Hello, my name is Franziska Duhme, and I am studying Urban Ecosystem Sciences at the Technical University of Berlin. I have been selected by ide3a for a master thesis at Norwegian University for Science and Technology in Trondheim and therefore received a DAAD-funded scholarship to work on my thesis in Norway for three month (from end of September 2022 to end of December 2022).
I was placed in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Dr. Thomas Meyn and Dr. Franz Tscheikner-Gratl supervised my work. The research topic I applied for was Decision Support/ Multi-Criteria Decision Making for selection of future treatment technology for tunnel wash water. During my stay I had a lot of meetings and discussions with my supervisors and other people of the tunnel wash water project, who tried to help and support me to push me further. But I also had a few struggles regarding the structure and limitations of the topic as well as the current state of research, which was not at the point I would have expected. So I came back to Germany with less success in implementing my thesis than I have hoped for. Even though the tunnel wash water team was really kind, helpful and supportive, the whole project seemed kind of unorganised and unstructured which made my work more difficult.
Nevertheless, the ide3a team was friendly and always available. I just wished I would have gotten the information about the acceptance for the scholarship a bit earlier, because I only had a view weeks left to organise my stay abroad and change the plans that I already made. For future students who want to spend time abroad in Trondheim I would suggest finding accommodation through the dormitories of the university to connect directly with other international and local students. Trondheim is a pretty and calm city with many outdoor activity opportunities. Living there is definitely different compared to German bigger cities means you can find tranquility and deceleration there and are super close to the divers and breath-taking nature, which I have in any case greatly appreciated. I am very thankful for receiving the scholarship and hence the possibility to spend three months in beautiful Norway and get to know the Norwegian culture, people and landscapes and also to write my thesis in another country through this support.
