Degree projects
Are you thinking about your degree project? With us, you could study different aspects of a bioeconomy where forest materials lay the foundation for a green future. We combine natural and social sciences and cover large parts of the forest value system.
Writing your degree project at our Department
A degree project can be carried out as part of a program or as an independent course. You can choose to do a 30-credit or 60-credit project. Degree projects are done individually or in pairs.
Thematically, our projects and expertise are linked to our areas: Forest Science, Economics, Business Administration, Forest Policy, Bioeconomy Management and Technology.
Below, you’ll find information about degree projects we can supervise and a link to guidelines for individual projects.
You are always welcome to contact our course coordinators Thomas Kronholm (responsible for forestry science, technology with a focus on industrial wood supply management or raw material properties and refining processes) or Cecilia Mark-Herbert (responsible for forest economics, bioeconomy, business administration or sustainable development), who can help you further develop your idea and connect you with the right person.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Available and suggested subjects for a degree projects, fall 2026
Most subjects do not include a ready format - get in touch with the one responsible for course and possible supervisor well in advance to discuss the work.
Background and purpose
The forestry sector remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels for machinery operation, posing a significant challenge to achieving climate-neutral wood-supply. One of the main obstacles to transitioning toward renewable or low-emission fuel alternatives is the lack of a decentralized and responsive energy supply infrastructure for fuel alternatives.
Effective planning for such systems requires accurate knowledge of site-specific fuel consumption, which in turn depends on a range of external and operational factors—including terrain slope, soil moisture, surface roughness, weather conditions, and seasonal variability.
This thesis project aims to harness the power of deep learning and geospatial data integration to predict energy usage and emissions in forestry operations. By developing a model that can generalize across harvesting sites with varying conditions, this work will contribute to more informed planning and benchmarking of sustainable forest management practices, particularly in regions like Northern Sweden where challenging terrain is common.
Your task
You will develop and train a deep learning model that predicts energy consumption (and potentially emissions) based on a set of geospatial and operational parameters collected from real-world forest harvesting sites. Key aspects of your task include:
Data preprocessing and feature engineering from existing datasets (e.g., slope, roughness, stoniness, soil water level, machine type, and weather)
Model training and validation using deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, with potential integration of TorchGeo for handling geospatial datasets).
Evaluation of model performance on unseen harvesting plots and analysis of generalizability.
Contribute to an internal benchmarking tool to assess machine performance under diverse field conditions.
We recommend this project as a 30 credit Master’s thesis, given the complexity and technical depth of the task.
The degree project is to be done in English.
Your skillset and interests
This thesis is for example well-suited for students in -Industrial Wood Supply Management. You should have:
- A strong interest in AI, deep learning, or geospatial data analysis.
- Programming experience, preferably in Python with knowledge of deep learning libraries such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
- Familiarity with or willingness to learn about forestry operations and terrain modeling.
- Curiosity to work at the interface of machine learning, sustainability, and field-level forestry data.
- The ability to work independently and handle real-world, possibly incomplete datasets.
What we offer
- A relevant research topic that supports the energy transition of the Swedish forestry sector.
- Possibility of contributing to the scientific research of the department as the results of the degree project will be incorporated into a scientific publication, where the student can of course become a co-author.
For more information about the project, contact Justin Herdegen.
Contact: justin.herdegen@slu.se, +46722392528
It would be possible to obtain some form of “needs specifications” from Ukraine (via Olena and Orest). Thereafter, the student could carry out a survey within the Swedish timber construction sector. The survey could include construction activities as well as advisory services and knowledge transfer.
Subject: Business Administration, Bioeconomy management or Forest management
Language: English
Project page: Wood Reconstruct
Contact: Anders Roos, anders.roos@slu.se
Engagement in reconstruction in Ukraine
In terms of knowledge sharing, donations, collaboration…Lindbäcks,Moelven and Adapteo are already actively contributing in this work.
Case studies that focus on organizational aspects of collaborative efforts (SDG 17) to rebuild Ukraina.
Subject: Business Administration, Bioeconomy management or Forest management
Language: English
Project page: Wood Reconstruct
Contact: Cecilia Mark-Herbert, Cecilia.mark-herbert@slu.se
Forest based bioeconomy in Swedish SMEs – with inspiration from the study in Finland (D’Amato et al., 2020)
Subject: Business Administration, Bioeconomy management or Forest management
Language: English
Contact: Cecilia Mark-Herbert, Cecilia.mark-herbert@slu.se
This is a construction form where individuals jointly organize the construction of a wooden multi storey residential house. It is common in other parts of EU and in the UK – but not so common in Sweden.
Subject: Business Administration, Bioeconomy management or Forest management
Language: English
Contact: Cecilia Mark-Herbert, Cecilia.mark-herbert@slu.se
Subject: Bioeconomy management or Forest management
Language: English/Swedish
Contact: Camilla Widmark, Camilla.widmark@slu.se
Forest owner’s perceptions of rewetting of peatland.
