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Future Research – Thesis Guide

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Future Research

Definition:

Future research refers to investigations and studies that are yet to be conducted, and are aimed at expanding our understanding of a particular subject or area of interest. Future research is typically based on the current state of knowledge and seeks to address unanswered questions, gaps in knowledge, and new areas of inquiry.

How to Write Future Research in Thesis

Here are some steps to help you write effectively about future research in your thesis :

• Identify a research gap: Before you start writing about future research, identify the areas that need further investigation. Look for research gaps and inconsistencies in the literature , and note them down.
• Specify research questions : Once you have identified a research gap, create a list of research questions that you would like to explore in future research. These research questions should be specific, measurable, and relevant to your thesis.
• Discuss limitations: Be sure to discuss any limitations of your research that may require further exploration. This will help to highlight the need for future research and provide a basis for further investigation.
• Suggest methodologies: Provide suggestions for methodologies that could be used to explore the research questions you have identified. Discuss the pros and cons of each methodology and how they would be suitable for your research.
• Explain significance: Explain the significance of the research you have proposed, and how it will contribute to the field. This will help to justify the need for future research and provide a basis for further investigation.
• Provide a timeline : Provide a timeline for the proposed research , indicating when each stage of the research would be conducted. This will help to give a sense of the practicalities involved in conducting the research.
• Conclusion : Summarize the key points you have made about future research and emphasize the importance of exploring the research questions you have identified.

Examples of Future Research in Thesis

SomeExamples of Future Research in Thesis are as follows:

Future Research:

Although this study provides valuable insights into the effects of social media on self-esteem, there are several avenues for future research that could build upon our findings. Firstly, our sample consisted solely of college students, so it would be beneficial to extend this research to other age groups and demographics. Additionally, our study focused only on the impact of social media use on self-esteem, but there are likely other factors that influence how social media affects individuals, such as personality traits and social support. Future research could examine these factors in greater depth. Lastly, while our study looked at the short-term effects of social media use on self-esteem, it would be interesting to explore the long-term effects over time. This could involve conducting longitudinal studies that follow individuals over a period of several years to assess changes in self-esteem and social media use.

While this study provides important insights into the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance among college students, there are several avenues for future research that could further advance our understanding of this topic.

• This study relied on self-reported sleep patterns, which may be subject to reporting biases. Future research could benefit from using objective measures of sleep, such as actigraphy or polysomnography, to more accurately assess sleep duration and quality.
• This study focused on academic performance as the outcome variable, but there may be other important outcomes to consider, such as mental health or well-being. Future research could explore the relationship between sleep patterns and these other outcomes.
• This study only included college students, and it is unclear if these findings generalize to other populations, such as high school students or working adults. Future research could investigate whether the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance varies across different populations.
• Fourth, this study did not explore the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance. Future research could investigate the role of factors such as cognitive functioning, motivation, and stress in this relationship.

Overall, there is a need for continued research on the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance, as this has important implications for the health and well-being of students.

Further research could investigate the long-term effects of mindfulness-based interventions on mental health outcomes among individuals with chronic pain. A longitudinal study could be conducted to examine the sustainability of mindfulness practices in reducing pain-related distress and improving psychological well-being over time. The study could also explore the potential mediating and moderating factors that influence the relationship between mindfulness and mental health outcomes, such as emotional regulation, pain catastrophizing, and social support.

Purpose of Future Research in Thesis

Here are some general purposes of future research that you might consider including in your thesis:

• To address limitations: Your research may have limitations or unanswered questions that could be addressed by future studies. Identify these limitations and suggest potential areas for further research.
• To extend the research : You may have found interesting results in your research, but future studies could help to extend or replicate your findings. Identify these areas where future research could help to build on your work.
• To explore related topics : Your research may have uncovered related topics that were outside the scope of your study. Suggest areas where future research could explore these related topics in more depth.
• To compare different approaches : Your research may have used a particular methodology or approach, but there may be other approaches that could be compared to your approach. Identify these other approaches and suggest areas where future research could compare and contrast them.
• To test hypotheses : Your research may have generated hypotheses that could be tested in future studies. Identify these hypotheses and suggest areas where future research could test them.
• To address practical implications : Your research may have practical implications that could be explored in future studies. Identify these practical implications and suggest areas where future research could investigate how to apply them in practice.

Applications of Future Research

Some examples of applications of future research that you could include in your thesis are:

• Development of new technologies or methods: If your research involves the development of new technologies or methods, you could discuss potential applications of these innovations in future research or practical settings. For example, if you have developed a new drug delivery system, you could speculate about how it might be used in the treatment of other diseases or conditions.
• Extension of your research: If your research only scratches the surface of a particular topic, you could suggest potential avenues for future research that could build upon your findings. For example, if you have studied the effects of a particular drug on a specific population, you could suggest future research that explores the drug’s effects on different populations or in combination with other treatments.
• Investigation of related topics: If your research is part of a larger field or area of inquiry, you could suggest potential research topics that are related to your work. For example, if you have studied the effects of climate change on a particular species, you could suggest future research that explores the impacts of climate change on other species or ecosystems.
• Testing of hypotheses: If your research has generated hypotheses or theories, you could suggest potential experiments or studies that could test these hypotheses in future research. For example, if you have proposed a new theory about the mechanisms of a particular disease, you could suggest experiments that could test this theory in other populations or in different disease contexts.

