computational chemistry or molecular/materials modelling;
• micro- or nanoscale functional materials;
• sustainable materials and replacement of problematic substances;
• process or laboratory research conducted with an industrial partner.

These are examples of disciplinary contexts, not mandatory thesis categories. Aalto does not prescribe one universal experimental method, one statistical technique, one software package or one research design for the whole programme. The method should follow the research problem and be agreed with the supervisor and advisor or advisors.

The programme page also notes that students often complete Master’s theses with companies. A company setting can be valuable, but the academic standard is the same: the supervisor must approve the topic’s suitability and scope, and the final thesis remains an Aalto academic attainment.

Before you submit the thesis starting information

Current CHEM instructions identify several prerequisites before formal thesis approval begins. The student should:

• be enrolled as an attending student;
• have the Bachelor of Science degree approved;
• have an approved personal study plan for the Master’s degree;
• have completed any complementary studies assigned at admission, where applicable.

The first practical step is to contact a potential supervising professor and discuss a suitable topic. Once the topic is sufficiently defined, the student submits the starting information in the MyStudies Thesis tab. This includes the topic, thesis language, supervisor and one or two advisors.

The supervisor approves the topic and thesis language and appoints the advisor or advisors. The Programme Director approves the supervisor. Aalto states that the supervisor and programme-level approval response can take up to four weeks, so the student should include this administrative period in the schedule instead of assuming that formal approval is immediate.

Supervisor and advisor roles

A Chemistry and Materials Science thesis normally has one supervisor and one or two advisors.

The supervisor is usually an Aalto professor. School of Chemical Engineering rules also allow certain University Lecturer, Senior University Lecturer, Principal University Lecturer, Adjunct Professor and full-time Professor of Practice roles to supervise, while some other senior research roles may receive individual permission from the dean.

The supervisor’s responsibility is academic. The supervisor ensures that the topic and completed project satisfy School of Chemical Engineering requirements, gives final manuscript feedback, prepares the evaluation report and proposes the grade.

The advisor is a subject expert with at least a Master’s degree. An advisor may work for a collaborating company or organisation, or may be an Aalto researcher or doctoral student. Advisors usually provide practical day-to-day guidance, technical feedback and comments on the thesis report. They do not formally decide the grade.

Students should agree early on how often meetings will occur, who comments on experimental plans or modelling choices, who reviews manuscript sections, and how delays or changes will be communicated.

Company thesis, Aalto project, grant or work abroad

CHEM allows thesis work in several settings. A student may complete the project for a company or external organisation, within an Aalto research project, with grant funding, without external funding, or abroad if Aalto requirements and supervision are maintained.

For Chemistry and Materials Science, industrial collaboration can be especially relevant because materials development and chemical research often intersect with energy, electronics, pharmaceutical, coating, polymer, process and technology companies. However, the location or sponsor does not change the academic requirements.

If a company is involved, practical matters should be discussed before work begins: salary or grant arrangements, equipment access, laboratory safety, intellectual property, patentable results, publication timing and what information can appear in the public thesis. The thesis supervisor should remain involved in these discussions because the topic must stay academically suitable.

The kick-off meeting and research proposal

Once the topic is judged suitable, the student, supervisor and advisor or advisors should hold a kick-off meeting. A company representative may participate when relevant.

The research proposal is the working blueprint for the thesis. Current CHEM guidance says it should address:

• background and theoretical framework;
• research problem or problems;
• the main objective and intermediate objectives;
• research methods;
• timetable and possible budget;
• analysis, synthesis and conclusions.

Aalto notes that the main objective is often useful when framed as a question. For Chemistry and Materials Science, this helps separate scientific purpose from laboratory or computational activity. “Prepare samples and measure them” is a task description. A research question should explain what relationship, mechanism, performance difference, structure-property connection or other phenomenon the work is trying to establish.

The proposal should also anticipate feasibility. If the work depends on instrument availability, sample synthesis, cleanroom access, long simulations, external testing or safety approvals, these constraints should appear in the schedule rather than being discovered late.

Workload: about 800 hours and usually about five months

The School of Chemical Engineering gives a concrete workload baseline. The 30 ECTS thesis corresponds to about 800 hours of work, and Aalto says the project is usually completed in about five months.

The actual calendar can differ. Laboratory projects may be affected by synthesis cycles, instrument queues, equipment failure, sample preparation or safety procedures. Computational projects can face model development, convergence, computing-resource or data-processing delays. A combined experimental-computational project may have dependencies between both sides.