Keywords: policy response, climate change mitigation, land use.
Language: Preferable Swedish to be able to interview forest owners, forest management
Contact: Camilla Widmark, Camilla.widmark@slu.se
How do businesses approach and innovate within the context of a circular (bio)-economy? (Case study approach)
Subject: Business administration
Language: English
Contact: Julia Aldberg, Julia.aldberg@slu.se
The forest sector is in transition and the need for “right” competences increasing – what is the role of the “jägmästar-examen” in this new context?
Subject: Business Administration
Language: English/Swedish
Contact: Julia Aldberg, Julia.aldberg@slu.se
Was it import stop from Russia that made the price increase? As the demand decrease, what is the strategy?
Subject: Forest management, Forest bioeconomy
Language: English/Swedish
Contact: Anders Lindhagen, Anders.lindhagen@slu.se
There are often plenty of creative innovations that could potentially help transform forestry. It is best to analyze these innovations theoretically before investing money in building and testing them. This project is always open, as long as the student (or the supervisor) has their own innovation or concept they wish to evaluate. But if you don’t have one, this year we can suggest for instance a balloon system—that is, a flying system based on the “lighter-than-air” principle. By building a model of how the future system might work, and how it stacks up in terms of time, costs, and other target variables, the innovation’s potential is examined theoretically. You can find examples of this type of thesis here: Drone Use in Thinning Forests. It is helpful if the student has taken forestry operations courses, such as Management of Forestry Work Processes.
Dataset available? Yes, not specifically in the form of a specific dataset, but the study is based on locating and/or assuming relevant data.
Language: Swedish/English
Level: BSc/MSc
Contact SLU: Ola Lindroos, ola.lindroos@slu.se
When the construction industry is declining , what are the alternatives?
Subject: Forest management, Forest bioeconomy
Language: English/Swedish
Contact: Anders Lindhagen, Anders.lindhagen@slu.se
Several projects are underway to investigate how forestry can reduce its environmental impact by switching from fossil fuels to renewable ones in logging operations, with the goal of achieving zero emissions from forestry worksites. For example, through electrification of forest machines.
The goal of this thesis project will be to focus on the business implications of replacing the current forest machinery fleet with a new one powered by renewable fuels. The project will thus highlight opportunities and challenges for various stakeholders with such a transition, with a particular focus on forestry contractors and/or forest companies.
Some research questions that can be studied:
- Will the transition be feasible within existing business models? If not, what changes are needed to implement a transition to electrified logging?
- What is the economic sustainability of the technology shift from a stakeholder perspective, focusing on aspects such as investment costs, customer benefit, market potential, and scalability?
- How will logging operations change, including supply chains, if the machine fleet is electrified?
This will primarily be qualitative studies based on data collected through interviews/focus groups but may also include quantitative analysis such as comparing costs of different solutions. SWOT analysis or similar can also be used to highlight conditions from the different perspectives of the stakeholders.
It is possible to design several thesis projects under this theme based on the student's own interests and prior knowledge.
Language: English/Swedish
Contact: Thomas Kronholm
Models that predict work rates under various conditions are a key component of forestry, enabling the planning, management, monitoring, and pricing of forestry work. Such productivity models have existed for a long time and are being developed in increasingly sophisticated ways as technology and data collection capabilities advance. However, there is no consensus on how productivity models can or should be structured, which work-influencing variables can or should be included, or what form they can or should take.
There are therefore a multitude of variations on productivity models for a single machine and/or work task. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to compile existing models and analyze how the models are generally structured, as well as the degree of consistency and/or fundamental differences between various model designs. An example of what this type of compilation and analysis might look like can be found in the thesis and articles below.
The study can be conducted for various types of machinery, but there is a special priority on productivity models for forwarders. However, all types of machinery and work are relevant to study, so the student has ample opportunity to choose based on their interests. The number of machine types included depends on the amount of existing literature. This type of thesis is suitable for students who are detail-oriented, enjoy researching and compiling data, and have a certain aptitude for mathematics. The student must also have taken courses in forest operations. In addition to the thesis, the results will be developed into a scientific article, in which the student will, of course, be a co-author.
Examples of previous theses and articles:
Arnvik, W. 2024. Review of productivity models for harvesters, feller-bunchers, and harwarders published in 2013-2023. Rapport 5, Dept. of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, SLU.
Arnvik, W. & Lindroos, O. (202X). Productivity models for cut-to-length harvesters and harwarders: a systematic review over the period 2013-2023. International Journal of Forest Engineering.
Lindroos, O. and Cavalli, R. (2016). Cable yarding productivity models: a systematic review over the period 2000-2011. International Journal of Forest Engineering 27(2): 79-94.
Language: Swedish/English
Level: BSc/MSc
Contact SLU: Ola Lindroos, ola.lindroos@slu.se