Open topics

Background

In Germany, the heating supply accounts for over 50 % of total energy consumption and a significant proportion of CO2 emissions. With the ongoing climate crisis, the decarbonisation of the heat supply is a decisive factor for change and the achievement of climate targets. Unused potential lies in particular in the implementation of local heat networks (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, 2022). A major obstacle to this is the lack of data required for planning, which is typically not available at the beginning of the planning process or is difficult to collect.

Research Gap

Data donations by citizens can help to overcome this challenge. Data donations describe the active sharing of data by individuals, usually to promote public interest (Hartl et al., 2024). Previous research on data donations is largely based on the enquiry of hypothetical donation intentions, i.e. there is a lack of practical applications (Silber et al., 2022). In addition, despite the great potential of this approach for applications in the energy sector (Lee et al., 2024), there is little literature to date that deals with the donation of energy data.

Thesis Goals

Bachelor’s/Master’s theses on this topic are to find out which conditions and challenges need to be taken into account when implementing energy data donations. The aim is to gain practical insights that will pave the way for future research. Various approaches are conceivable, including, but not limited to:

• Literature and internet research: What successful/planned data donation projects are there in the energy sector? What lessons can be learnt from them?
• Research + self-experiment: How can private individuals access their energy/consumption data from energy suppliers? What types of data are available? What is the quality of the data?
• Surveys: Under what circumstances are private individuals willing to donate their energy and/or consumption data for research purposes?
• Expert interviews with
  • Data protection officers: What special features need to be taken into account when storing and sharing energy/consumption data?
  • Energy suppliers/cooperatives: Can data controllers imagine facilitating data donations for (non-commercial) research projects?

Starting Date

from Mai 2025, at least ~6 (Bachelor) / ~8 (Master) months before you plan to hand in and submit your thesis.

Application

Please send a detailed application including your specific topic idea, your CV and transcript of records. For students who are NOT studying WiWi/WINF: Please clarify in advance with the respective degree programme coordinator whether supervision by the chair is permitted. For example, this is often not possible for students from other faculties (TechFak, NatFak).

References

Hartl, P., Hassler, J., Manzke, L., Schmidbauer, E., Schnurr, D., & Tiefenbeck, V. (2024). Data Donations: Data Disclosure for the Common Good. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4969398

Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. (2022). Towards a green & digital future: Key requirements for successful twin transitions in the European Union. Publications Office. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/977331

Lee, D., Long, L. A. N., & Jansma, S. R. (2024). Data donation: Using the gift relationship framework to address privacy and environmental issues of energy consumption data collection. Energy Research & Social Science, 114, 103596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103596

Silber, H., Breuer, J., Beuthner, C., Gummer, T., Keusch, F., Siegers, P., Stier, S., & Weiß, B. (2022). Linking surveys and digital trace data: Insights from two studies on determinants of data sharing behaviour. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 185, S387–S407. https://doi.org/10.1111/rssa.12954

Applications are closed for summer semester 2025.

Background

In Germany, the heating supply accounts for over 50 % of total energy consumption and a significant proportion of CO2 emissions. With the ongoing climate crisis, the decarbonisation of the heat supply is a decisive factor for change and the achievement of climate targets. Unused potential lies in particular in the implementation of local heat networks (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, 2022). A major obstacle to this is the lack of data required for planning, which is typically not available at the beginning of the planning process or is difficult to collect.

Research Gap

Data donations by citizens can help to overcome this challenge. Data donations describe the active sharing of data by individuals, usually to promote public interest (Hartl et al., 2024). Previous research on data donations is largely based on the enquiry of hypothetical donation intentions, i.e. there is a lack of practical applications (Silber et al., 2022). In addition, despite the great potential of this approach for applications in the energy sector (Lee et al., 2024), there is little literature to date that deals with the donation of energy data.

Thesis Goals

Bachelor’s/Master’s theses on this topic are to find out which conditions and challenges need to be taken into account when implementing energy data donations. The aim is to gain practical insights that will pave the way for future research. Various approaches are conceivable, including, but not limited to:

• Literature and internet research: What successful/planned data donation projects are there in the energy sector? What lessons can be learnt from them?
• Research + self-experiment: How can private individuals access their energy/consumption data from energy suppliers? What types of data are available? What is the quality of the data?
• Surveys: Under what circumstances are private individuals willing to donate their energy and/or consumption data for research purposes?
• Expert interviews with
  • Data protection officers: What special features need to be taken into account when storing and sharing energy/consumption data?
  • Energy suppliers/cooperatives: Can data controllers imagine facilitating data donations for (non-commercial) research projects?

Starting Date

from Mai 2025, at least ~6 (Bachelor) / ~8 (Master) months before you plan to hand in and submit your thesis.

Application

Please send a detailed application including your specific topic idea, your CV and transcript of records. For students who are NOT studying WiWi/WINF: Please clarify in advance with the respective degree programme coordinator whether supervision by the chair is permitted. For example, this is often not possible for students from other faculties (TechFak, NatFak).

References

Hartl, P., Hassler, J., Manzke, L., Schmidbauer, E., Schnurr, D., & Tiefenbeck, V. (2024). Data Donations: Data Disclosure for the Common Good. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4969398

Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. (2022). Towards a green & digital future: Key requirements for successful twin transitions in the European Union. Publications Office. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/977331

Lee, D., Long, L. A. N., & Jansma, S. R. (2024). Data donation: Using the gift relationship framework to address privacy and environmental issues of energy consumption data collection. Energy Research & Social Science, 114, 103596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103596

Silber, H., Breuer, J., Beuthner, C., Gummer, T., Keusch, F., Siegers, P., Stier, S., & Weiß, B. (2022). Linking surveys and digital trace data: Insights from two studies on determinants of data sharing behaviour. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 185, S387–S407. https://doi.org/10.1111/rssa.12954