Making your Bachelor's or Master's Thesis (kandidaatin tutkielma tai pro gradu)

How to find a topic for your thesis and a supervisor?

If you have an interesting topic in your mind, contact a person who either teaches something related to the topic or researchers it. If you don't know a suitable person, contact any teacher.

We can supervise theses related to any of the course topics we teach, anything we research, topics listed in our pages, but also many other topics that you are interested in. You can contact any of our research group personnel to discuss a thesis topic.

Possible topics supervised by our team

The topics are not fixed, they are examples of what kind of topics we usually supervise. Below is a list of topics by supervisor, and after that a list of selected topics by theme. The topics listed are up-to-date as of November 2025, but for possible changes consult the list maintained by the Degree programe director of Software Engineering and Information Systems and Information Processing Science degree programmes https://unioulu.sharepoint.com... 

Topics by supervisor (in alphabetical order by surname)

Leena Arhippainen

  • Ohjaan sekä LuK- että Pro gradu –tutkielmia /Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis
  • Voin antaa valmiita aiheita tai voit ehdottaa omaa aihettasi / Your own topic
  • Laadullinen tutkimus, käyttäjätestaus, haastattelut... /Qualitative user research
  • Käyttäjäkokemus, käytettävyys, HCI, menetelmät /UX, usability, HCI, methods
  • Pelillistäminen, pelitutkimus /Gamification, game research
  • Virtuaalitodellisuus, lisätty todellisuus, (käyttäjätutkimus) /VR, AR, (user study)
  • Monitieteelliset tutkimukset /Multidisciplinary studies

Eva Durall

Research approach: qualitative, design-based research and constructive design, conceptual-theoretical

Areas/Topics:

  • Technology design processes: participatory design, co-design, co-creation
  • New media design
  • Service design
  • User experience design, Human-centered design
  • Usability
  • Quantified-Self, personal informatics, analytics
  • Information visualization
  • Technology democratization (civic media)
  • Design futures
  • Science and Technology Studies
  • Digital literacies (data literacy)
  • Critical making
  • Critical speculative design
  • Storytelling and Transmedia storytelling (e.g.: design fiction, experiential futures)
  • Technology-Enhanced Learning
  • Persuasive technology

Contexts:

  • Learning and technology (in various environments with diverse groups)
  • Computer supported collaborative work
  • Makerspaces and Fablabs

Heidi Hartikainen

  • Social media and Web 2.0
  • Social networks, instant messaging, virtual worlds (gaming and social) – TikTok, Snapchat, BeReal, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Youtube, WoW etc.
  • Collaborative content creation and curation (for example spotify, Wikipedia)
  • Digital literacy, fake news, content moderation, Facebook Jail, viral challenges
  • Unsafe interactions in dating apps, social media
  • Adolescent online safety and Information security:
  • Threats related to: Content (e.g. spam, violence, porn), Contact (e.g, bullying, grooming, hate speech, sexting), Conduct (e.g. illegal file sharing, bullying others), or Computers (e.g. malware, phishing)
  • Online safety mediation: Social mediation by parents, teachers, Industry mediation (e.g. content screening, privacy policies), Policies and educational efforts (e.g. KiVa koulu, Better internet for Children)
  • Online safety technologies (e.g. parental control apps)
  • FabLabs and Digital fabrication:
  • Empowerment of different user groups through digital fabrication
  • Critical making and design as tools for activism

Netta Iivari

  • Qualitative research
  • Children and technology
  • Participatory design
  • User-centered design
  • Usability
  • User experience
  • Digital fabrication and Making
  • Critical design, critical Making, critical studies on technology
  • Cultural aspects, values, ethical aspects
  • Gender related topics
  • Inclusion, empowerment, equality
  • Activism

Antti Juustila

  • Suitable as a secondary supervisor for the topics below.
  • Mobile software development (iOS, Android, wearables)
  • Data structures and algorithms
  • Design patterns

