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The main focus of the Nordic Master in Cold Climate Engineering is to give the students a profound understanding of how the obtained specializations can be applied in jobs as researchers, consulting or practising engineers in the Arctic. All graduates will have the ability to work within a team of experts having different international backgrounds such as education, values, language, culture, etc.. and have a profound understanding of the challenging Arctic environment. The teaching methods will include lectures, assignments, field work, laboratory work and project work. Theory is supported by experimental work and modelling, which are used intensively, and also depending on the track.

Sea Track focuses on Arctic ships and offshore structures and the courses are offered by NTNU and Aalto.

The track gives the graduates a comprehensive overview of the different aspects related to the design and analysis of Arctic ships and offshore structures as well as operations on ice-covered waters.

All students will participate in Arctic field work.

The Sea Track covers both the basic knowledge as well as application of Arctic marine technology. During the studies, the students have the possibility to participate on Arctic field work (Svalbard/UNIS), laboratory work at Aalto Ice Tank and numerical modelling of ice related problems.

Special Knowledge on Arctic Ships and Offshore Structures and Operations

Graduates from the Sea Track will have acquired special knowledge related to Arctic ships and offshore structures and Arctic operations and will be able to:

• Understand the complicated and specific natures of Arctic design and operation environment.
• Describe the challenging environment and use this knowledge for modelling purposes.
• Design and carry out Arctic field work measurement campaigns.
• Understand the basic characteristics of ice model scale testing.
• Use analytical and numerical models to predict ice-structure interaction and other ice related problems.

Year 1: Aalto

Year 2: NTNU/UNIS, including Master's Thesis

Select 1 of the 3 options below:

Year 1: NTNU/UNIS

Year 2: Aalto, including Master's Thesis

Note: 25 ECTS in the autumn and 35 ECTS in the spring

The Space Track focuses on Earth observation techniques, mapping and navigation in the Arctic and the courses are offered by Aalto and DTU.

The track gives the graduates a profound understanding of how to use space as an environment for developing instruments to benefit people and society.

The students on the Space Track must choose between two specialisations: 

a. Earth Observations Techniques with a focus on sensing and mapping solutions for the Arctic.   

b. Mapping and Navigation with a focus on high-latitude and Arctic/Antarctic areas.

Special Knowledge on Exploration Techniques Used in the Polar Regions

Graduates from the Space Track will have acquired a thorough overview of technologies used for climate monitoring, mapping and navigation and will be able to:

• Design, build and operate functional space and Earth observation systems.
• Set up Earth observation research projects.
• Conduct science and applied Earth monitoring with the research results

Option 1: Start at Aalto

Year 1: Aalto

Year 2: DTU, including Master's Thesis

Note: 25 ECTS in the autumn and 35 ECTS in the spring

Option 2: Start at DTU

Year 1: DTU

Year 2: Aalto, including Master's Thesis

The specialisation Mapping and Navigation offers two main options: Start at Aalto or start at DTU. There are electives within the two main options.

See the detailed course plans for the different options of the Mapping and Navigation specialisation below.

Option 1: Mapping and navigation - start at Aalto

Year 1: Aalto

Year 2: DTU, including Master's Thesis

Option 2: Mapping and navigation - start at DTU

Year 1: DTU

Year 2: Aalto, including Master's Thesis

1. The student proposes a master’s thesis topic and professors (thesis supervisor). Nordic Master students have both supervisor from 1st University and 2nd University Master's thesis
   • The master's thesis shall be written on a topic related to the major, agreed upon between the student and the teacher who is specialised in the topic of the thesis.  
2. The student applies for a master’s thesis topic  
   • The student may apply for a master’s thesis topic once s/he has completed a minimum of 60 credits towards the master’s degree. The topic application is available in eAGE system The student returns the application to the Student Services of the degree programme no later than two weeks before the date of the degree programme committee meeting. The student is responsible for ensuring that his or her official study plan has been approved. 
3. The master’s thesis topic is presented by the thesis supervisors. The thesis supervisor signs the topic application and proposes a thesis advisor(s) for the thesis  
4. The Student Services of the degree programme reviews the completed studies. The transcript of records from 2 year University will be send to 1 year University 
5. The degree programme committee of the school approves the topic and the language of the master’s thesis, and appoints a thesis supervisor and one or two thesis advisors for it  
   • The degree programme committee of the school approves the topic and the language of the master’s thesis, and appoints a thesis supervisor and one or two thesis advisors for it. If the degree programme committee does not approve the topic, the application is returned to the student. 

1. The student prepares a plan for master’s thesis

   • The student prepares a master’s thesis plan in his or her own words in accordance with the instructions of the thesis supervisor. 

   • Supervision of master’s thesis

     • The student and thesis advisor agree on the execution of the master’s thesis supervision. While the master's thesis is being worked on, the thesis supervisor from 2nd and 1st University shall provide the student with opportunities to report on the progress of the work, on which the supervisors shall give feedback. Similarly, the supervisors may require the student to report on the progress of the work. As necessary, the school may assign the thesis supervisors to also act as a thesis advisor for the thesis. 

