Aalto University Life Science Technologies Master’s Thesis Guide: Current Five Majors, 30 ECTS and SCI Process

Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in Life Science Technologies is a 120 ECTS Master of Science (Technology) programme built around life-science data, engineering, biosensing, complex systems and neuroscience. The current 2026–2028 curriculum presents five active majors: Bioinformatics and Digital Health, Biomedical Engineering, Biosensing and Bioelectronics, Complex Systems, and Human Neuroscience and Technology.

For thesis administration, those five majors are deliberately grouped together. Aalto’s public thesis router sends all five to the authenticated SCI Master’s thesis workspace in MyCourses. That shared route is important because the programme also contains a legacy Biosystems and Biomaterials Engineering cohort whose thesis process is separate and CHEM-style. This guide covers the five current majors only and does not import the legacy BBE process.

The common public framework is clear: 30 ECTS individual thesis, normally planned as about six months of full-time work, one Aalto professor supervisor plus one or two possible advisors, topic approval through MyStudies, a seminar or equivalent presentation, a maturity essay, public-document status, and School of Science Degree Programme Committee approval. Detailed operational instructions remain inside the live SCI MyCourses workspace.

Where the thesis fits in the current Life Science Technologies degree

The current Life Science Technologies degree totals 120 ECTS. The programme-level structure is:

• major studies: 62 ECTS;
• elective studies: 28 ECTS;
• Master’s thesis: 30 ECTS.

The thesis normally belongs academically to the student’s major, although Aalto allows a topic related to a minor in special cases. The five current majors differ strongly in disciplinary style, but the thesis credit value does not: each follows the same 30 ECTS programme-level thesis framework.

The second study year is the normal thesis phase. Aalto’s applicant-facing programme description says the first year focuses on compulsory and major courses, while the second year focuses on electives and the Master’s thesis. The current orientation guidance similarly recommends starting the thesis process at the beginning of the second study year.

The thesis is a 30 ECTS individual research project

The current curriculum describes the Master’s thesis as an individual research project with a workload of 30 credits. The topic is normally related to the student’s major and should be academically connected to the advanced studies of the degree.

Aalto also makes several common elements explicit:

• the work has one supervisor;
• it may have one or two advisors;
• it includes a maturity essay;
• it includes a seminar presentation or equivalent presentation; and
• the final thesis is a public document that is kept available electronically by the university.

The current public curriculum does not create a separate thesis-seminar credit component for these five majors. The thesis remains 30 ECTS, and the presentation/maturity requirements are part of the thesis framework rather than extra thesis credits.

Start planning at the beginning of the second study year

Aalto’s current SCI-specific starting guidance recommends that students begin the thesis process at the beginning of the second study year. This is a useful planning rule because finding a suitable topic, supervisor, research environment or external commissioner can itself take time.

The same SCI guidance says that a 30-credit thesis corresponds to approximately six months of full-time work. If the student cannot work on the thesis full-time because of employment, other courses, data collection or another reason, Aalto advises starting earlier.

Aalto also warns SCI students that exceeding the six-month target may affect the grade. That does not mean every project must finish on exactly the same calendar date. It means the student should discuss scope and timetable with the supervisor early and should not allow an originally 30 ECTS project to expand indefinitely without academic control.

Choosing a topic across five very different majors

Life Science Technologies spans several research cultures, so a strong thesis topic should be major-connected without forcing every student into one method. Examples of defensible topic directions include:

• Bioinformatics and Digital Health: biomedical data analysis, probabilistic modelling, computational genomics, machine learning, digital health or method development;
• Biomedical Engineering: biosignals, imaging, instrumentation, physiological measurement, modelling, diagnostics or treatment technology;
• Biosensing and Bioelectronics: biomaterials, electrochemical or bioelectrical sensing, interfaces, devices, instrumentation and biocompatible measurement systems;
• Complex Systems: networks, dynamical systems, computational models, machine learning, biological or social complex systems;
• Human Neuroscience and Technology: brain function, cognition, neuroimaging, neural signals, neurotechnology, stimulation or analytical methods for neuroscience.

These are examples of fields, not prescribed methodologies. A computational thesis, experimental study, device-development project, quantitative analysis, modelling study or mixed research design can all be appropriate when the research question, evidence and supervisor guidance support the choice.

The safest scope test is simple: can the research question be answered convincingly within a 30 ECTS project and the current six-month full-time planning baseline? A topic that requires data, equipment, ethics permissions or external access should expose those dependencies before the formal schedule is fixed.

Supervisor and advisor roles

The current Life Science Technologies curriculum states that the Master’s thesis supervisor must be a professor at Aalto University. The topic is agreed between the student and a professor specialising in the thesis area.

The thesis may have one or two advisors. The current curriculum says the advisor is usually from an organisation for which the thesis is written, must hold at least a Master’s degree, and provides field-specific support on thesis content and writing.

This creates a useful division of responsibility. An external advisor can provide domain knowledge, data access, technical feedback or day-to-day support, but the thesis remains an Aalto academic attainment supervised under the School of Science framework.