Marianne Kinnula

I supervise qualitative studies

  • Digital technology design and use; all topics can be looked at either business or technology user/developer viewpoint
  • Ethical viewpoints
  • Artificial intelligence, robotics, machine-learning etc. from the viewpoints of users, ethical issues
  • Social sustainability in technology development and use
  • Games and gaming
  • Online communities
  • Technology-rich everyday life (viewpoint that interests you, any user group)
  • Fablabs, digital fabrication, making
  • Technology supporting active citizenship (children / young people / adults / elderly)
  • Creativity/ideation in new technology design
  • Designing technology for children / with children / by children (or all of those)
  • Almost any software business related topics - propose a topic and we can then discuss how it fits our study program as a thesis topic
  • Strategy
  • Leadership

Arto Lanamäki

  • Qualitative research
  • Policy and regulation (especially the EU AI Act, but also other regulatory issues)
  • Implementation and use of AI-based software in organizations
  • Digital transformation
  • Contradictions, paradoxes, ambiguity, dialectics, etc.

Jouni Lappalainen

  • Software Tool Evaluation
  • Personal Software Processes
  • Computer/Video Games, Genres and Technologies
  • Topics regarding learning and teaching, such as Virtual Learning Environments, Teaching programming/Software Engineering.

Tonja Molin-Juustila

    • Mainly qualitative studies, constructive studies maybe
    • Participatory design and/or technologies supporting participation
    • Drama in the context of digital technology design
    • Digitalization in social care/work/services (e.g. daily ICT issues in (small) third sector organizations, digital support for OR remote version of a service in mental health, divorce, etc.)
    • IoT and/or new ways of enjoying digital technology (from the user point of view)
    • Interested in constructive studies continuing and/or involving users in the development of any of these INTERACT applications/prototypes (https://interact.oulu.fi/inter...): Turvapaikka, SmartCanvas, Juttunurkka or re-thinking the Poliisiappi (mobile app) beyond mobile device
    • Project management and work in ICT field
    • Children and technology
    • Topics with activity theory as theoretical framework

    Dorina Rajanen

    • General research interests: human-computer interaction, usability and user experience, accessibility, psychophysiological measurements in ICT, technology acceptance, visualization and visual analytics, sustainability and fighting climate change with ICT, safety culture in digital fabrication, business intelligence and business process modeling, software as a service, education and instructional design, AI and ethics, media research
    • Research methods: quantitative, qualitative, and design science

    Specific topics:

    • Climate change communication and action: how ICT can contribute to these?
    • Sustainability topics in ICT and information systems: how to design and develop sustainable ICT, what means sustainable ICT, how ICT contribute to a more sustainable future
    • Business intelligence: data mining, text mining, data visualization, and gamification in business & education contexts (computational and/or application aspects), data analytics, visual analytics, business process modeling - any topics using or developing these methods in the business & education context
    • Media experience: study of attention to media contents and formal features (colors, shapes, etc.), emotional appraisal in media contexts (video, games, news reading, etc.)
    • User evaluation in business, media, and human-computer interaction contexts (theoretical and empirical studies)
    • User experience and usability: evaluation and practices, user-centered design in practice, accessibility
    • Psychophysiological research
    • Software as a service, cloud computing: theory and applications, development, adoption, recommendation, evaluation
    • Models of adoption and acceptance of technology (e.g., for wearable computing, smart homes, e- and m-health, mixed reality, AI, etc.)
    • Safety culture (e.g., in digital fabrication, adoption of safety culture in organizations, evaluating safety as part of usability evaluation, ergonomics)
    • Instructional design in online education
    • Research methodologies in ICT and information systems

      Mikko Rajanen

      • Topics related to usability, human-computer interaction, games and gamification, accessibility, safety culture in digital fabrication, ethics of design, dark side of design, dark patterns, information systems, accessibility, privacy, human-AI interaction

      Sumita Sharma

      I supervise topics related to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Child-Computer Interaction (CCI), Critical AI literacy, and speculative, critical, and participatory design. Also, accessibility, Global South, diversity and inclusion. My expertise is in qualitative research (and not quantitative).

