Aalto University IDBM Master’s Thesis Guide for CHEM Students: 30 ECTS, 800-Hour Process and School of Chemical Engineering Rules

Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in International Design Business Management (IDBM) is shared across all six Aalto schools, but the thesis process is not one common university-wide workflow. Aalto’s current IDBM guidance tells every student to follow the thesis instructions of their home school.

This guide therefore applies specifically to IDBM students following the School of Chemical Engineering (CHEM) thesis process within the Master of Science (Technology) route. It does not substitute the separate IDBM ELEC, ENG, SCI, BIZ or ARTS processes.

For the current 2026–2028 IDBM CHEM route, the central thesis framework is:

• master’s thesis: 30 ECTS;
• expected total workload: about 800 hours;
• normal execution period: about five months;
• one thesis supervisor plus one or two thesis advisors;
• MyStudies approval for the topic, language, supervisor and advisor arrangement;
• a research proposal and kick-off process before full execution;
• a presentation of the finished thesis before evaluation and approval;
• the thesis abstract serving as the maturity test;
• final submission and evaluation through MyStudies;
• PDF/A electronic archiving and public-document rules; and
• thesis evaluation approved through the IDBM Programme Committee for the applicable IDBM cohort.

The important point is that the common 30 ECTS headline does not make the technology-school processes interchangeable. CHEM has its own workload model, supervision roles, writing guidance and administrative sequence.

Where the thesis sits in the IDBM CHEM degree

The IDBM technology study option leads to the Master of Science (Technology) degree. The programme is taught in English, totals 120 ECTS, and is designed for two years of full-time study. The applicant-facing technology option lists the School of Chemical Engineering as the organising school and includes a 30 ECTS thesis.

The thesis normally comes towards the end of the degree. Aalto describes it as a project in which the student solves a problem related to the field of study and to the advanced studies of the programme.

The CHEM thesis is not only the final report. Current Aalto guidance describes the 30 ECTS entity as including the thesis report, the maturity test, and a seminar or presentation connected to the project. These components belong to the thesis process, but they do not increase the thesis beyond 30 ECTS.

For planning purposes, Aalto gives a workload of approximately 800 hours, usually completed over about five months. The elapsed duration can be extended for justified circumstances, such as concurrent studies, personal circumstances or the nature of experimental work, but the CHEM guidance still treats 800 hours as the total thesis workload.

Before you start: make sure the thesis can formally begin

A CHEM thesis should not begin as an informal company project that is only later converted into a university thesis. The academic scope and supervision need to be established from the beginning.

Before the starting application, current CHEM guidance expects the student to be enrolled as attending, to have the bachelor’s degree approved, to have an approved personal study plan for the master’s degree, and to have completed any complementary studies that were assigned on admission.

The first academic task is to identify a suitable topic and supervising professor. Aalto recommends contacting professors and research groups rather than waiting passively for an ideal advertised topic. A thesis may be connected to a company, another organisation, an Aalto research group or another suitable setting, but the topic still needs to satisfy the academic requirements of the degree.

If the proposed supervisor is not from the School of Chemical Engineering, the professor responsible for the major must confirm that the topic is connected to the student’s advanced studies.

This home-school and programme connection is particularly important for IDBM, because a multidisciplinary business or design topic is not automatically acceptable as a CHEM thesis simply because it fits the broader IDBM theme. The topic must also make academic sense within the student’s technology degree and approved study structure.

MyStudies approval: topic, language, supervisor and advisors

The thesis starting information is submitted through the MyStudies Thesis tab. The application identifies the thesis topic, thesis language, supervisor and advisor or advisors.

The supervisor approves the topic and thesis language and appoints one or two thesis advisors. The Programme Director then approves the supervisor. Aalto warns that the supervisor and programme-level approval process may take up to four weeks, so this administrative lead time should be built into the project plan.

CHEM also gives practical rules for the thesis title. Company and brand names should not appear in the topic/title, and non-standard abbreviations should be avoided. The title can later be refined, but material changes to the topic must be agreed with the supervisor.

The thesis may be written in Finnish, Swedish or English. IDBM students normally work in English, but the formal language choice is part of the MyStudies thesis record and has consequences for degree-certificate language.