Advantage of Future Research

Including future research in a thesis has several advantages:

• Demonstrates critical thinking: Including future research shows that the author has thought deeply about the topic and recognizes its limitations. It also demonstrates that the author is interested in advancing the field and is not satisfied with only providing a narrow analysis of the issue at hand.
• Provides a roadmap for future research : Including future research can help guide researchers in the field by suggesting areas that require further investigation. This can help to prevent researchers from repeating the same work and can lead to more efficient use of resources.
• Shows engagement with the field : By including future research, the author demonstrates their engagement with the field and their understanding of ongoing debates and discussions. This can be especially important for students who are just entering the field and want to show their commitment to ongoing research.
• I ncreases the impact of the thesis : Including future research can help to increase the impact of the thesis by highlighting its potential implications for future research and practical applications. This can help to generate interest in the work and attract attention from researchers and practitioners in the field.

About the author

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How to Write the Conclusion and Future Work section of Your Dissertation or Thesis?

The conclusion and future work section of a PhD or Post Graduate dissertation serves as the pivotal culmination of extensive research, critical analysis, and scholarly exploration. It is the chapter where the researcher brings their study to a satisfying closure, summarizing the main findings, discussing their implications, and paving the way for future investigations. In this discussion, we will delve into the intricacies of crafting an impactful conclusion and future work section, focusing on their purpose, significance, and key elements.

The conclusion and future work section holds paramount importance in a dissertation, as it encapsulates the essence of the entire research endeavor. It provides a concise and comprehensive summary of the study’s outcomes, reinforcing the significance of the research questions and objectives. By carefully crafting this section, researchers not only reinforce the value of their own work but also contribute to the broader body of knowledge in their respective fields.

Within the conclusion section, the researcher has the opportunity to restate the research questions and objectives, emphasizing their relevance and the study’s focus. This serves as a gentle reminder to the reader, bringing them back to the core aspects of the research. Additionally, summarizing the main findings allows for a concise overview of the research outcomes, enabling readers to grasp the key insights and discoveries at a glance. Moreover, discussing the implications of the findings showcases the researcher’s understanding of how their work contributes to the existing knowledge in the field, addresses gaps, and potentially influences future practices or theories.

Equally crucial is the future work section, which demonstrates the researcher’s awareness of the study’s limitations and presents directions for future research. By acknowledging the constraints and suggesting potential avenues for further investigation, the researcher invites future scholars to build upon the current work, advancing the field and propelling innovation. It is through this section that researchers showcase their thought leadership and forward-thinking mindset, leaving a lasting impact on the academic community.

In the following sections, we will explore the art of writing a conclusion for PhD or Post Graduate dissertation. We will delve into the importance of restating the research questions and objectives, summarizing the main findings, discussing the implications, reflecting on the significance of the research, and providing a concise summary. Additionally, we will examine the significance of the future work section, highlighting its purpose in demonstrating awareness of limitations and offering directions for future research.

By meticulously crafting the conclusion and future work section, researchers can not only conclude their dissertation effectively but also make a lasting impression on readers and inspire the next generation of scholars to push the boundaries of knowledge in their respective fields.

Let us now embark on a journey to uncover the secrets of writing an exceptional conclusion and future work section in a dissertation.

If you are in paucity of time, not confident of your writing skills and in a hurry to complete the writing task then you can think of hiring a research consultant that solves all your problems. Please visit my article on Hiring a Research consultant for your research tasks for further details.

Introduction

A. restating the research questions/objectives, b. summarizing the main findings, c. discussing the implications, d. reflecting on the significance of the research, e. providing a concise summary, writing the future work.

In a dissertation, the conclusion section serves as a crucial component that brings together the research findings and provides a comprehensive summary of the study. It allows researchers to reflect on the implications of their work and discuss potential future directions. – The future work section, on the other hand, highlights the researcher’s awareness of the study’s limitations and provides suggestions for further research to build upon the current work.

The conclusion section consolidates the main findings and insights from the research, emphasizing the significance of the study. It allows the researcher to demonstrate the impact of their work and its contributions to the field.

The future work section offers a forward-looking perspective by identifying areas that warrant further investigation, addressing research gaps, and proposing potential extensions or improvements to the existing research.

Example 1: In the field of computer vision , the conclusion section of a dissertation might summarize the key findings and insights obtained from developing a novel object detection algorithm. It could discuss the algorithm’s performance in terms of accuracy and efficiency, highlighting its potential applications in various domains such as autonomous vehicles, surveillance systems, and medical imaging. The conclusion might also reflect on the challenges faced during the research and suggest improvements or alternative approaches to enhance the algorithm’s performance in future work.

Example 2: In the domain of natural language processing , the conclusion section could summarize the results of a dissertation focused on sentiment analysis in social media data. It might discuss the effectiveness of the proposed sentiment analysis model in capturing the nuances of sentiments expressed in user-generated content. The conclusion could emphasize the practical implications of the research, such as aiding businesses in understanding customer feedback and improving their products or services. The future work section might suggest exploring multilingual sentiment analysis, investigating sentiment evolution over time, or incorporating contextual information for more accurate sentiment classification.

By providing these examples, researchers can understand how the conclusion and future work sections serve as essential components of a dissertation, allowing them to effectively communicate the significance of their research and guide future studies.

Writing the Conclusion

Restating the research questions or objectives in the conclusion section is crucial as it helps the reader remember the main purpose of the study. It serves as a reminder of the specific goals and objectives that guided the research process.

For instance:

“The primary research question of this study aimed to investigate the feasibility of accurately classifying sentiment in social media posts using machine learning techniques. In pursuit of this goal, we designed and implemented a novel sentiment analysis system and evaluated its effectiveness on a diverse dataset. By restating the research question and objectives, we emphasize the primary aim of the study and provide the reader with a clear reminder of the research’s specific focus.”

