Aalto University Civil Engineering Master’s Thesis Guide for the 2026–2028 Curriculum

Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in Civil Engineering is a 120 ECTS, two-year Master of Science (Technology) programme organised by the School of Engineering. Under the current 2026–2028 curriculum, the degree consists of 60 ECTS of major studies, a 30 ECTS Master’s thesis and 30 ECTS of elective studies.

The programme spans structural engineering, building performance, construction management, mineral-based materials, and structural and computational mechanics and engineering. That breadth matters for thesis planning. A Civil Engineering thesis can be experimental, theoretical, computational, design-oriented, management-focused or combine several approaches. Aalto does not publish one universal thesis method for all students.

This guide is built only from current public Aalto sources verified on 27 August 2026. Aalto states that the detailed School of Engineering Master’s Thesis Guide is available in a login-only MyCourses workspace. Because that material is not publicly accessible, this guide does not attempt to reconstruct hidden instructions from another Aalto school or from older thesis documents.

Degree structure and where the thesis fits

The current degree structure is:

• 60 ECTS major studies;
• 30 ECTS Master’s thesis;
• 30 ECTS elective studies.

The 60 ECTS major contains 20 ECTS of compulsory studies and 40 ECTS selected from the programme’s advanced civil-engineering offering. The curriculum covers areas such as structural design, structural and computational mechanics, building physics and indoor environment, construction management, concrete and mineral-based materials, fire engineering, numerical methods, bridge design, timber and steel structures, energy-efficient buildings, and related advanced subjects.

The applicant-facing programme page says that the common and advanced courses are intended to be completed before the Master’s thesis. The current curriculum recommends the spring semester of the second study year for the thesis project and advises students to begin searching for a topic well before that period.

That timing should be treated as a planning framework, not as a reason to postpone topic development. A student who wants a company project, research-group project or technically specialised topic may need to begin discussions earlier.

What the 30 ECTS thesis actually includes

Aalto describes the Civil Engineering Master’s thesis as a 30-credit entity. The public School of Engineering/Civil thesis page states that the entity also includes:

• the Master’s thesis itself;
• a maturity test;
• a presentation of the thesis.

This is an important boundary. The current public curriculum does not state a separate additional thesis-seminar ECTS value. The presentation requirement therefore should not be converted into an invented extra credit component.

Aalto describes the thesis as applied research. Its central goal is to solve a problem relevant to the student’s field of study using existing scientific knowledge and the principles of responsible conduct of research.

That makes the thesis more than a professional design task or technical report. Even when the work is completed for a company, the student needs a clear research or development problem, a defensible method, evidence, analysis and conclusions that meet academic expectations.

Choosing a thesis topic

The topic must relate to the advanced studies of the degree programme and be agreed with a supervisor who has expertise in the topic.

The current curriculum states that programme professors provide thesis topics connected with their research activities. Students may also propose their own topics to a chosen supervisor.

Civil Engineering offers several possible research environments. Examples include:

• structural engineering and structural design;
• concrete, steel and timber structures;
• bridge engineering;
• structural mechanics and finite element methods;
• building physics, indoor environment and energy performance;
• fire dynamics and evacuation analysis;
• construction operations, strategic management and design-process management;
• concrete technology and testing of mineral-based materials;
• computational engineering and simulation;
• sustainability, maintenance, repair and circular-economy questions.

These are disciplinary contexts, not mandatory thesis categories. The correct method depends on the actual problem. A laboratory materials thesis may require experiments, a structural-mechanics thesis may rely heavily on modelling and simulation, and a construction-management thesis may use organisational, project or empirical data. Students should align the method with the research question and supervisor guidance.

Supervisor and advisor eligibility

The current 2026–2028 curriculum publishes unusually useful eligibility information.

At the School of Engineering, the Master’s thesis supervisor may be a:

• Professor of any rank;
• Adjunct Professor;
• Professor of Practice;
• Senior University Lecturer;
• Principal University Lecturer.

The thesis advisor must hold at least a Master’s degree.

The supervisor is not simply a person who proofreads the final document. Topic fit, academic scope and the relationship between the thesis and the student’s advanced studies should be agreed with the supervisor early.

An advisor may bring detailed technical, industrial or project-specific expertise. When the thesis is written for an external organisation, the practical advisor may be particularly important, but the academic thesis still remains governed by Aalto’s degree requirements.