CHEM allows the execution period to be extended for justified circumstances when agreed with the supervisor and advisor or advisors. Even then, the School states that the total thesis workload should not exceed about 800 hours. The agreed thesis deadline should also be no later than one year from the starting date.

This distinction matters: a longer calendar period does not automatically mean a larger thesis scope.

Give enough time for supervisor review

CHEM recommends reserving a genuine review period at the end. The current thesis page says the supervisor should have around 2–3 weeks for reading, correcting and commenting on the manuscript before final approval for submission.

Students planning around a Degree Programme Committee deadline should therefore work backwards. The first complete manuscript cannot safely be scheduled for the final application date. There must be time for supervisor review, corrections, the required presentation, final abstract/maturity-test completion, PDF/A conversion and the final MyStudies upload.

Thesis language and multilingual degree completion

The applicant-facing study option is taught in English. The current Student Guide also describes the programme as multilingual for degree completion, allowing studies primarily in Finnish, Swedish or English subject to curriculum rules.

The Master’s thesis itself may be written in English, Finnish or Swedish. The language selected for the thesis affects the language or languages of the degree certificate. Students should settle this choice during the MyStudies starting process rather than treating thesis language as a last-minute formatting decision.

Practical structure and formatting

The School of Chemical Engineering provides detailed writing and layout guidance and points students to the Aalto Master’s thesis template. The conventional scientific structure it presents includes:

• title page;
• abstract;
• preface;
• table of contents;
• list of symbols and abbreviations where needed;
• introduction;
• literature review;
• experimental or methodological section;
• results and discussion;
• conclusions;
• references;
• appendices where needed.

For many Chemistry and Materials Science projects this is a useful baseline, especially for laboratory studies. A computational or modelling-heavy thesis may need a different internal logic, and some projects may integrate methods and results differently. The supervisor should confirm the most suitable structure.

The current public CHEM instructions do not establish a universal thesis page count or word count. Students should not copy an arbitrary length from an older thesis or another Aalto school.

Presentation before approval

The completed thesis must be presented before formal approval and evaluation. Aalto allows the presentation or a similar event to be arranged at a time agreed with the supervisor.

CHEM does not currently publish one fixed oral-presentation seminar date for all students. The programme’s thesis guidance explicitly says the student agrees the presentation with the supervisor. The graduation instructions also require the relevant thesis seminar or presentation requirement to be completed before the application for thesis approval is submitted to the Degree Programme Committee.

This means presentation planning belongs inside the thesis schedule, not after the final upload.

Maturity test: the thesis abstract

At the School of Chemical Engineering, the thesis abstract is the Master’s maturity test. Aalto states that this has been the practice since 1 August 2021. The supervisor approves the content of the maturity test.

Language obligations differ depending on the student’s educational background. Students who still need to demonstrate proficiency in Finnish or Swedish may have additional language-check requirements. International students who are not required to demonstrate Finnish or Swedish proficiency generally complete the maturity test in the thesis language, commonly English.

The maturity test is assessed pass/fail and does not determine the numerical thesis grade.

AI use and the maturity-test boundary

Aalto’s current AI guidance allows AI to support learning unless a teacher or assessment explicitly restricts its use. Students remain responsible for the accuracy, originality and academic integrity of submitted work. AI-generated text should not simply be presented as the student’s own unmodified work.

There is an important hard boundary: Aalto prohibits AI in maturity exams.

Because the School of Chemical Engineering defines the Master’s thesis abstract as the maturity test, students should treat the maturity-test abstract as an AI-prohibited assessed component. For other parts of the thesis, students should follow current University, programme, supervisor and course guidance and document permissible AI use transparently where required.

Final submission in MyStudies

The final thesis is submitted through MyStudies after the supervisor gives permission for submission. The version uploaded for grading is the final version.

The student should also have a valid and approved study plan in Sisu when applying for thesis approval.

The thesis must be submitted electronically in PDF/A format for archiving. Once the final file is submitted in MyStudies, it is automatically checked by Turnitin and the report becomes available to the supervisor.

Students should therefore complete reference checks, figure/table checks, file conversion, template compliance and final proofreading before the MyStudies submission.

Public thesis, company secrets and Aaltodoc

A CHEM Master’s thesis is a public document after approval.

Aalto archives the full text and publishes thesis metadata and the abstract in Aaltodoc. The student can give permission for full-text online publication. If needed for publication, patent or company reasons, online publication can be delayed by up to one year from the approval date.