Restating the research questions or objectives in the conclusion helps create a cohesive conclusion by maintaining the connection between the findings and the original research intent. It allows the reader to see how the research directly addresses the initial questions or objectives.

Summarizing the main findings in the conclusion allows the reader to quickly grasp the essential outcomes of the research. It provides a condensed overview of the key results and insights gained from the study.

Example: Building upon the previous example of developing an automated sentiment analysis system for social media data, let’s consider the main findings of the study. The findings may include the accuracy achieved by the developed system, comparisons with existing approaches, and insights into the challenges and limitations of sentiment analysis in the social media domain.

In the conclusion section, summarizing the main findings would involve providing a concise overview of the key results and insights. For instance:

“Our findings demonstrate that the developed sentiment analysis system achieved an accuracy of 85% on the social media dataset, outperforming existing state-of-the-art approaches by a significant margin. This highlights the effectiveness of incorporating contextual information and deep learning techniques for sentiment classification. Furthermore, the study shed light on the challenges of sentiment analysis in social media due to the presence of slang, abbreviations, and contextual nuances. These insights emphasize the importance of developing robust models that can handle the intricacies of social media data.”

By summarizing the main findings, researchers allow readers to gain a quick understanding of the crucial outcomes and insights obtained from the study. It helps readers identify the key contributions and impact of the research in a concise manner. Summarizing the main findings also assists readers in connecting the dots between the research questions or objectives and the results obtained, providing a clear and coherent picture of the research outcomes.

Moreover, a well-crafted summary of the main findings serves as a reference point for readers, enabling them to recall the significant results without revisiting the entire dissertation. It allows researchers to convey the core contributions of their study efficiently and reinforces the value and relevance of the research in the field of computer science.

Continuing from the previous example of developing an automated sentiment analysis system for social media data, let’s consider the implications of the findings, the research’s contribution to the existing knowledge, and the limitations addressed in the conclusion section.

Discussing the implications of the findings in the conclusion helps provide a broader understanding of the research’s significance. It allows the researcher to explore the practical and theoretical implications of the results and their potential impact on the field.

“The findings of this study have significant implications for various domains relying on sentiment analysis, such as brand monitoring, market research, and customer feedback analysis. The high accuracy achieved by our sentiment analysis system demonstrates its potential for real-world applications, enabling organizations to gain valuable insights from social media data. The system’s ability to handle contextual nuances and accurately classify sentiment can help businesses make informed decisions and enhance customer satisfaction.”

Analyzing how the research contributes to the existing knowledge in the field helps situate the study within the broader research landscape. It allows the researcher to demonstrate how their work fills gaps, extends current understanding, or challenges existing theories or practices.

“The findings of this study have significant implications for various domains relying on sentiment analysis, such as brand monitoring, market research, and customer feedback analysis. The high accuracy achieved by our sentiment analysis system demonstrates its potential for real-world applications, enabling organizations to gain valuable insights from social media data. The system’s ability to handle contextual nuances and accurately classify sentiment can help businesses make informed decisions and enhance customer satisfaction.” Addressing the limitations or constraints of the study in the conclusion section shows the researcher’s awareness of the study’s boundaries. It also provides an opportunity to suggest areas for future research, building upon the current study’s findings.

“This study contributes to the existing knowledge in sentiment analysis by incorporating deep learning techniques and contextual information specific to social media data. Our research extends current understanding by demonstrating the effectiveness of leveraging these approaches for improved sentiment classification. Additionally, the insights gained from addressing the challenges of sentiment analysis in the social media domain contribute to the ongoing discourse on refining sentiment analysis models for diverse text sources.”

Reflecting on the significance and impact of the research in the broader context of the field allows the researcher to highlight the relevance and importance of their work. It helps the reader understand the broader implications and potential contributions of the research.

Example: Continuing from the previous example of developing an automated sentiment analysis system for social media data

Significance and Impact:

“Reflecting on the significance and impact of our research reveals its potential to revolutionize sentiment analysis methodologies. By developing an accurate sentiment analysis system tailored to social media data, our study addresses a critical need in today’s digitally connected world. The insights gained from this research have far-reaching implications for understanding public sentiment, market trends, and brand perception. Our work has the potential to empower businesses and organizations with actionable insights, leading to informed decision-making and improved customer satisfaction.”

Advancement of Knowledge and Filling Gaps in Existing Literature:

“Our study contributes to advancing the knowledge in sentiment analysis by addressing several gaps in the existing literature. By incorporating deep learning techniques and considering the contextual nuances specific to social media data, our research provides a fresh perspective on sentiment analysis approaches. We extend current understanding by showcasing the effectiveness of these techniques in improving sentiment classification accuracy. Additionally, our work sheds light on the challenges of sentiment analysis in the social media domain, highlighting areas where further research and refinement are required.”

Practical Implications in Real-World Scenarios:

“The practical implications of our research are significant, with potential applications in various domains. Our sentiment analysis system can be leveraged by businesses for brand monitoring, customer feedback analysis, and market research. It enables organizations to gain valuable insights into customer sentiment, enabling them to identify areas for improvement, monitor brand reputation, and make informed business decisions. Furthermore, our work opens avenues for the development of new tools and applications that can assist in sentiment analysis across diverse social media platforms.”

By reflecting on the significance and impact of the research, researchers convey the broader relevance and importance of their work. It allows readers to understand the potential contributions and implications of the research in a wider context.

Explaining how the study advances knowledge and fills gaps in existing literature demonstrates the originality and novelty of the research. It showcases how the research addresses unanswered questions, challenges prevailing methodologies, or provides new insights, thereby contributing to the growth of the field.