Students should clarify supervision arrangements early: who comments on the research plan, how often progress is reviewed, who comments on drafts, and how external-company needs are kept compatible with academic requirements.

MyStudies and topic approval

Aalto’s current university-wide thesis-management system uses the Thesis tab in MyStudies. The public LifeTech/SCI pages explicitly use MyStudies for thesis topic approval. Other operational submission details must be checked in the authenticated SCI thesis workspace rather than inferred from another programme.

For SCI students, the current graduation instructions add a specific public requirement: the thesis topic must be approved before the final thesis is submitted for evaluation. Once the student has agreed the topic with the supervisor, the topic-approval application should be submitted through MyStudies.

This means a student should not treat the final upload as the first formal interaction with the thesis process. The academic topic and supervision arrangement need to be settled sufficiently early.

The detailed SCI process is in MyCourses

Aalto repeatedly directs SCI students to the authenticated SCI Master’s Thesis workspace in MyCourses for the thorough thesis process instructions.

That access boundary matters. Public webpages confirm the current 30 ECTS scope, six-month baseline, topic approval, supervisor/advisor baseline, presentation, maturity essay, public-document rule and graduation timing. They do not expose every internal SCI form, template, rubric, writing instruction or procedural step.

Accordingly, this guide does not reconstruct hidden SCI instructions from ELEC or another school. A student should always use the current SCI MyCourses workspace and supervisor guidance for details that are not publicly available.

Build the six-month calendar around real research dependencies

Aalto’s six-month statement is a planning baseline for most 30 ECTS SCI theses, not a guarantee that every experiment, dataset or external collaboration will fit automatically. A computational project may be limited by data access or compute resources; an experimental project may depend on equipment, samples or laboratory availability; a neuroscience project may require participant recruitment, measurement time or ethics/privacy arrangements.

Use the beginning of the thesis to identify dependencies that can break the schedule. Ask which materials or permissions must exist before analysis can start, what happens if a dataset is delayed, whether a company can legally release the required information, and which milestones need supervisor review. If the thesis cannot be worked on full-time because of employment or other courses, Aalto advises starting earlier rather than pretending the same work can be compressed into less calendar time.

The academic scope should still remain 30 ECTS. More calendar months do not automatically justify adding new datasets, experiments or research questions. Scope expansion should be an explicit academic decision with the supervisor.

Company and externally commissioned theses

The Life Science Technologies curriculum explicitly recognises advisor support connected to the organisation for which the thesis is written. In practice, LifeTech theses may be connected to companies, hospitals, research groups, laboratories, public-sector organisations or externally funded projects.

An external setting does not change the basic academic requirement. The thesis must still be a research assignment related to the student’s advanced studies and supervised through Aalto.

Before committing to an external topic, students should clarify:

• whether the problem is academically substantial enough for a 30 ECTS thesis;
• what data, software, infrastructure or participants will be available;
• what can appear in the public thesis document;
• who will act as Aalto supervisor and who will act as advisor;
• whether intellectual-property or publication plans could affect the project schedule.

The final academic scope should be agreed with the Aalto supervisor rather than being defined solely by the commissioning organisation.

Five majors share the route, but not one thesis methodology

The shared SCI thesis route does not mean the five majors use one common research method, one common chapter structure or one common technical toolchain. Bioinformatics may be computational, Biomedical Engineering may combine measurement and modelling, Biosensing may be experimental/device-oriented, Complex Systems may be mathematical or data-driven, and Human Neuroscience may involve behavioural, imaging or signal-based research.

Aalto’s public pages used for this guide do not publish one universal page count, one compulsory citation style or one mandatory chapter sequence for all five majors. Project-specific writing and formatting requirements should therefore come from the authenticated SCI thesis workspace, disciplinary conventions and the supervisor.

This distinction also prevents a common mistake: borrowing a familiar thesis template from another LifeTech major and assuming that its method or report structure is compulsory for your own project.

No universal page count, chapter template or citation style is publicly stated

The current public Life Science Technologies and SCI pages used for this guide do not establish one universal thesis page count or word count for all SCI majors. They also do not publish one compulsory citation style or one mandatory chapter structure for every LifeTech five-major thesis.

That is appropriate for a programme spanning theory, software engineering, HCI, machine learning, game development and security. A theoretical computer-science thesis may be structured very differently from an empirical HCI study or an applied machine-learning project.

Students should use the authenticated SCI thesis workspace, their major’s conventions and supervisor instructions for project-specific formatting and writing expectations.

Seminar presentation

The current Life Science Technologies curriculum states that the Master’s thesis work includes a seminar presentation or equivalent presentation.

The public programme pages do not provide one universal SCI presentation format for every Life Science Technologies major. Therefore, students should verify the current presentation arrangement in the SCI Master’s Thesis MyCourses workspace and with the supervisor.

The important planning point is that the presentation is not an optional activity to remember after the thesis has already been closed. It is part of the thesis framework and should be included in the completion schedule.

Maturity essay and AI use

The current Life Science Technologies curriculum requires a maturity essay related to the Master’s thesis.

Aalto’s current university-wide AI guidance allows AI to support learning unless its use is restricted, while keeping responsibility for academic work with the student. However, Aalto prohibits AI use in maturity exams.