Understand the difference between supervisor and advisor

The thesis supervisor and thesis advisor are not interchangeable roles.

CHEM requires one or two advisors. An advisor should be an expert in the thesis field and must hold at least a master’s degree. In a company thesis, the advisor often represents the collaborating organisation. An Aalto researcher or doctoral student with suitable subject expertise may also act as an advisor.

The advisor typically gives practical, frequent guidance during day-to-day thesis work and may comment on the manuscript. The advisor does not formally grade the thesis.

The supervisor carries the academic responsibility for topic suitability and for ensuring that the research proposal gives the student a viable framework for completing a master’s-level project. Contact with the supervisor is often especially important at the beginning and end, while advisor contact is normally more frequent throughout execution.

At the start, agree who will comment on what, how often progress is reported, who needs to approve changes, and how much time will be left for final supervisor review. CHEM recommends allowing the supervisor roughly two to three weeks to read and comment on a near-final manuscript.

Use the kick-off meeting to turn the topic into a real research project

After the topic is considered suitable, a kick-off meeting is arranged. The student should invite the supervisor, advisor or advisors, and where relevant a representative of the collaborating company or organisation.

This meeting should not be treated as a formality. It is the point at which the parties can agree the schedule, objectives, funding arrangements, working practices and other practical constraints.

The student develops a research proposal in cooperation with the supervisor and advisor(s). Current CHEM guidance expects the proposal to address matters such as:

• background and theoretical framework;
• the research problem;
• the main objective and interim objectives;
• research methods;
• timetable;
• possible budget;
• analysis and synthesis; and
• intended conclusions.

Aalto notes that it is often useful to express the main objective as a question. The research questions should make clear what the work is actually trying to answer.

This is the right point to challenge an over-broad IDBM topic. A project about “sustainable innovation”, “digital transformation” or “new business models” is not yet a thesis design. The proposal needs to identify a tractable problem, an evidence strategy and a scope that can be completed within approximately 800 hours.

The student and supervisor should also agree a thesis deadline. CHEM states that the deadline should be no later than one year from the starting date, even though the normal working model is much shorter.

The five-month CHEM model: useful planning guidance, not a rigid calendar

Aalto publishes a model workflow for CHEM thesis work. It is useful for planning, but it should not be treated as a compulsory universal timetable for every IDBM CHEM project.

The model broadly places:

1. topic definition and kick-off at the start;
2. literature acquisition in month 1;
3. experimental or equivalent substantive work mainly in months 2–3;
4. results collection and writing of the experimental part around month 4;
5. completion of the report and supervisor review around month 5; and
6. presentation and evaluation scheduling towards the end of the project.

Aalto itself notes that thesis projects, students, supervisors and advisors differ, so the manuscript process may depart from this model. The safer approach is to agree realistic project-specific deadlines early and keep them visible throughout the work.

For an IDBM CHEM student, “experimental work” should also be interpreted carefully. The method depends on the programme, topic and supervisor. CHEM’s current FAQ says that a literature-review-only thesis is generally not possible, while modelling or another non-laboratory approach may be possible depending on the research problem. Do not assume either that every thesis must be a laboratory experiment or that a purely conceptual essay will automatically meet the CHEM thesis requirement.

Structure the report around the research problem

CHEM gives unusually concrete practical guidance for the thesis report. Its current public instructions describe a typical structure containing:

• Introduction;
• Literature review;
• Experimental;
• Results and discussion;
• Conclusions;
• References; and
• Appendices.

The headings are useful, but the academic logic behind them matters more than mechanically copying a template.

The Introduction should establish the motivation, focus, aims and relevant hypotheses or questions. The Literature review should help solve the research question and should be critical and analytical rather than a catalogue of previous studies. Where experimental methods are used, the Experimental section should describe them accurately enough to support repeatability. Results and discussion should focus on the main results, address reliability and error, and connect findings to earlier literature. Conclusions should return directly to the research question and may discuss novelty and future research.

For an interdisciplinary IDBM topic, this structure can still work even when business, design and technology perspectives intersect. The main requirement is coherence: the theory, method, evidence and conclusions must answer the same research problem.

Write while the project is running, not after it ends

CHEM recommends engaging with written material early. That is good advice for both experimental and non-experimental projects.