Considering the potential practical implications of the research in real-world scenarios helps highlight its relevance and application. It allows researchers to discuss how the findings can be implemented or used to solve real-world problems, thereby bridging the gap between academic research and practical applications.

Overall, by reflecting on the significance and impact, explaining the advancement of knowledge and filling gaps, and considering practical implications, researchers highlight the broader implications and potential contributions of their research. It allows readers to appreciate the relevance, novelty, and practicality of the study, paving the way for future advancements in the field of study.

A concise summary within the conclusion section plays a pivotal role in reinforcing the main points and takeaways from the research. By distilling the essential findings, implications, and future research directions, researchers ensure that readers grasp the core essence of their work.

Highlighting the key points discussed throughout the dissertation reaffirms the significance and contributions of the research. It allows readers to quickly grasp the overarching themes and outcomes, reinforcing the main arguments and supporting evidence presented in the study. By providing a condensed overview of the research, researchers ensure that the core messages resonate with readers, leaving a lasting impact.

A concise and impactful summary also aids in information retention. As readers progress through a lengthy dissertation, a well-crafted summary serves as a mental anchor, reinforcing the most salient aspects of the study. It enables readers to revisit and recall the main findings, implications, and future research possibilities long after they have completed reading the document.

To achieve a concise and impactful summary, researchers should focus on extracting the most relevant and significant elements from each section of the dissertation. They should avoid repetition and prioritize clarity and precision in their language. By distilling complex ideas into digestible snippets, researchers ensure that their summary effectively encapsulates the core essence of their research.

Example: Continuing from the previous example of developing an automated sentiment analysis system for social media data, let’s explore how a concise summary within the conclusion section helps reinforce the main points and takeaways from the research.

“In conclusion, our study on developing an automated sentiment analysis system for social media data has demonstrated significant advancements in the field. By incorporating deep learning techniques and considering contextual nuances, we achieved an accuracy of 85%, surpassing existing state-of-the-art approaches. The practical implications of our research are substantial, with potential applications in brand monitoring, market research, and customer feedback analysis.

Furthermore, our findings contribute to the existing knowledge in sentiment analysis by filling gaps in the literature. We highlight the challenges posed by social media data, such as slang and contextual nuances, and propose future research directions for handling these complexities. This study underscores the importance of refining sentiment analysis models to cater to the unique characteristics of social media platforms.

In summary, our research not only advances sentiment analysis methodologies but also offers valuable insights for businesses and organizations seeking to harness the power of social media data. We emphasize the need for further exploration in adapting sentiment analysis to different domains and languages, as well as refining models to handle sarcasm and irony. Overall, our work showcases the relevance and potential impact of sentiment analysis in today’s digital age.”

In conclusion, a concise summary within the conclusion section is an invaluable tool for reinforcing the main takeaways from the research. By highlighting the key points and delivering them in a concise and impactful manner, researchers leave readers with a clear understanding of the study’s significance and contributions. A well-crafted summary ensures that the main findings and implications resonate with readers long after they have completed reading the dissertation, solidifying the research’s impact in the field.

Including a future work section in a dissertation is significant as it demonstrates the researcher’s understanding of the study’s limitations and the potential for further research. It acknowledges that research is an iterative process and provides valuable insights for future researchers in the field.

The future work section showcases the researcher’s awareness of the limitations and constraints of their study. It acknowledges that there may be unanswered questions, unexplored avenues, or areas that require further investigation. By providing directions for future research, the researcher contributes to the continuous advancement of knowledge in their field.

Example1 : Continuing from the previous example of developing an automated sentiment analysis system for social media data, let’s explore how including a future work section in the conclusion acknowledges the study’s limitations and offers valuable insights for future research.

“The inclusion of a future work section in this dissertation is crucial in acknowledging the limitations of our study and providing a roadmap for future research endeavors. While our research has made significant advancements in sentiment analysis for social media data, several areas warrant further investigation.

Firstly, the scalability of our sentiment analysis system can be explored to handle large volumes of data in real-time. As social media platforms continue to grow, the need for efficient and scalable sentiment analysis techniques becomes paramount.

Additionally, investigating the generalizability of our model across different languages and cultural contexts is an exciting avenue for future research. Adapting sentiment analysis techniques to diverse languages, understanding regional variations in sentiment expressions, and accounting for cultural nuances can enhance the applicability of sentiment analysis in a global context.

Moreover, exploring the integration of multimodal data, such as text, images, and videos, presents an intriguing opportunity. Sentiment analysis systems that can effectively analyze and interpret multimodal content have the potential to offer deeper insights into user sentiments and experiences.

Furthermore, the ethical implications of sentiment analysis in terms of privacy, bias, and fairness need to be thoroughly investigated. Designing and implementing ethical guidelines and frameworks for sentiment analysis can ensure responsible and unbiased use of these technologies.

By including a future work section, we recognize that research is an ongoing process and acknowledge the possibilities for further exploration. This section serves as a valuable resource for future researchers in the field, providing a starting point and suggesting intriguing directions for their investigations.