2. The student submits the complete master’s thesis for review to the thesis supervisors and agrees with the supervisors on a presentation / seminar presentation as well as on the writing of the maturity essay  

3. The supervisors organises an event for presenting the master’s thesis. At Aalto University a presentation is compulsory but it can be organized via Skype.  

4. Master’s thesis presentations are organised on a regular basis at the level of departments and degree programmes. The student may also give the presentation after writing the maturity essay if the thesis supervisor agrees to it. 

5. The student presents the master’s thesis/gives a seminar

   • The student must present the master’s thesis or give a seminar presentation on it. As a rule, the master’s thesis presentation is attended by the student, thesis advisor(s) and thesis supervisors. The student may also give the presentation after writing the maturity essay if the thesis supervisor agrees to it. 

6. The thesis supervisor gives the student permission to write maturity essay

   • The thesis supervisors and student agree on the time and place of the maturity essay. The student may also write the maturity essay before presenting /giving a seminar presentation on his/her master’s thesis. 

7. The student writes the maturity essay

   • The student shall write a maturity essay to demonstrate conversance with the topic of the thesis and proficiency in English language.  

8. The thesis supervisor reviews the contents of the maturity essay. The thesis supervisor submits a notification to the Student Services of the degree programme of a completed maturity essay. 

1. The student requests evaluation of master’s thesis in writing
   • The evaluation and approval of the master's thesis shall be requested in writing from the school. The student returns his or her application for the evaluation of the master’s thesis via the e-transactions system  as soon as
     • a) the topic has been approved,
     • b) the presentation or seminar presentation given or a date set for it, and
     • c) the maturity essay has been completed. 

Plagiarism check by Turnitin

Turnitin is a help for practising scientific writing. Practically, it is a submission box where an originality report is generated of the submitted texts and a teacher can give feedback on the submission with assessing tools.

Plagiarism checking by Turnitin is compulsory part of master's thesis. More information .

Apply for evaluation and submit an electronic version of your thesis at eAge system

• Before submitting your thesis, please make sure that the version is approved by your supervisor and complete and finalized, including all revisions.
• PDF/A file: Save your thesis in the PDF/A format.
• Application and submition form: Login to the with your Aalto user ID
• First check your email address at User details (it is used to contact you with any possible questions regarding your thesis and notifying you of the approval decision so it is important that your email address is up to date)
• Fill in the Application form and press Save
• You will be asked for a consent to electronic notification. The eAge system will send an email notification after the decision regarding the evaluation has been marked in the system, but if you do not give consent, you will receive a letter by post.
• Upload your thesis to the Master's Thesis tab. Please note that the form can only be submitted after uploading the thesis.
• Submit the thesis and application by pressing Save on the Case details tab.

Electronic version of the master's thesis and publishing it online

All approved theses and their meta data will be archived in full text in the . The meta data refers to i.e. name of the author, topic of the thesis and translation of the topic, name of the thesis supervisor and advisor as well as key words. At eAge you will determine what kinf of publication rights you give for your thesis in Aaltodoc publication archive. The meta data of the thesis and the PDF files are also available through the INSSI database.

The date of publishing can be postponed by a maximum of one year from the date of thesis approval. Hence, the thesis does not need to be published immediately, if you wish to postpone the publishing for reasons related to other publications, patent applications or trade secrets, for example. However, you should still keep in mind that the thesis is always a public document.

If you choose not to give permission for electronic publishing, only library staff will have access to the archived PDF file; it will not be available for anyone else.

If you notice any mistakes in your work, please contact the library (marja.malmgren@aalto.fi).

You may also make hard copies of your thesis if you want.

1. The thesis supervisors evaluates the master’s thesis and writes a statement on it  
   • The master’s thesis supervisors shall present a written statement explaining the grounds for the evaluation and a proposal for a grade; as a rule, this shall be done within one month of the thesis submission.   
2. The degree programme committee approves and evaluates the master’s theses  
   • The degree programme committee shall decide the approval and grading of the thesis after examining the written statement by the thesis supervisor and any other statements written. If the degree programme committee does not approve the thesis or grade it, the application is returned to the student.  
3. The Student Services of the degree programme inform the student of the decision by degree programme committee, issue the student with a copy of the thesis supervisor’s statement, and enter the data into student register 
   • The Student Services of the degree programme inform the student of the decision of the degree programme committee, issues the student with a copy of the statement of the thesis supervisor, and enters the data into the student register. 
4. The student is informed of the degree programme committee decision and issued with copy of thesis supervisor statement  
   • Student informed of degree programme committee decision and issued with copy of thesis supervisor statement. Students dissatisfied with the grade of their master’s thesis may appeal the matter in writing to the Aalto University Academic Appeals Board within 14 days of receiving notification of the decision.