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Master Thesis HWS 2025

General Information

The Chair of Finance (Prof. Dr. Erik Theissen) supervises master theses in every semester. The allocation of master theses takes place in coordination with the chairs of Prof. Maug, Prof. Niessen-Ruenzi, Prof. Ruenzi, and Prof. Spalt.

You must have successfully completed a seminar with one of the chairs of the Finance Area (FIN 7XX) in order to participate. As most topics require to work empirically, some knowledge of statistics and econometrics is useful and participants should be motivated to undertake empirical work. You should write your thesis in English.


Time Schedule

DateEventAdditional Information
03.09.2025Topics Announcement

Topics will be uploaded to the individual websites of the participating chairs. You can find the topics of our chair below.

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions. If your questions relate to a specific topic please contact the supervisor of the topic directly.

05.09.2025 – 15.09.2025Online ApplicationStudents should submit an online application form indicating their preferences. The link for the Ilias group will be provided on the website of the Finance Area.
18.09.2025Topics Allocation AnnouncementThe allocation of topics will be published on the website of the Finance Area.
18.09.2025 – 25.09.2025Registration PeriodAsk your advisor to register your thesis at the student services office within this period.
18.09.2025Starting DateFormal starting date of the writing phase.
28.11.2025ColloquiumYou will present preliminary results of your thesis and get feedback to your progress.
05.02.2026Submission DeadlineLast day to hand in your thesis.

You find an information sheet on writing a master thesis here (PDF, 267 kB).

Topics

TopicTitle
T1. 
T2. 
T3. 
T4. 
T5. 
T6. 
T7. 
T8. 
T9. 
T10. 

The presentation of the master thesis topics can be found here. 

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions. If your questions relate to a specific topic please contact the supervisor of the topic directly.

 

Previous Topics

Topic Title
T1. Dark Pool Trading and Information Acquisition
T2. The Impact of Salient Fund Returns on Mutual Fund Flow Dynamics
T3. Mutual Fund Performance and Fee Structure
T4. Can Large Language Models Forecast Stock Price Movements?
T5. Do ETFs Over-score Mutual Funds in Fire Sales?
T6. Climate Change, Carbon Uncertainty, and Emissions Trading
T7. Event Study: Protected Areas and Municipal Bond
T8. Informed Corporate Bond Trading
T9. Geopolitical Risk and Stock Returns
T10. Limited retail attention and asset prices

 

Further Information

  • Stata Tutorial

    For participants in a seminar and master or diploma students writing an empirical thesis at a chair of the Area of Finance (not only the Chair of Finance), a course on empirical work with Stata and the databases of the University of Mannheim (e.g. CRSP or Compustat) will be offered at the beginning of each semester. The name of the course is FIN 604 – Stata in Finance.

    This course is no mandatory prerequisite for writing a seminar, master or diploma thesis and are solely offered to help students prepare efficiently for empirical scientific work.