In summary, the future work section of this dissertation highlights the limitations of our study and opens up exciting avenues for future research. The research community can build upon our work to address the identified challenges, expand the scope of sentiment analysis, and develop more robust and context-aware models. By continually advancing the field, we can enhance the accuracy, applicability, and ethical use of sentiment analysis techniques in the digital age.” Example 2: In the field of data mining, a dissertation might propose a new algorithm for anomaly detection in large-scale datasets. In the future work section, the researcher can acknowledge the limitations of the proposed algorithm, such as its performance on specific types of anomalies or scalability to even larger datasets. They can suggest investigating techniques to handle these challenges, exploring the application of the algorithm to different domains, or evaluating its performance under various real-world scenarios. This demonstrates the researcher’s awareness of the study’s limitations and provides clear directions for future research in improving and extending the anomaly detection algorithm. Example 3: In the domain of computer networks, a dissertation focused on improving network performance might present a novel congestion control mechanism. In the future work section, the researcher can acknowledge potential limitations in the mechanism, such as its adaptability to dynamic network conditions or its interoperability with different network protocols. They can suggest conducting further experiments to evaluate the mechanism’s performance in more complex network topologies, exploring its integration with emerging network technologies, or investigating the impact of various parameters on its effectiveness. This showcases the researcher’s awareness of the study’s limitations and provides concrete guidance for future researchers interested in advancing network performance optimization.

By including a future work section in a dissertation, researchers demonstrate their awareness of the study’s limitations and contribute to the ongoing progress in their field. Providing directions for future research guides the efforts of future researchers and fosters the continuous development of knowledge and innovation.

The conclusion and future work section of a PhD or Post Graduate dissertation holds immense significance as it brings the research journey to a satisfying close while setting the stage for future explorations. Throughout this discussion, we have explored the key elements and best practices for crafting an impactful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression on readers.

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Conclusion and Future Work

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This chapter concludes the thesis by summarizing our research in Section 7.1, presenting an overview of our research contributions in Section 7.2, and discussing ideas for future research in Section 7.3.

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Jinha estimated that the number of journal articles surpassed 50 million in 2009 [252]. Other studies consistently found that the annual growth rate of journal articles is about 3% [58], [237, p. 5]. By extrapolation, we estimate that 67 million journal articles existed at the end of 2019 and journals currently publish about 2 million new articles per year. This number underestimates the true number of publications as it does not consider, e.g., conferences papers, books, or preprints.

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Meuschke, N. (2023). Conclusion and Future Work. In: Analyzing Non-Textual Content Elements to Detect Academic Plagiarism. Springer Vieweg, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-42062-8_7

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• Published: 06 July 2016

The past, present and future of the PhD thesis

Nature volume  535 ,  page 7 ( 2016 ) Cite this article

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• Research management

Writing a PhD thesis is a personal and professional milestone for many researchers. But the process needs to change with the times.

According to one of those often-quoted statistics that should be true but probably isn’t, the average number of people who read a PhD thesis all the way through is 1.6. And that includes the author. More interesting might be the average number of PhD theses that the typical scientist — and reader of Nature —  has read from start to finish. Would it reach even that (probably apocryphal) benchmark? What we know for sure is that the reading material keeps on coming, with tens of thousands of new theses typed up each year.

To what end? Reading back over a thesis can be like opening up a teenage diary: a painful reminder of a younger, more naive self. The prose is often rough and rambling, the analyses spotted with errors, the methods soundly eclipsed by modern ones. And students in the process of writing a thesis can find themselves in a very dark place indeed: lost in information, overwhelmed by literature, stuck for the next sentence, seduced by procrastination and wondering why on earth they signed up to this torture at all.

Two News Features this week reflect on that question. They examine the past, present and future of the PhD thesis and the oral examination that often accompanies it. In one, three leading scientists — including Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health — dig out and reread their theses for us, and talk about what they learned. Their musings (filmed and available in a series of videos ) show, reassuringly, that they are just the same as the rest of us. They made mistakes, had moments of self-doubt and considered quitting. (Collins actually did quit.) But their stories also reveal how it is important to have the long view in mind.

Thumbing through their theses now, they see how much they learned about the scientific process and how to conduct rigorous research. They realize how precious it was to be able to devote themselves to a single piece of original and creative work. And they feel a sense of accomplishment and pride — as everyone tends to after any difficult life challenge that they struggle with and eventually conquer.

Students could do themselves and their audience a favour by keeping it crisp and short.

Completing a thesis represents a coming of age not just scientifically, but also educationally and personally. It signals the passing of an intellectual milestone — from a student under the care of a supervisor to an individual who asks questions of their own. It marks the end of formal education, and graduation to a new phase in life. For many people, it also sees their departure from science altogether. Often, the PhD years coincide with significant personal events, as we mature emotionally and meet friends, partners and colleagues who will stay with us for life. All this can also turn thesis-writing into a more significant event than merely the writing up of a (usually) minor piece of science.

Still, it’s perhaps too easy to get sentimental over the thesis. For a start, the process has to keep up with the times. The PhD is already assessed in many different ways around the world (as the second News Feature describes ) and scientists should welcome ways to keep it relevant. The goal of PhD assessment everywhere remains, rightly, to demonstrate that a student has conducted, and can communicate, independent, original research. But the way in which that’s achieved can and should be improved.

For one thing, it doesn’t have to involve a vast printed volume. A lot of students could do themselves, their supervisors, their examiners and their wider audience a favour by keeping it crisp and short. Postgraduate supervisors should stress this at the beginning. And it’s important to make the work in the thesis available to future researchers by publishing or sharing the data in some form. To contribute to the world beyond the author’s immediate circle, a PhD thesis should be read and used, and not just serve as a shelf ornament or doorstop.

For those inspired to go back to their own thesis, and those who are examining a freshly written one, it’s best to be kind. As long as the fundamentals are there — the question is interesting and the approach and analysis rigorous — it’s fair to forgive the typos and the research paths that turned out to be dead ends. A PhD is, after all, training in research, and to try — and fail — is a valuable part of that course.

Do you know where your PhD thesis is? Dig it out and share with @NatureNews on Twitter using the hashtag #3wordthesis . You might even bump up that average readership.