Do not wait until data collection, modelling, prototyping or company work is complete before beginning the literature review and method documentation. Early writing exposes weak definitions, missing evidence and scope drift while there is still time to correct the research plan.

A practical rhythm is to maintain a live literature matrix, method log, decision record and results notebook during the project. That makes the final report more defensible because claims can be traced back to evidence and decisions rather than reconstructed from memory.

Advisor feedback should be used iteratively. Once the student and advisor believe the manuscript is close to the expected level, the supervisor performs the more comprehensive academic review before final submission.

The finished-thesis presentation is mandatory before evaluation

CHEM requires a presentation of the finished thesis before approval and evaluation.

Unlike some other IDBM routes, CHEM does not publish one fixed oral-presentation seminar calendar. The student agrees the time and format of the presentation with the thesis supervisor. The advisor or advisors are recommended to attend where possible.

This means presentation planning belongs inside the thesis schedule. Do not finish the manuscript on the application deadline and only then try to arrange the presentation. The presentation must occur before the thesis goes forward for approval and evaluation.

Use the presentation as a final test of the research argument. You should be able to explain the problem, why it matters, the approach, the strongest findings, limitations and the contribution without relying on the audience to infer how the pieces fit together.

The thesis abstract is also the maturity test

A CHEM master’s student must complete a maturity test before thesis approval. Since 1 August 2021, the thesis abstract is used as the maturity test for master’s degrees in the School of Chemical Engineering.

The supervisor approves the content. The maturity test is graded pass/fail and does not change the thesis grade.

The language requirement depends on the student’s educational background. Students who still need to demonstrate Finnish or Swedish proficiency may require a language check and should allow additional processing time. International students also have a maturity-test requirement and commonly write it in English when they do not need the Finnish/Swedish language demonstration.

Aalto’s current AI guidance adds an important restriction: AI is prohibited in maturity examinations. Because the thesis abstract functions as the CHEM maturity test, students should prepare the assessed maturity abstract without prohibited AI assistance. Rules for other uses of AI in thesis work can differ, but responsibility for the submitted work remains with the student.

Turnitin and final MyStudies submission

Turnitin should be understood as part of the writing process, not merely as a final policing tool. Aalto allows students and supervisors to use Turnitin proactively on drafts, and Turnitin is a mandatory part of the thesis submission process.

For the CHEM final process, the final thesis submitted through MyStudies is automatically checked and the Turnitin report becomes available to the supervisor.

A similarity percentage is not a plagiarism verdict. Aalto explicitly states that Turnitin does not itself determine whether plagiarism occurred, and its AI-detection output also requires human interpretation. The practical goal is transparent academic writing: correct quotation, paraphrasing, referencing, data attribution and documentation of external contributions.

Before final submission, the student needs permission from the supervisor. The MyStudies upload is the final version used for grading, so it should not be treated as a draft submission.

PDF/A, Aaltodoc and the public nature of the thesis

CHEM master’s theses are stored electronically. The archival thesis copy must be in PDF/A format.

Aaltodoc publishes thesis metadata and the abstract, while the approved full text is archived. Students may consent to online publication of the full thesis and CHEM allows online publication to be postponed for up to one year from thesis approval in appropriate circumstances.

That postponement does not make the thesis confidential. Aalto theses are public documents. If the project contains commercial secrets, confidential technical information, sensitive personal data or patent-sensitive material, those issues must be managed before final writing. Secret material that cannot be public must not simply be placed inside the evaluated thesis and hidden by refusing online publication.

This is particularly important for company-based IDBM projects. The public thesis should still contain enough evidence and analysis to justify the academic conclusions without exposing material that cannot lawfully or contractually be disclosed.

How the IDBM CHEM thesis is evaluated

The supervisor prepares the formal evaluation report and proposes a grade, while also requesting input from the advisor or advisors. The advisor’s knowledge of the student’s day-to-day work can therefore inform the supervisor, even though the advisor does not formally grade the thesis.

CHEM evaluation covers the whole thesis project, not only the final report. The student’s development, project execution and written communication are part of the assessment.

Aalto also makes an important fairness distinction: only factors that depend on the student should affect grading. A delay caused by matters outside the student’s control, such as unavailable equipment or an external production stoppage, should not reduce the grade merely because the calendar became longer.