Company and external theses

Industry collaboration is a major feature of Civil Engineering at Aalto. The current applicant page states that about two-thirds of the programme’s Master’s theses are written for external parties, mainly companies.

That makes external projects normal, but not academically different in principle. A company may supply a practical problem, data, equipment, site access, software, design cases or organisational context. The thesis still has to address a problem related to the advanced studies and use scientific knowledge responsibly.

Before accepting an external topic, students should clarify several practical questions with the supervisor and external partner:

• Is the topic academically suitable for a 30 ECTS Master’s thesis?
• What data or materials can be used in the public academic work?
• Are there intellectual-property or publication concerns?
• Who will provide day-to-day technical guidance?
• What parts of the project belong to the academic thesis and what parts belong only to the employer’s internal work?
• Is the planned evidence sufficient to support academic analysis and conclusions?

The public Aalto Civil sources do not provide a programme-wide confidential-thesis exception. Students with commercially sensitive projects should resolve confidentiality and publication issues through current Aalto/ENG instructions and their supervisor rather than assuming company material can automatically remain inside a non-public thesis.

MyStudies thesis management

Aalto moved Master’s thesis management to MyStudies. Current University guidance says that when starting a Master’s thesis, students enter basic thesis information in MyStudies and apply for supervisor approval there.

The thesis record includes core information such as the topic, supervisor and advisor or advisors. Under the technology-school process, which includes the School of Engineering, the supervisor approves the topic and advisors rather than the degree programme committee approving those starting details.

The final thesis is also submitted through the thesis-management workflow for evaluation, approval and archiving.

Students should therefore treat MyStudies as part of the formal thesis process rather than only as a final upload location. The safest sequence is to confirm the current ENG instructions, agree the topic and supervision, create the thesis record, complete any required approvals and then maintain the process according to the current MyCourses/MyStudies guidance.

The login-only ENG Thesis Guide boundary

Aalto’s public Civil Engineering thesis page explicitly directs students to the ENG Master’s Thesis Guide in MyCourses, which requires an Aalto login.

That boundary is important for reliable planning. Public sources confirm the 30 ECTS scope, applied-research purpose, presentation, maturity test, supervisor/advisor eligibility, MyStudies framework and published deadlines. They do not publicly expose every internal ENG form, model schedule, evaluation detail, formatting requirement or administrative step.

For that reason, this guide deliberately does not invent:

• an ENG-wide page count or word count;
• a universal chapter template;
• one mandatory citation style;
• a fixed number of supervisor meetings;
• a CHEM-style 800-hour or five-month workload rule;
• a hidden ENG grading rubric;
• a separate thesis-seminar ECTS value.

Students should use the live ENG MyCourses workspace and supervisor guidance for any requirement that is not stated in the public programme pages.

Planning the research problem

Aalto’s public definition of the Civil Engineering thesis gives a useful standard: the thesis should solve a field-relevant problem based on existing scientific knowledge.

A good starting question is therefore not merely “What do I want to build, calculate or test?” but “What problem am I trying to understand or solve, and what evidence would justify the answer?”

For a structural thesis, the problem might involve performance under a particular load case, comparison of design approaches, numerical modelling or material behaviour. For building performance, it could involve indoor environment, energy use, fire behaviour or simulation. For construction management, it might involve process performance, planning, operations or organisational decision-making. For materials, it might focus on measurable properties, durability, production or testing.

The thesis does not need the same method in every field. What matters is alignment among the problem, literature, method, evidence, analysis and conclusions.

Literature and responsible research

Because Aalto defines the thesis as applied research based on existing scientific knowledge, the literature review should do more than collect background facts. It should establish what is already known, identify the relevant theories or technical standards, show where uncertainty or a practical problem remains, and justify the chosen method.

Students should distinguish among peer-reviewed research, technical standards, official guidance, manufacturer information, project records and other evidence. The weight given to each source depends on the research question.

Responsible conduct of research also affects data handling, citation, authorship, use of confidential material, reproducibility and reporting of limitations. Where a project is connected to a company, these issues should be agreed early rather than left until final submission.

Thesis presentation and maturity test

The 30 ECTS thesis entity includes a presentation and a maturity test.

The public Civil page does not publish one universal presentation format, length or date for all students. Detailed ENG instructions are in the MyCourses workspace. Students should therefore confirm the current presentation process through ENG and their supervisor.

