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Master's degree in food biotechnology

Master's thesis

The master's thesis (TFM) consists of a tutored practical project that forms part of the structure of the master's degree as a compulsory subject that is carried out during the second semester.

It serves as an activity of initiation into research careers and/or professional exercise in order for students to consolidate the knowledge they have acquired in the different subject areas and have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to apply them, in an integrated way, to the study of a subject matter, to the design of an application or to the resolution of specific problems in their professional area.

Students must carry out a placement (approximately 200 hours) within a UdG research group, within an external or UdG research group,or in a company to complete the practical part of the TFM.

WORK MODE OF THE INITIATION TO RESEARCH (TIR). Initiation to research in the area of food biotechnology. Participation in a research, innovation or development project. Writing a scientific report. Presentation and oral defence of the work.

VOCATIONAL INTRODUCTION MODE (TIP). Initiation to professional exercise, taking part in tasks related to the master's degree’s area of specialisation. Collaboration in activities typical of the work group where the student is on placement (production, R&D, quality control, etc.) Writing a report of the activities carried out. Presentation and oral defence of the work.

1. There are several ways you can establish contact and the purpose for doing the Master’s thesis in a research centre, research group, company or institution:

  • - students can contact a centre or company of interest to them directly and prepare a master’s thesis proposal, which they should forward to or comment on with the MBTA’s coordinator, to evaluate its suitability and be given guidance on the steps to follow.
  • - students can opt for one or more offers published on the Polytechnic School’s Stays in the Work Environments webpage ,or offers that have been published on the Polytechnic School’s master’s thesis app, or that they have received by other means. If they are chosen by the company, centre or institution, they should contact the coordinator to assess their suitability and provide guidances for the steps to follow.
  • - where students are unable to find an offer to do their placements they can email the master’s degrees coordinator to assess the options for doing their master’s thesis, specifying the reasons for their choice, availability (temporary, timetables etc.).

2. Once students are accepted by a centre or company to do their master’s thesis placement, procedures will have to be carried out before they can start (such as signing an agreement if the placement is at a centre or company external to the UdG and there is no previous employment relationship). This step includes assigning a master's thesis supervisor.
The role of a supervisor is to give a student guidance in subjects relating to the development of a master’s thesis during their stay and in the academic aspects of the drafting process of their thesis. Therefore, the student is required to keep the tutor informed about progress with the work and follow indications in terms of the approach, structure, format and contents, of the written report as well as the oral presentation.

3.Students will always have a master’s thesis director, which will be:
(1) someone in a managerial position at the centre or company where the master’s thesis is being carried out, with whom an educational cooperation agreement has been signed.
(2) The same professor who has been assigned as a tutor, if the TFM is completed at a group from INTEA or if the student has a contractual relationship with the company where he/she is completing the TFM, under which circumstances, there is no need for a supervisor at the company.
The functions of the director are to propose and direct the work carried out by the student.

4. Once notification of the assigned placement has been received, the student must make contact with the tutor and/or director assigned to specify the subject, the plan of work and time allocation during the placement. 

5. Once the subject of the master’s thesis has been agreed on, with the supervisor and the director, the student enters a master’s thesis proposal into Polytechnic School’s master's thesis platform, which will need to be signed by the supervisor and approved by the Master's Thesis Committee. This is an indispensable step for producing and defending the master's thesis and needs to be taken during the corresponding period prior to the defence (consult the subject’s Moodle).

All students completing the TFM outside the UdG must process the corresponding educational cooperation agreement (excluding those with a contractual relationship with the company where they are completing the practical part of the TFM).

Formalities are handled by the Office of Companies Relations at the Polytechnic School through the computer application dedicated to work placements (EEL). To collate all the data, the company or institution must publish its offer on this platform and the student must sign up as a candidate for this placement.

The contact details of the officer managing the platform are:

Jordi Puig i Bosch
Office of Companies Relations at the Polytechnic School
PI Building - Office 009
Tel.: +34 972418374
Email: empresa@eps.udg.edu

The ordinary call for defending MBTA master’s theses is the September one. Proposals can be shown from 23/10/2023 to 28/06/2024. You will receive the proposal’s acceptance from the Master’s Degree’s Master’s Thesis Committee after a few days.

(Student who wish to apply for an extraordinary examination session will need to send an application to the coordinating committee, justifying their reasons. This application will be valid for the Master’s Degree's Educational Committee)

Students are responsible for entering their master’s thesis proposal into the Thesis platform (https://aserv2.udg.edu/TFGM/EPS ). The proposal must provide the requisite information (director/, tutor, confidentiality) in addition to title and description of the work to be carried out (including: background, goals, and methodology or expected results, application etc.) See tutorial in the file below.