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The past, present and future of the PhD thesis. Nature 535 , 7 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/535007a

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What’s next for remote work: An analysis of 2,000 tasks, 800 jobs, and nine countries

For many workers, COVID-19’s impact has depended greatly on one question: Can I work from home or am I tethered to my workplace? Quarantines, lockdowns, and self-imposed isolation have pushed tens of millions around the world to work from home, accelerating a workplace experiment that had struggled to gain traction before COVID-19 hit.

Now, well into the pandemic, the limitations and the benefits of remote work are clearer. Although many people are returning to the workplace as economies reopen—the majority could not work remotely at all—executives have indicated in surveys that hybrid models of remote work  for some employees are here to stay. The virus has broken through cultural and technological barriers that prevented remote work in the past, setting in motion a structural shift in where work takes place, at least for some people.

Now that vaccines are awaiting approval, the question looms: To what extent will remote work persist ? In this article, we assess the possibility for various work activities to be performed remotely. Building on the McKinsey Global Institute’s body of work on automation, AI, and the future of work, we extend our models to consider where work is performed. 1 The future of work in Europe: Automation, workforce transitions, and the future geography of work , McKinsey Global Institute, June 2020; The future of work in America: People and places, today and tomorrow , McKinsey Global Institute, July 2019; Jobs lost, jobs gained: Workforce transitions in a time of automation , McKinsey Global Institute, December 2017. Our analysis finds that the potential for remote work is highly concentrated among highly skilled, highly educated workers in a handful of industries, occupations, and geographies.

More than 20 percent of the workforce could work remotely three to five days a week as effectively as they could if working from an office. If remote work took hold at that level, that would mean three to four times as many people working from home than before the pandemic and would have a profound impact on urban economies, transportation, and consumer spending, among other things.

The virus has broken through cultural and technological barriers that prevented remote work in the past, setting in motion a structural shift in where work takes place, at least for some people.

More than half the workforce, however, has little or no opportunity for remote work. Some of their jobs require collaborating with others or using specialized machinery; other jobs, such as conducting CT scans, must be done on location; and some, such as making deliveries, are performed while out and about. Many of such jobs are low wage and more at risk from broad trends such as automation and digitization. Remote work thus risks accentuating inequalities at a social level.

The potential for remote work is determined by tasks and activities, not occupations

Remote work raises a vast array of issues and challenges for employees and employers. Companies are pondering how best to deliver coaching remotely and how to configure workspaces to enhance employee safety, among a host of other thorny questions raised by COVID-19. For their part, employees are struggling to find the best home-work balance and equip themselves for working and collaborating remotely.

In this article, however, we aim to granularly define the activities and occupations that can be done from home to better understand the future staying power of remote work. We have analyzed the potential for remote work—or work that doesn’t require interpersonal interaction or a physical presence at a specific worksite—in a range of countries, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We used MGI’s workforce model based on the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to analyze more than 2,000 activities in more than 800 occupations and identify which activities and occupations have the greatest potential for remote work.

The potential for remote work depends on the mix of activities undertaken in each occupation and on their physical, spatial, and interpersonal context. We first assessed the theoretical extent to which an activity can be done remotely. This depends on whether a worker needs to be physically present on-site to do a task, interact with others, or use location-specific machinery or equipment.

Many physical or manual activities, as well as those that require use of fixed equipment, cannot be done remotely. These include providing care, operating machinery, using lab equipment, and processing customer transactions in stores. In contrast, activities such as information gathering and processing, communicating with others, teaching and counseling, and coding data can theoretically be done remotely.

Additionally, employers have found during the pandemic that although some tasks can be done remotely in a crisis, they are much more effectively done in person. These activities include coaching, counseling, and providing advice and feedback; building customer and colleague relationships; bringing new employees into a company; negotiating and making critical decisions; teaching and training; and work that benefits from collaboration, such as innovation, problem-solving, and creativity. If onboarding were to be done remotely, for instance, it would require significant rethinking of the activity to produce outcomes similar to those achieved in person.

For instance, while teaching has moved to remote work during the pandemic, parents and teachers alike say that quality has suffered. Similarly, courtrooms have functioned remotely but are unlikely to remain online going forward out of concern for legal rights and equity—some defendants lack adequate connectivity and lawyers, and judges worry about missing nonverbal cues in video conferences.

So we have devised two metrics for remote work potential: the maximum potential, including all activities that theoretically can be performed remotely, and a lower bound for the effective potential for remote work, which excludes activities that have a clear benefit from being done in person (Exhibit 1).

To determine the overall potential for remote work for jobs and sectors, we use the time spent on different activities within occupations. We find that remote work potential is concentrated in a few sectors. Finance and insurance has the highest potential, with three-quarters of time spent on activities that can be done remotely without a loss of productivity. Management, business services, and information technology have the next highest potential, all with more than half of employee time spent on activities that could effectively be done remotely (Exhibit 2). These sectors are characterized by a high share of workers with college degrees or higher.

Remote work potential is higher in advanced economies

The potential for remote work varies across countries, a reflection of their sector, occupation, and activity mix. Business and financial services are a large share of the UK economy, for example, and it has the highest potential for remote work among the countries we examined. Its workforce could theoretically work remotely one-third of the time without a loss of productivity, or almost half the time but with diminished productivity. (Exhibit 3). Other advanced economies are not far behind; their workforces could dedicate 28 to 30 percent of the time to working remotely without losing productivity.

