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Interdisciplinary Project
Interdisziplinäre Projektarbeit
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:47:33
Abstract
The Interdisciplinary Project Activity (IPA) forms the key feature of the MSc RE&IS. Students work on an interdisciplinary task from the field of spatial development and infrastructure systems in a real application area. The focus of the IPA on interdisciplinary cooperation and strong communication skills are crucial expertise required in practice to communicate with and between relevant actors.
Objective
Upon completion of the IPA, students have developed skills in: 1) Investigating and understanding a given project area in a real-world context as well as identifying, evaluating and formulating the current issues and relevant topics within that area. 2) Creating, designing/developing and evaluating an overall integrated strategy for the project area with relevant measures as well as an in-depth study of a certain area or topic within the project area visualizing, describing, presenting and reporting on these in a written project report. 3) Organising, structuring and promoting team work within an interdisciplinary group of 4-5 students in self-responsibility. 4) Applying previously learnt interdisciplinary methodological and theoretical skills from different fields as well as methods and design thinking learnt during the IPA. 5) Evaluating and choosing the right way of representation (e.g.: text, statistics, images, etc.) for all pieces of information, ideas and proposals throughout the whole semester. 6) Understanding, developing and strengthening and critically self-evaluating their individual disciplinary position and role.
Content
Students apply the full range of their previously learned theoretical and methodological skills to solve the task together in their project team. Working closely with representatives of the case study area (e.g. officials, the wider public, different experts and decision-makers), which changes annually, as well as other experts, through site visits, and through individual mentoring by the six RE&IS chairs, students work in a stimulating and motivating environment to solve real-world spatial challenges. - The semester is structured through an intermediate and final presentation, bilateral discussions with the chairs involved as well as individual group mentoring. On these meetings, the work status has to be communicated with adequate representational means and is discussed with the professors, assistants and possibly external experts. - The project begins with a site visit of the project area at the beginning of the semester and the identification as well as precise formulation of the issues and opportunities observed within the project area. - The students work on a complex, rather rough task and define their exact objective independently on the basis of the as-is analysis. In the overall strategy, the future development direction for the project area is then determined and measures are formulated to steer the development in this direction. Within a focus area or focus topic, students further develop their project and deepen their overall strategy. They test and evaluate the impact of selected measures and finally reflect on their project, summarize the most important findings and make a recommendation formulated to decision-makers. - The project gets developed in an interdisciplinary group of students. The internal structuring of the group and distribution of work is to be organised by the students themselves. - The choice of software for the project development is up to the students. The software used should be applicable to data analysis, information processing, image production and word processing. This can include the Adobe programs such as InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop, GIS, the Microsoft programs such as Word, PowerPoint or Excel, CAD, R, etc.)
General Information
- Language
- German
- Levels
- MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| independent project |
Interdisziplinäre Projektarbeit
Die aufgeführten Raum- und Vorlesungszeiten sind nur aus organisatorischen Gründen aufgeführt. Die Studierenden sind nicht verpflichtet, an diesem bestimmten Ort und zu dieser bestimmten Zeit zu arbeiten.
Die offiziellen Kontaktstunden zwischen Studierenden und Dozierenden sind normalerweise für dieses Zeitfenster (d.h. Mittwochnachmittag) geplant, jedoch sind Abweichungen möglich und werden in der Projektbeschreibung angekündigt.
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480 h semesterly |