The same principle applies to the maturity test. The requirement exists, but the public Civil page does not provide enough information to manufacture one universal programme-specific format in this guide.

There is, however, one current University-wide AI rule that is clear: Aalto prohibits AI in maturity exams. Students should therefore treat the maturity-test component as AI-prohibited and follow the live ENG instructions for its exact completion method.

AI use in the rest of the thesis

Aalto’s current AI guidance allows AI to support learning unless a teacher or assessment specifically restricts it. Students remain responsible for the content they submit, and AI-generated text should not simply be presented as the student’s own unmodified work.

For thesis work, that means AI use should never replace engineering judgment, source verification, calculations, data analysis or responsibility for conclusions. If AI is used for brainstorming, language support, code assistance or organisation, students should follow current Aalto and supervisor guidance and disclose use where required.

The maturity-test boundary remains stricter: AI is prohibited there.

Current publicly listed thesis-evaluation deadlines

The Civil Engineering thesis page currently lists thesis-evaluation deadlines and Degree Programme Committee meeting dates for the 2026 cycle. The public dates include:

• 23 February 2026 → Committee 9 March 2026;
• 27 April 2026 → Committee 18 May 2026;
• 25 May 2026 → Committee 15 June 2026;
• 31 July 2026 → Committee 17 August 2026;
• 28 September 2026 → Committee 19 October 2026;
• 23 November 2026 → Committee 14 December 2026;
• 31 December 2026 → Committee in January 2027.

Aalto adds a specific summer warning for the 31 July deadline: students should agree schedules with the supervisor well before the summer holiday period and ensure their personal study plan is up to date. The 31 December deadline also carries a holiday-season warning.

These are administrative dates, not permanent thesis rules. Students planning a later submission should always recheck the live Civil Engineering thesis page and ENG MyCourses guide.

A practical planning sequence

Early preparation

Complete enough of the common and advanced studies to understand where your thesis belongs. Identify the civil-engineering area you want to work in and start monitoring research-group or company opportunities well before the second-year spring.

Topic exploration

Discuss possible topics with an eligible supervisor. If the project comes from a company, assess academic suitability before treating the employer’s task description as the thesis question.

Formal start

Confirm the topic, supervisor and advisor arrangement. Follow the current ENG MyCourses guidance and create the thesis record in MyStudies. Complete the required starting approvals before relying on a project schedule.

Research design

Turn the broad technical or management problem into a researchable question. Define the literature base, evidence, method, analysis plan and realistic scope. Agree any company-data or confidentiality constraints before collecting material.

Execution and writing

Conduct the experimental, theoretical, computational, design, materials or management work appropriate to the problem. Write progressively rather than leaving the entire thesis until the technical work is complete. Keep the literature, method, results and conclusions aligned.

Final stage

Use the current ENG workspace for the exact presentation, maturity-test, evaluation and submission instructions. Complete the presentation and maturity requirement in the required order. Follow MyStudies for final thesis submission, evaluation, approval and archiving.

Final checklist

Before final submission, confirm that:

• the thesis topic is related to your advanced studies;
• the supervisor is eligible under School of Engineering rules;
• any advisor holds at least a Master’s degree;
• the MyStudies thesis record and required approvals are complete;
• the project is academically framed as applied research, not only a professional deliverable;
• the method fits the research problem;
• literature and evidence are used responsibly;
• company or external-party constraints have been resolved without weakening academic integrity;
• the required thesis presentation has been completed according to current ENG guidance;
• the maturity test has been completed without prohibited AI use;
• current deadlines have been rechecked on the live Aalto pages;
• any formatting, evaluation or submission detail not public on aalto.fi has been confirmed in the ENG MyCourses thesis guide.

Final planning principle

Civil Engineering at Aalto provides a clear public framework but intentionally keeps some detailed School of Engineering procedures inside the authenticated ENG workspace. The secure public facts are sufficient to plan the project at a high level: 30 ECTS, advanced-studies topic, eligible supervisor, advisor with at least a Master’s degree, applied-research purpose, presentation, maturity test, MyStudies thesis management and current programme deadlines.

The safest approach is to use those public rules as the foundation and the live ENG MyCourses guide as the operational authority. Do not borrow workload figures, seminar credits, page counts or submission rules from another Aalto school simply because those rules are easier to find online.