In emerging economies, employment is skewed toward occupations that require physical and manual activities in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing. The potential for time spent on remote work drops to 12 to 26 percent in the emerging economies we assessed. In India, for instance, the workforce could spend just 12 percent of the time working remotely without losing effectiveness. Although India is known globally for its high-tech and financial services industries, the vast majority of its workforce of 464 million is employed in occupations like retail services and agriculture that cannot be done remotely.

Although India is known globally for its high-tech and financial services industries, the vast majority of its workforce of 464 million is employed in occupations like retail services and agriculture that cannot be done remotely.

A hybrid model that combines some remote work with work in an office is possible for occupations with high remote work potential

For most workers, some activities during a typical day lend themselves to remote work, while the rest of their tasks require their on-site physical presence. In the US workforce, we find that just 22 percent of employees can work remotely between three and five days a week without affecting productivity, while only 5 percent could do so in India. In contrast, 61 percent of the workforce in the United States can work no more than a few hours a week remotely or not at all. The remaining 17 percent of the workforce could work remotely partially, between one and three days per week (Exhibit 4).

Consider a floral designer. We estimate that between half and one-quarter of his job can be done remotely. He can take orders by phone or online and contract for delivery through an app, but floral arrangement itself requires being in a shop where the flowers are stored in a refrigerated case and ribbons, moss, vases, and other materials used to create a floral design are at hand. To make a floral designer’s job more remote would require dividing his various tasks among all employees in a flower shop. In contrast, credit analysts, database administrators, and tax preparers, among others, can do virtually all of their work remotely. In general, workers whose jobs require cognitive thinking and problem solving, managing and developing people, and data processing have the greatest potential to work from home. These employees also tend to be among the highest paid.

The ability to work remotely also depends on the need to use specialized equipment. According to our analysis, a chemical technician could work remotely only a quarter of the time because much of her work must be done in a lab housing the equipment she needs. Among healthcare occupations, general practitioners who can use digital technologies to communicate with patients have a much greater potential for remote work than surgeons and x-ray technicians, who need advanced equipment and tools to do their work. Thus, among health professionals overall, the effective remote work potential is just 11 percent.

Even for the same activity, the context in which a job is done matters. Consider the activity “analyzing data or information,” which can be done remotely by a statistician or financial analyst but not by a surveyor. Crime scene analysts and workers who analyze consumer trends both engage in what O*NET describes as “getting, processing, analyzing, documenting and interpreting information,” but the former must go to the location of, say, a murder while the latter can do his work in front of a computer at home. A travel agent can calculate the cost of goods or services from a kitchen table, but a grocery clerk does that from behind a counter in a store.

And then there are jobs that require workers to be on-site or in person more than four days a week. Due to the physical nature of most of their work activities, occupations such as transportation, food services, property maintenance, and agriculture offer little or no opportunity for remote work. Building inspectors must go to a building or construction site. Nursing assistants must work in a healthcare facility. Many jobs declared essential by governments during the pandemic—nursing, building maintenance, and garbage collection, for example—fall into this category of jobs with low remote work potential.

This mixed pattern of remote and physical activities of each occupation helps explain the results of a recent McKinsey survey of 800 corporate executives  around the world. Across all sectors, 38 percent of respondents expect their remote employees to work two or more days a week away from the office after the pandemic, compared to 22 percent of respondents surveyed before the pandemic. But just 19 percent of respondents to the most recent survey said they expected employees to work three or more days remotely. This suggests that executives anticipate operating their businesses with a hybrid model  of some sort, with employees working remotely and from an office during the workweek. JPMorgan already has a plan for its 60,950 employees to work from home one or two weeks a month or two days a week, depending on the line of business.

Hybrid remote work has important implications for urban economies

Currently, only a small share of the workforce in advanced economies—typically between 5 and 7 percent—regularly works from home. A shift to 15 to 20 percent of workers spending more time at home and less in the office could have profound impacts on urban economies. More people working remotely means fewer people commuting between home and work every day or traveling to different locations for work. This could have significant economic consequences, including on transportation, gasoline and auto sales, restaurants and retail in urban centers, demand for office real estate, and other consumption patterns.

A McKinsey survey of office space managers conducted in May found that after the pandemic, they expect a 36 percent increase in worktime outside their offices, affecting main offices and satellite locations. This means companies will need less office space, and several are already planning to reduce real estate expenses. Moody’s Analytics predicts that the office vacancy rate in the United States will climb to 19.4 percent, compared to 16.8 percent at the end of 2019, and rise to 20.2 percent by the end of 2022. A survey of 248 US chief operating officers found that one-third plan to reduce office space in the coming years as leases expire.

The impact of that will reverberate through the restaurants and bars, shops, and services businesses that cater to office workers and will put a dent in some state and local tax revenues. For example, REI plans to sell off its new corporate headquarters before even moving in and instead begin operating from satellite offices. In contrast, Amazon recently signed leases for a total of 900,000 feet of office space in six cities around the United States, citing the lack of spontaneity in virtual teamwork.

As tech companies announced plans for permanent remote work options, the median price of a one-bedroom rental in San Francisco dropped 24.2 percent compared to a year ago, while in New York City, which had roughly 28,000 residents in every square mile at the start of 2020, 15,000 rental apartments were empty in September, the most vacancies in recorded history.

Nor is residential real estate immune from the impact of remote work. As tech companies announced plans for permanent remote work options, the median price of a one-bedroom rental in San Francisco dropped 24.2 percent compared to a year ago, while in New York City, which had roughly 28,000 residents in every square mile at the start of 2020, 15,000 rental apartments were empty in September, the most vacancies in recorded history. Conversely, bidding wars are breaking out in suburbs and smaller cities as remote workers seek less harried, less expensive lifestyles and homes with a room that can serve as an office or gym—though it is unclear how successful companies will be with workers scattered in far-flung locales.

