Masters- Diplom-, oder Bachelorarbeiten können in der Gruppe Gebirgsökosysteme durchgeführt werden, sofern das Thema sich in eines der laufenden Projekte integrieren lässt oder sonst einen sehr starken Bezug zu den Forschungsthemen der Gruppe hat. Die Themen werden in der Regel zusammen mit den Studierenden und der verantwortlichen Person von der jeweiligen Hochschule (ETH, Uni, FH) ausgearbeitet:
The Master thesis is embedded in our contribution to the National Research Program 68 (NRP 68) "Sustainable use of soil as a resource". The main goal of our project "Soil stability and natural hazards: from knowledge to action" is an appropriate consideration of vegetation as protection measure against near-surface soil failure by providing a sound base for calculating biological effects on slope stability. An important component within this project is to analyse existing large databases of landslides.
The topic of the offered Master’s opportunity is to use such landslide data for specific regions with well documented historic landslide activities and to deduce multivariate statistical models for predisposing environmental (topography, geomorphology, soil, vegetation) and anthropogenic (land-use) factors. For each of these relevant factors possibilities to deduce them from GIS and remote sensing based data will be evaluated. Finally spatial landslide predisposition maps for selected case study regions will be developped, validated and verified in the field.
As an applicant you ideally have studied Geography or Environmental sciences. You have experience using GIS-Software and in statistical data analysis and a strong interest in analysing processes related to landslides. The thesis should ideally start in Spring/Summer 2013.
The applicant will join a team of highly motivated researchers from different fields. The working place will be in in Davos at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF (www.slf.ch).
For more information on the thesis and application procedure, please contact: Peter Bebi (bebi@slf.ch)