The student remains the author. Supervisors and advisors may guide, comment and recommend improvements, but they should not rewrite the thesis for the student.

For applicable IDBM students, the thesis evaluation is approved in the IDBM Programme Committee. CHEM’s current evaluation material explicitly refers to grade 5 as excellent, grade 1 as passable, and fail as a possible outcome; special consultation rules apply to some boundary grade proposals.

After approval, the submitted thesis itself cannot simply be edited and resubmitted. Later discovered errors are handled through an approved errata page attached to the Aaltodoc record.

Current IDBM thesis-approval deadlines: use the IDBM calendar

For IDBM CHEM, do not copy a generic CHEM, ELEC or ENG Degree Programme Committee calendar into the IDBM thesis approval process. Aalto’s IDBM guidance directs TECH students to the IDBM Applications page for thesis-approval deadlines.

As of 30 August 2026, the remaining published 2026 IDBM thesis-approval application deadlines are:

• 28 September 2026;
• 23 November 2026; and
• 31 December 2026.

The 31 December deadline is associated with an IDBM Programme Committee meeting in January 2027.

At the time this guide was verified, Aalto had not yet published a complete 2027 IDBM Programme Committee thesis-approval calendar on the IDBM Applications page. Do not infer 2027 IDBM approval dates from another school simply because that school has already published its own committee schedule.

For any real submission, recheck the live IDBM Applications page and the CHEM school-specific graduation instructions before locking your presentation, final supervisor review and MyStudies submission dates.

A practical IDBM CHEM thesis workflow

A reliable workflow is:

1. confirm CHEM is your correct IDBM home-school route in Sisu;
2. make sure attendance, BSc, study-plan and complementary-study requirements are in order;
3. identify a suitable topic and supervising professor;
4. clarify programme/advanced-study fit, particularly if the supervisor is outside CHEM;
5. establish one or two qualified advisors;
6. submit the MyStudies starting information for topic, language, supervisor and advisors;
7. run the kick-off meeting and agree roles, timetable and working practices;
8. build and approve a focused research proposal;
9. execute the approximately 800-hour project while writing continuously;
10. use advisor feedback frequently and reserve adequate supervisor review time;
11. complete the finished-thesis presentation before evaluation;
12. prepare the abstract/maturity test under the applicable language and AI rules;
13. obtain supervisor permission for final submission;
14. submit the final PDF/A thesis through MyStudies and complete Turnitin processing;
15. follow the correct IDBM Programme Committee approval deadline; and
16. keep confidential material outside the evaluated public thesis.

Final checklist

Before submitting, confirm that:

• you are following the IDBM CHEM home-school process;
• the thesis is 30 ECTS and scoped to approximately 800 hours;
• the project is realistically planned around the normal five-month model;
• the supervisor and one/two advisors are correctly established;
• the advisor meets the minimum qualification requirement;
• topic, language, supervisor and advisors have been handled through MyStudies;
• prerequisites and the approved Sisu study plan are in order;
• the research proposal clearly defines problem, objectives, method and timetable;
• the report structure supports the research problem rather than mechanically filling sections;
• sources, data, images and external contributions are documented transparently;
• supervisor review time has been reserved before the submission deadline;
• the finished-thesis presentation has been completed;
• the abstract/maturity test complies with the applicable language and AI rules;
• supervisor permission for final submission has been obtained;
• the final file is the correct PDF/A version;
• Turnitin requirements are completed;
• confidential material is not included in the evaluated public thesis;
• the current IDBM thesis-approval deadline has been rechecked; and
• you understand that the submitted final thesis cannot later be silently replaced, with corrections handled through the formal errata process.

Final planning principle

For an IDBM CHEM student, the safest thesis plan is to treat the work as a 30 ECTS, approximately 800-hour academic project with a five-month execution model, not as an open-ended company assignment. Establish the academic topic and supervision early, use the kick-off and research proposal to control scope, keep the advisor involved throughout the project, reserve meaningful supervisor review time, complete the presentation and maturity requirement before approval, and use the IDBM Programme Committee calendar rather than another technology school’s deadlines.

IDBM may be multidisciplinary, but the thesis remains governed by the School of Chemical Engineering process for CHEM students. That school-specific boundary is the key to planning the project correctly.