Because the Life Science Technologies Master’s thesis includes a maturity essay, students should treat the assessed maturity component as subject to that prohibition. For other thesis work, students should follow the latest University, SCI workspace and supervisor instructions and disclose permissible AI use where required.

The Master’s thesis is public

The current Life Science Technologies curriculum is explicit: the Master’s thesis is a public document and cannot be concealed.

This is particularly important for company and security-related projects. A student should not assume that an NDA or commercial relationship can simply convert the final academic thesis into a secret document.

If the project involves confidential source material, proprietary data, unpublished vulnerabilities or trade secrets, the public-document requirement should be discussed at the beginning with the supervisor and external partner. Sensitive material that cannot lawfully appear in the public thesis must be handled outside the public report according to the applicable Aalto and project rules.

Final submission and graduation planning

SCI’s current graduation guidance requires the student to be registered as attending when submitting the thesis, requesting graduation and on the official graduation date.

All other studies in the degree should be completed before the graduation request, with the Master’s thesis as the stated exception. Aalto recommends that required study modules be approved at least three weeks before the graduation-request deadline.

The student’s primary HOPS in Sisu must also be current and approved, because Sisu generates the degree certificate based on the study plan and the graduation request.

SCI allows the final thesis to be submitted for evaluation at the same time as the student applies for graduation. If doing this, the student should inform the supervisor in advance and allow approximately four weeks for the supervisor to read the final thesis and prepare the statement.

The Degree Programme Committee approves final Master’s theses in its meetings.

Current 2027 SCI thesis-compatible deadlines

Aalto currently publishes the SCI graduation and committee schedule into 2027. The following 2027 deadlines include Degree Programme Committee meetings and can therefore support thesis approval:

• 17 February 2027 → committee 8–11 March;
• 21 April 2027 → committee 17–20 May;
• 26 May 2027 → committee 14–17 June;
• 30 July 2027 → committee 23–26 August;
• 22 September 2027 → committee 11–14 October;
• 17 November 2027 → committee 7–9 December;
• 31 December 2027 → committee in 2028.

The SCI table also contains starred graduation-only dates. Those starred dates are available only when the Master’s thesis has already been approved and registered in Sisu; they should not be mistaken for ordinary thesis-approval deadlines.

Students should recheck the live SCI graduation page and the authenticated SCI thesis workspace before committing to a deadline, because administrative schedules can change.

A realistic planning sequence

Before the second study year

Complete enough major studies to understand the research area you want to enter. Explore professors, research groups, companies and previous thesis topics. If a project requires difficult data access or a specialised research environment, start looking early.

Beginning of the second study year

Narrow the topic and identify a suitable Aalto professor as supervisor. If the work is external, identify the advisor or advisors and clarify academic/publication constraints. Create or update the thesis information in MyStudies and follow the SCI workspace instructions for the formal start.

Early project stage

Define the research question, scope, evidence and method. Agree a realistic six-month full-time plan or a justified alternative schedule with the supervisor. Keep the project within a 30 ECTS academic scope.

Main research and writing stage

Conduct the appropriate theoretical, computational, empirical, design or software-related work. Document decisions and limitations. Write continuously rather than leaving the entire report until the research work is finished.

Final stage

Confirm that the topic approval is in place. Complete the seminar/equivalent presentation and maturity essay according to current SCI instructions. Provide the supervisor with a mature final thesis early enough for the four-week reading and statement allowance when planning around graduation.

Submission and graduation

Submit the final thesis through the current Aalto process, ensure the HOPS and remaining studies are complete, and apply for graduation according to the relevant SCI deadline. Recheck the live timetable before submission.

Final checklist

Before final submission, confirm that:

• you are in one of the five current LifeTech majors and are following the shared SCI/MyCourses route, not the legacy BBE/CHEM process;
• the thesis is 30 ECTS and the scope remains appropriate;
• the topic is connected to your major/advanced studies;
• an eligible Aalto professor is supervising the thesis;
• advisor or advisors, if used, meet the current qualification requirement;
• the topic has been approved through the current MyStudies process;
• the current SCI Master’s Thesis MyCourses instructions have been checked;
• the six-month target or an agreed alternative schedule has been planned responsibly;
• the required seminar/equivalent presentation has been handled;
• the maturity essay follows the current rules, including the AI prohibition for maturity assessment;
• confidential material has not been placed improperly into the public thesis;
• the primary HOPS is up to date and approved;
• other degree studies and study modules are ready for graduation processing;
• the supervisor has enough time for final reading and the statement;
• the current SCI committee/graduation deadline has been rechecked.

Final planning principle

The secure public framework for a current LifeTech five-major thesis is clear: 30 ECTS, normally six months of full-time work, an Aalto professor as supervisor, qualified advisor support where applicable, MyStudies topic approval, seminar/equivalent presentation, maturity essay, public-document status and SCI committee approval.

The detailed operational process belongs to the authenticated SCI Master’s Thesis MyCourses workspace. Use that live workspace and your supervisor for details rather than borrowing procedures from legacy BBE/CHEM or another Aalto programme.