      Helena Tokkonen

      • Qualitative research
      • UI/UX/Service/universal design
      • Usability
      • Accessibility & user experience
      • Human centered design
      • Human centered AI
      • New technologies and user experience
      • Topics related to software business
      • Digital tools in education
      • Games in education

      Leena Ventä-Olkkonen

      • Qualitative studies
      • Children, adolescents, and families
      • Digital technology design and use practices
      • Participatory design
      • Human-centered design
      • User experience
      • Usability
      • Digital fabrication and Making + FabLabs
      • Critical design, critical Making, critical studies on technology

      Karin Väyrynen

      I only supervise qualitative research such as interview-based case studies (no quantitative, so no survey studies etc), and systematic literature reviews

      I only supervise new master’s thesis that are related to Artificial Intelligence AND (1) Digital Transformation or (2) Regulation/Law or (3) Public Sector organizations or (4) Healthcare

      • Digital Transformation, e.g.
        • AI-based Digital Transformation (topics can focus on digital transformation strategy, industry-level AI-related digital transformation, etc.)
      • Regulation/Laws
        • Effect of law and policies on development of Artificial Intelligence technology
        • Effect of law and policies on adoption of Artificial Intelligence technology
        • E.g., new European AI Regulation proposal (Artificial Intelligence Act)
      • Public Sector Organizations, topic examples:
        • How do public Sector organizations interpret the European Artificial Intelligence Act, what challenges and/or opportunities do they see in it?
        • How do public sector organizations utilize artificial intelligence systems?
        • What kind of artificial intelligence systems are being utilized in public sector organizations? (systematic literature review or empirical research possible)
        • What are the benefits and challenges related to utilization of artificial intelligence (systems) in public sector organizations?
        • How would the European AI Act affect the utilization of AI systems in public sector organizations?
      • Healthcare related topics, topic examples:
        • How do organizations that develop AI-based healthcare technology interpret the European Artificial Intelligence Act, what challenges and/or opportunities do they see in it?
        • What are the benefits and challenges related to the regulation of AI-based healthcare technology?
        • What kind of artificial intelligence systems are being developed for the healthcare sector?
        • How does the healthcare sector (can be focused on specific parts of the sector, such as hospital) utilize artificial intelligence systems?
      • European AI Act – specific topics
        • e.g., roles and responsibilities of different actors in the AI supply chain

        Selected topics by theme

        For mainly Finnish speaking students due to the topic that requires interactions in Finnish language with Finnish stakeholders - but if you are very interested in these topics we can try to find a way for also English speaking students:

        • Training teachers in participatory design with children
        • Fablab at school (interviewing teachers)
        • Different viewpoints to fablab/making/makerspace/digital fabrication and children
        • Esteettömyys digitaalisissa palveluissa
        • Digitaalisen teknologian hyödyntäminen näyttämöllä (näytelmän toteuttamisessa/itse näytelmässä) / (esittävässä) taiteessa

        For any student:

        • Nexus analysis as a research method on technology-rich everyday life
        • Children brainstorming for tangible interaction
        • Digital services and youth on the brink of adulthood (e-government, e-participation etc.)
        • New curriculum in Finnish schools (OPS) and digital technology
        • Children/Families/Anybody and Pokemon Go, with any kind of focus
        • Instagram/Snapchat/Whatsapp (and children/families, can be even your own!)
        • Tumblr/Twitter, any focus
        • Digital technology ecology of a school/kindergarten (children’s point of view)
        • Digital technology ecology at home
        • Smartphone/Pad and toddlers (even your own child)
        • Social media in children’s lives
        • Use of drones
        • Robots, programming and children
        • Tangible programming (with children)
        • User study about mobile cars – cf. http://link.springer.com/chapt... (SmartKom)
        • Toddlers/babies and IT – first touch with technology
        • Girls in IT
        • Digital technology and erotica
        • Motherhood / Breastfeeding and digital technology
        • Joy/(Un)happiness/Birth/Death and digital technology
        • 21st century photo album
        • Memes!
        • Elderly and digital games
        • Longterm World of Warcraft players
        • A discourses survey on online discussions (any technology related topic)
        • Digital natives and their parents – who teaches whom?
        • A comparative study: mobile vs. desktop gaming
        • Use of 3D virtual city models