That delay does not make the thesis confidential. Aalto states that the thesis becomes public immediately after approval and must remain available as a public document. If full online publication permission is not granted, access arrangements differ, but the thesis itself does not become a secret document.

Students working with companies should therefore separate confidential background material from the public thesis report. Trade secrets or other non-public information that cannot lawfully be made public should not be placed in the report. This issue should be resolved with the supervisor and external partner before the writing reaches its final stage.

How the thesis is evaluated

CHEM evaluation covers the whole thesis project, not only the final report. The School’s instructions say that the student’s development during the project is considered in relation to the thesis learning outcomes and evaluation criteria.

The supervisor prepares an evaluation statement and proposes a grade. Advisor feedback may inform the supervisor, but advisors do not decide the grade. The Degree Programme Committee formally approves the thesis and grade.

The supervisor should provide the evaluation report within four weeks after the final evaluation request. For certain extreme grade proposals, the Committee may consult an additional qualified expert before deciding.

Students dissatisfied with the thesis grade may appeal to the Aalto University Academic Appeals Board within 14 days of receiving notice of the decision.

Current 2027 CHEM thesis-approval timetable

Aalto currently publishes School of Chemical Engineering thesis-approval and graduation schedules into 2027. Not every graduation date can be used for thesis approval: dates marked as graduation-only have no Degree Programme Committee thesis meeting.

Current 2027 application dates that do include thesis approval are:

• 17 February 2027 → Committee 9 March 2027;
• 21 April 2027 → Committee 18 May 2027;
• 26 May 2027 → Committee 15 June 2027;
• 30 July 2027 → Committee 24 August 2027;
• 22 September 2027 → Committee 12 October 2027;
• 17 November 2027 → Committee 7 December 2027;
• 31 December 2027 → Committee in January 2028.

Students should always re-check the live graduation page before planning around one of these dates. Administrative schedules can change, and the supervisor’s review time and presentation must be completed before the final evaluation application.

A realistic project plan

Before the formal start

Identify a feasible research environment and potential supervisor. Discuss whether the topic fits Chemistry and Materials Science and is substantial enough for a 30 ECTS thesis. If working with a company, clarify what information can be public and what must remain outside the report.

Month 1

Agree the topic and language. Identify one or two advisors. Submit the MyStudies starting information. Hold the kick-off meeting and prepare the research proposal. Define the research question, methods, milestones and data or experimental needs.

Months 1–3

Build the literature base and conduct the main experimental, modelling, computational, design or other research work. Keep regular contact with advisors. Record methodological decisions and deviations from the original plan.

Months 3–5

Complete analysis, write the thesis and connect results back to the research question and previous literature. Do not postpone writing until every experiment or model run is complete.

Final review stage

Give the supervisor the mature manuscript early enough for the recommended 2–3 week review period. Make corrections carefully. Complete the required presentation. Finalise the abstract/maturity test without prohibited AI use. Convert and verify the PDF/A file.

Submission and approval

After supervisor permission, submit the final file in MyStudies, allow for Turnitin and supervisor evaluation, and target a Degree Programme Committee date that fits the agreed graduation plan.

Final checklist

Before final submission, confirm that:

• the topic, supervisor, advisor(s) and thesis language have been approved;
• the personal study plan is valid and approved;
• the research proposal and planned milestones have been completed;
• the thesis remains within the agreed 30 ECTS scope;
• the report follows the appropriate CHEM/Aalto formatting guidance;
• confidential information has not been placed in the public report;
• references, figures, tables, equations and appendices are complete;
• the finished thesis presentation has been completed;
• the abstract/maturity test satisfies the applicable language and AI rules;
• the supervisor has authorised final submission;
• the final file is a verified PDF/A;
• the current CHEM application deadline and Committee meeting have been rechecked.

Final planning principle

The Chemistry and Materials Science thesis process is structured but not mechanically identical for every student. The current secure framework is clear: 30 ECTS, about 800 hours, normally around five months, one supervisor, one or two advisors, a research proposal, a required presentation, abstract-as-maturity-test, MyStudies submission, PDF/A archiving, public-document status and Degree Programme Committee approval.

Within that framework, the research problem should determine the detailed method and structure. Students should use the current CHEM instructions and their supervisor’s project-specific guidance rather than importing word counts, seminar credits or thesis rules from another Aalto school or programme.