Practical trainings, student assistants and theses

Social Impact describes the influence that research, projects, or organizations have on society. It is therefore important to science because it shows that scientific findings are not only significant within the scientific community but also benefit people, the environment, the economy, and politics. Social Impact gains importance to justify research and other public project spending in times of tight public budgets, science skepticism and governmental mistrust. Showing the impact of one’s project can make or break a funding application.
There is a very diverse selection of methods to analyze the social impact of research and projects. Each of those methods has prerequisites that need to be taken into account for optimum usage. The goal of this master thesis is to generate an overview of available methods of social impact assessment (based on current literature) and develop an AI-aided application for selection the most useful and practical model of social impact assessment.

Proposed research question: Which prerequisites influence the choice of a social impact assessment method and how can the most suitable method be chosen?

• Enrolled in Master Program in Business Administration, Economics, Social Sciences or related field at a German university
• Co-supervising professor from Home University needed

• Close work with the team from the department “Human & Technology” @HZDR, research site in Leipzig
• Remote work possible, some in person work beneficial
• Start in November /December 2026, projected time for completion of thesis 6 months
• This thesis is not paid!

There is also the possibility to support through a paid student assistant position in addition to writing your thesis with us.