Proposals need to be entered before the established deadline: 28 June 2024. As soon as it is in the platform, the proposal will be accepted by the supervisor and then go MBTA’s Master's Thesis Committee for acceptance. Proposals entered outside their deadlines will not be accepted. 

Tutorial on entering master's-thesis proposals and monitoring on the Polytechnic School's thesis platform

  

Once the experimental part has been carried out, a master's thesis report will have to be drafted.

1. Structure and contents of reports:

The document must be no longer than approximately 50 pages. Written reports must meet minimum formal requirements to be considered suitable for the academic level of master's-degree studies: appropriate use of the correct scientific-technical language, spelling and grammar, tables (with headers) and figures (with footnotes) correctly numbered, self-explanatory and referenced in the text, citations from other related works and full bibliographical references of all citations. Well organised and structured document. Whether it is a TIR or a TIP, a summary, bibliographical references and a bibliographical section must be included.

(A) Research initiation work (TIR)

The report must be structured in accordance with the standards for presenting scientific reports, containing the following sections:

    • Acknowledgements (briefly citing the individuals and institutions, companies, research centres, etc., that have provided the author with moral, material or professional support).
    • Summary (summarily and clearly describing the company or institution, tasks carried out, results obtained (if there are any) and personal assessment). From one to two pages maximum.
    • INTRODUCTION: a bibliographical review of the subject of the project that describes the state of the issue, provides context and justifies the research project's goals.
    • GOALS: it must contain a clear definition of the project’s goals.
    • MATERIALS AND METHODS: description of the materials and methods used and of the experimental design. A description of the statistical analysis applied to the results must be included, where possible.
    • RESULTS: these must be presented and summarised in tables and figures. They need to include an explanatory text of the results obtained and the statistical analysis.
    • DISCUSSION: the results obtained must be compared with those obtained by other research and their validity and implications in the field of study discussed.
    • CONCLUSIONS: listing the most significant original results obtained.
    • BIBLIOGRAPHY: list of references cited in any part of the document. Use of a suitable and consistent format throughout the section (see https://biblioteca.udg.edu/ca/aprenentatge/com-citar-documents on the web of the Library of the UdG).

 

(B) Vocational introduction (TIP)

    • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (briefly citing the individuals and Institutions, companies, research centres, etc., that have provided the author with moral, material or professional support).
    • SUMMARY (summarily and clearly describing the company or institution, tasks carried out, results obtained (if there are any) and personal assessment). From one to two pages maximum.
    • FEATURES AND ORGANISATION of the company, centre, research group or institution where the internships were carried out, with: Description of the activities that are carried out there.
    • SPECIFIC WORK PERFORMED BY THE STUDENT with:
      • Introduction (which focuses on the subject and activity to be carried out in the context of the work)
      • Methodology/Tasks/Procedures... (stages and processes carried out, material used and methods followed, and, where necessary, experimental design and statistical analysis). Any aspect that cannot be detailed because of the confidentiality should be mentioned in the document.
      • Results obtained or development of the tasks carried out, incidents, etc., (will be adapted to the specific tasks carried out).
      • Discussion of the results obtained or of the tasks carried out from a critical point of view and proposed improvement or future continuation.

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT (relationship with the previous knowledge and skills and those acquired in the Master’s degree, adaptation to work team, assessment of the tasks carried out, etc.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: list of references cited throughout the document. Use of a suitable and consistent format throughout the section (see https://biblioteca.udg.edu/ca/aprenentatge/com-citar-documents on the web of the Library of the UdG).

 

2. Report submission:

Reports are deposited on the Polytechnic School’s thesis platform within the corresponding period. Documents must be submitted as established and stated on the subject's website, before the set deadline (published on the Polytechnic School’s website for master's and bachelor’s theses): 9 September 2024.Once deposited, defences will have their authorisation signed by the tutor. The defence can now be prepared.

Check out the deposit deadlines for each call from the subject's moodle and from the Polytechnic School’s website.

 

3. Presentation and oral defence of the master's thesis (TFM)

The presentation and defence of the TFM before the committee is public in all aspects and consists of:

1) A presentation before a committee made up of three members of the INTEA’s areas teaching the master's degree, where the student provides a summary of the contents of the work in approximately 15 minutes.

2) Its defence, where the student replies to questions that the court believes pertinent about the contents and completion of the work.

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