Master’s And Bachelor’s Thesis

Thank you for your interest in writing your thesis with us! Theses at our team are in the area of Human-Centred Security, Organizational Cybersecurity, and Industrial Control Systems Security. The methods our students employ are typicaly interviews, diary studies, questionnaires, field observations, web crawling, statistical tests, and prototype coding. Hence, to write your thesis with us you need to be willing to engage with human participants.

If you are a Bachelor’s or Master’s student at Saarland University (UdS) and are interested in writing your thesis with us, please contact Jonas. In your application, please

state for which topic you are applying (see below),
explain why you are a good fit for this topic, and
detail your experience with human subject research (if any).

Please also carefully read Dr. Sven Bugiels’ introduction about how to write a thesis at UdS.

Open Topic - General Call: In-Organization Studies (Master)

If you are currently employed in an organization (as a working student) and want to conduct the research for your thesis in this organization, please reach out. Note that your thesis will be a public document; hence, your employer needs to agree to the publication of the results of your research. In your application, please

explain your research idea(s), the research questions you want to answer, and the method you wish to utilize.

Open Topic - General Call: Security and Usability of Industrial Control Systems (Master/ Bachelor)

If you are experienced with Industrial Control Systems (ICS) or more broadly Operational Technology (OT) and want to write your thesis about those topics, we are likely happy to supervise you. In your application, please

state your experience with ICS/ OT, and

explain your research idea, if you already have one in mind.

Current and Former Students

Palash. 2025, Currently Running 👩🏼‍💻. Topic: TBA
Ida. 2025, Currently Running 👩🏼‍💻. Topic: TBA
Yashodhara. 2025, Currently Running 👩🏼‍💻. Topic: TBA
Rian. 2025, Currently Running 👩🏼‍💻. Topic: Human-Centred Security in Identity and Access Management: A Qualitative Study on Perception and Implementation Challenges
Heinz. 2025, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Empirical Investigation of the Socio-Cultural Environment of Secure Operational Technology Software Development
Moritz. 2024, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Restructuring of an IT Security Organisation and Its Communication Issues
Thomas. 2023, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Caring about OT Security - An Interview Study on the Security Perceptions of OT workforce
Fatemehzahra. 2023, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Studying the Effects of Information Security Policies, specifically the BSI Standards, on Work Stress, Performance and Productivity on End Users and IT-Experts Opinion in this Regard
Sebastian. 2022, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Behaviour Change Through Security Awareness Campaigns: An Quantitative Evaluation
Volkan. 2022, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Information Security Awareness Campaigns: Effectiveness and Influence on Productive Security - An Empi rical Study Inside an Organization
Sebastian. 2022, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Information Security Awareness Campaigns: Impact on Employees Trust and Self-Efficacy
Jonathan. 2022, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Security Practitioners’ Communication and Cooperation with other Employees: Obstacles and Facilitators
Carelle. 2022, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Productive Security: An Empirical Diary Evaluation of the Friction between Security and Productivity in the Working Routine of Employees
Alexandra. 2022, Completed 🏆. Topic: Measuring the Impact of IT Security on the Every Day Life of the Employees: A Mixed-Method Study In a German Organisation
Victoria. 2021, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Quantum Misconceptions
Nikolai. 2021, Completed, B.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Zoom’s End-To-End-Encryption: Why do so few use it?
Mirco. 2021, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Impact of Cybersecurity Measures on Employees Empirical Investigation of Collateral Damage Triggered by Cybersecurity Measures
Moritz. 2021, Completed, M.Sc. 🏆. Topic: Breaking the Routine: Using Working from Home as an Advantage in IT Security
Tatiana. 2021, Completed, B.Sc. 🏆. Topic: The Impact of IT-Security on Home Oﬃce Productivity in the Education Sector