Students of the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University have been able to complete their bachelor’s studies with a final project since 2025. Since last year, 110 graduates have taken advantage of this alternative to the traditional bachelor’s thesis. Final projects are offered in the programmes Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemistry and Materials Technology for Conservation and Restoration, and Environment and Health.
Final projects can offer students a number of advantages, mainly thanks to the wide range of possible formats. Compared to traditional, more extensive and formally structured bachelor’s theses, they can focus more on experimental and creative research work. Students thus spend more time in the laboratory, in the field or working with real data, and less time writing theoretical sections.
“The theoretical introduction has to be concise and to the point. Students therefore practise writing short, focused texts, which is crucial for their future scientific careers,” said Jan Lochman, guarantor of the Bachelor’s programme in Biochemistry. Writing scientific papers, professional reports and presenting results is also valuable training for their future professional paths.
According to Lochman, final projects are an effective replacement for bachelor’s theses. Depending on their preferences and interests, students can choose from several recommended formats: a scientific article presenting basic research results, an innovative proposal focused on applied research, a research report, or a critical review of professional literature.
“Thanks to their flexibility, final projects will also better suit students working on scientific topics within larger research teams,” noted Petr Táborský, guarantor of the Chemistry programme.
The theoretical part reduced to a minimum
The differences between a final project and a bachelor’s thesis can be illustrated by the example of students in the programme Chemistry and Materials Technology for Conservation and Restoration. In her final project, student Jasmína Vokurková focused on comparing traditional and non-traditional methods of paper cleaning. “The work went well for me because it contained a lot of practical parts and wasn’t burdened with a large amount of theory. I appreciated being able to focus more on experimental work and results, which is also beneficial for my future career,” Vokurková said.
A similar topic had been processed a year earlier in the form of a bachelor’s thesis by student Vanessa Čančinová. “Vanessa’s thesis is eighty-eight pages long, with almost twenty pages devoted to the theoretical introduction,” described Karel Novotný, guarantor of the programme. By contrast, Vokurková’s project is thirty-four pages long, with only four pages dedicated to theory.
The supervisor of both works, Radka Kopecká, sees the main benefit of final projects in the way they better prepare students for scientific work and for presenting their results. “In our field, the laboratory and real research are key, which is why this approach is supported. Projects actively involve students in science and develop their ability to apply knowledge from their studies,” Kopecká explained.
Final projects as an effective replacement for bachelor’s theses
The length of final projects is not strictly defined, but the recommended range is between 5,000 and 8,000 words. This makes them a shorter format than traditional bachelor’s theses. “This year, final projects have proved to be an effective replacement for bachelor’s theses. The growing number of works written in English also confirms that students are successfully mastering the writing of concise and well-structured scientific texts,” says Lochman.
“Final projects also seem to be a more suitable output for students who complete practical internships abroad during their bachelor’s studies, for example within the Erasmus+ programme,” adds Petr Táborský, guarantor of the Chemistry programme.
For example, the Environment and Health programme offers students a choice of thirty-one possible topics. During their defences, students explain the essence of their project, its results and its contribution within ten minutes. Key emphasis is placed on the practical aspect of the work and on understanding the topic.
Instead of a traditional external opponent, the work is assessed by a so-called rapporteur, who is usually a member of the committee and is responsible for several thematically related projects. This allows for more objective comparison and evaluation of the quality of individual final projects and leads to more balanced assessment of students,” Lochman added.
Mgr. Dominika Bezdeková, a graduate of the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, has received the Werner von Siemens Award for the Best Master’s Thesis. The expert juries selected the winners from a total of 662 submissions across technical and natural science...
Recently habilitated Markéta Holá has managed to combine a scientific career with family life. “The female element is needed in every research group,” says Holá. According to her, women do not have to give up science even despite maternity leave and raising children.
