Faculty of Science and Engineering | Bachelor Circular Engineering
Focused Life Cycle Assessment of Avantium’s monomer product furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA)
Jocelyn's elevator pitch
The future of plastics is sustainable, and Avantium is leading the way! This Dutch company develops technologies to convert renewable feedstocks into furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), the building block of Polyethylene Furanoate (PEF)—a bio-based alternative to Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). For my thesis, I conducted a gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the FDCA production process, analysing emissions, energy consumption, waste, and wastewater streams. The results confirmed that PEF has a better environmental performance than fossil-based plastics. Furthermore, the data was analysed to develop sustainability improvements for the process. The LCA tool developed can also be reused to assess future production sites.
Jocelyn Morrison
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In this video Jocelyn is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.
School of Business and Economics | Bachelor Business Engineering
Decarbonizing the manufacturing industry: Quantitative Analysis on the Carbon Emission Reduction Potential of Cyber-Physical Production Systems in Textile Manufacturing Processes
Peter's elevator pitch
Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) are transforming manufacturing by integrating physical machinery, sensors, and computational systems through advanced networks, enabling seamless interaction and real-time data exchange in production environments. Due to their novelty, current research theorizes the operational and environmental benefits of CPPS, yet lacks robust quantitative research to validate these claims. This thesis presents and applies a systematic methodology for quantitatively evaluating the net impact of CPPS on carbon emissions in textile manufacturing processes, considering both resource optimization capabilities and its additional energy demands. Findings indicate that additional CPPS-related energy consumption is outweighed by a decrease in waste generation, material consumption and machine energy usage, resulting in net reduction of CO2 process emissions.
Peter Kastner
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In this video Peter is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.
School of Business and Economics | Bachelor Business Analytics
Exploring the Impact of Nodes with a Low Channel count and balance on the Lightning Network
Teodor's elevator pitch
As Bitcoin gains increasing popularity as a decentralized financial system, addressing its scalability challenges is critical to supporting broader adoption. My thesis focuses on the Lightning Network (LN), a promising solution designed to enhance Bitcoin’s transaction capacity. Specifically, I investigate how nodes with low channel counts and balances affect LN performance. Through simulation and data augmentation, which allowed for better representation of small nodes, I found that moderate inclusion of these nodes boosts connectivity and transaction success, while excessive inclusion degrades performance. These findings offer actionable insights to optimize LN infrastructure, ensuring scalability and reliability for Bitcoin’s future growth.
Teodor Iankov Krandarov
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In this video Teodor is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.
Faculty of Law | Bachelor Tax Law
Handelen als overheid of als ondernemer: een verlegging in de scheidingslijn
Merle's elevator pitch
Is the government acting as a public authority or as a private company when it collects waste? In some cases, the government acts not as a public authority but rather as a taxpayer, tax authority or even a judicial body. Exempting public authorities from paying taxes, leads to a distortion of competition between public and private companies. To prevent distortion of competition, the activities of public authorities will be taxed only in sofar as special circumstances apply. However, exempting public authorities from paying taxes also poses several challenges. For instance, the sales tax would otherwise represent a cost, making it economically nonviable for public authorities to outsource services. This thesis clarifies the shifting boundary between acting as a public authority and acting as a private company.
Merle Engelen
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In this video Merle is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.
Faculty of Science and Engineering | University College Venlo
The toxicological nightmare of postmortem redistribution: a narrative literature review
Antonia's elevator pitch
A crucial aspect of forensic toxicology is postmortem drug analysis to obtain reliable evidence about overdoses and drug-related crimes. However, the phenomenon of postmortem redistribution (PMR) presents a challenge for this. PMR refers to changes in drug concentrations that take place after death due to passive diffusion. This thesis investigated how a compound’s pharmacokinetic properties, lipophilicity, acid-base properties, and body temperature impact this process. Markers like the cardiac blood to peripheral blood (C/P) ratio, the liver to peripheral blood (L/P) ratio and the postmortem interval (PMI) were analysed as methods to combat the threat that PMR poses for forensic toxicological analysis.
Antonia Gruber
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In this video Antonia is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.
Faculty of Science and Engineering | University College Maastricht
Exploring the Relationship Between Environmental Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure and Breast Cancer Risk: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis
Alice's elevator pitch
Breast cancer (BC) is a complex disease influenced by multiple risk factors. The exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), an environmental pollutant with toxic and carcinogenic characteristics, is one of them. In order to assess this yet unclear association, previous studies have used various PAH exposure measurement techniques, such as biological samples, questionnaires, and statistical methods; however, it is unclear which methodology is the most effective. My Systematic Literature Review aimed to analyze the relationship between exposure to PAH and the risk of BC development, while the accompanying Meta-Analysis focused on case-control and cohort studies conducted on the female population and aimed to determine the most effective methodology for measuring PAH exposure in this context.
Alice von Seidel
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In this video Alice is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.
Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience | Bachelor Psychology
Exploring Intellectual Humility via Judgments of "Not Knowing" and their Effect on Humble Inquiry
Franka's elevator pitch
My thesis investigates the relationship between intellectual humility, judgments of "not knowing," and their potential to foster humble inquiry - a form of critical, evidence-based information processing. By using four different philosophical thought experiments, the study explores whether prompting individuals to acknowledge that they “don’t know” their willingness to read counter-attitudinal information increases-- a hallmark of humble inquiry. Results reveal that overall those participants making “don’t know” judgments, thus embracing uncertainty, are significantly more likely to be humble in their inquiry. This finding shows that intellectual humility can counteract biased reasoning, fostering more informed and less polarized discourses.
Franka Grefer
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In this video Franka is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.
Faculty of Science and Engineering | Bachelor Maastricht Science Programme
Land-use Changes in a Traditional Mosaic-Like Landscape as Cause for Population Decline of the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius Collurio) in Šturmovci (Ne Slovenia)
Rok's elevator pitch
Farming intensification poses a huge threat to Europe’s biodiversity, reflected in over 60% decline of farmland bird populations within past 40 years. Through Information-Theoretic approach we modelled habitat use of a representative farmland bird species, the Red-Backed Shrike (Lannius collurio), in a protected landscape park in North-Eastern Slovenia. We examined how land-use change has affected its population in the last 20 years, by calculating its population trend and correlating it to the change of several land-use types to identify the main drivers of Shrike population decline. Obtained results could be of utmost importance for conserving several species that rely on unmanaged cultural landscapes.
Rok Lobnik
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In this video Rok is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.
School of Business and Economics | Bachelor International Business
Behavioral Incentives in Sustainable Investing: A Comparison of Individual and Institutional Investors
Moritz's elevator pitch
Sustainable investing has grown to over $35 trillion in assets, yet research on investor motivations lags behind market adoption. This literature review investigates the behavioral incentives motivating individual and institutional investors by challenging homo economicus assumptions. The study reveals a complex interplay between values and value, demonstrating how return expectations and warm glow effects drive sustainable investment decisions. Individual investors prioritize emotional utility, while institutional investors balance fiduciary duty, risk management, and regulatory pressures. By exploring the intricate motivations across investor groups, the research provides critical insights for advancing sustainable finance theory and practice.
Moritz Burghardt
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In this video Moritz is addressed briefly by the immediate supervisor.