Remote workers may also shift consumption patterns. Less money spent on transportation, lunch, and wardrobes suitable for the office may be shifted to other uses. Sales of home office equipment, digital tools, and enhanced connectivity gear have boomed.

Whether the shift to remote work translates into spreading prosperity to smaller cities remains to be seen. Previous MGI research in the United States and Europe has shown a trend toward greater geographic concentration of work  in megacities like London and New York and high-growth hubs, including Seattle and Amsterdam . These locales have attracted many of the same type of younger, highly educated workers who can best work remotely. It remains to be seen whether the shift to remote work slows that trend, or whether the most vibrant cities remain magnets for such people.

Organizations will have to adjust their practices to capture potential productivity gains from remote work

Is remote work good for productivity? Ultimately, the answer may determine its popularity, especially given the long period of waning labor productivity  that preceded the pandemic. So far, there is scant clarity—and widespread contradiction—about the productivity impact. Some 41 percent of employees who responded to a McKinsey consumer survey in May said they were more productive working remotely than in the office. As employees have gained experience working remotely during the pandemic, their confidence in their productivity has grown, with the number of people saying they worked more productively increasing by 45 percent from April to May.

With nine months of experience under their belts, more employers are seeing somewhat better productivity from their remote workers. Interviews with chief executives about remote work elicited a mixed range of opinions. Some express confidence that remote work can continue, while others say they see few positives to remote work.

With nine months of experience under their belts, more employers are seeing somewhat better productivity from their remote workers.

One impediment to productivity may be connectivity. A researcher at Stanford University found that only 65 percent of Americans surveyed said they had fast enough internet service to support viable video calls, and in many parts of the developing world, the connectivity infrastructure is sparse or nonexistent. Developing digital infrastructure will require significant public and private investment.

For women in particular, remote work is a mixed blessing. It boosts flexibility—not needing to be physically co-located with fellow workers enables independent work and more flexible hours—as well as productivity, with less time wasted commuting. Yet remote work also may increase gender disparity in the workplace, exacerbating the regressive effects of COVID-19. The female workforce in many economies is more highly concentrated in occupational clusters like healthcare, food services, and customer service that have relatively low potential for remote work. Previous MGI research on gender parity found that jobs held by women are 19 percent more at risk than jobs held by men simply because women are disproportionately represented in sectors most negatively affected by COVID-19.

Some forms of remote work are likely to persist long after COVID-19 is conquered. This will require many shifts, such as investment in digital infrastructure, freeing up office space, and the structural transformation of cities, food services, commercial real estate, and retail. It also risks accentuating inequalities and creating new psychological and emotional stresses among employees, including from isolation. For most companies, having employees work outside the office  will require reinventing many processes and policies. How long before someone invents the virtual watercooler?

The authors wish to thank Olivia Robinson, Gurneet Singh Dandona, and Alok Singh for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Stephanie Strom, a senior editor at the McKinsey Global Institute.

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Opportunities to Improve Deployment Prospects of Offshore Wind

 This dissertation covers a body of work concerned with the deployment of offshore wind  energy. Deploying large amounts of renewable energy is a key aspect in transitioning to a low?carbon economy and limiting the negative effects of climate change. However, in addition to  technical and economic challenges, renewable energy deployment must satisfy environmental,  social, and regulatory interests. Given the breadth of disparate interests affecting deployment prospects, I develop models and frameworks that help quantify the costs and benefits of offshore  wind deployment, demonstrate how several interests can be balanced in plant design, and  operationalize qualitative factors to inform decision makers on the tradeoffs of deployment  strategies. The technological scope of these studies is on offshore wind renewable energy which  is a nascent energy source with a large—still untapped—technical potential, and energy  decarbonization potential.  

First, I consider a novel way of deploying floating offshore wind turbines that reduces physical  obstructions and allows turbines to be built in less-contentious waters. I quantify one  environmental benefit and the cost of this strategy. I find that the strategy realizes a cost penalty  of at least 30 US dollars/megawatt-hour and eliminates up to 900 kilometers of mooring chains for  a 1-gigawatt array. While this added cost is substantial, there are further opportunities and  scenarios where this strategy can make sense. I then investigate plant technology and site  alternatives using a multi-criteria analysis framework to compare the suitability of alternatives  based on optimizing techno-economics and minimizing impacts. I find that the larger plants the  industry is pushing toward are fragile in terms of suitability of locations, while smaller plants are  more robust with respect to locations. I also find that there are large areas where the two  perspectives align that the industry should pursue. This suggests that an overly narrow view on techno-economics only can lead to uncertain project outcomes. Finally, I propose a way to  operationalize socio-political aspects and regulatory obligations of the adoption environment in  order to compare transmission strategies from offshore wind which may face differential  obligations. I find that shortening the development process by one year is equivalent to an  investment tax credit of 2.6% and may be worth more than 65 million euros for a single project. I  also find that there are very few scenarios where a novel and expensive transmission strategy is  more advantageous than the baseline technology, but it is critical to quantify the impact of more  expensive strategies that may ease regulatory obligations. The results suggest that further  improvements of the novel technology are needed to directly compete on a cost basis. In future  work, I plan to explore green hydrogen deployment that considers socio-political factors and a  market evolution element of the technology to understand how different adoption environments or  socio-political attitudes can affect levels of attainment of renewable energy capacity or overall  carbon abatement.  

Degree Type

• Dissertation
• Engineering and Public Policy

Degree Name

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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• Engineering not elsewhere classified

Comparison of Soil Carbon Dynamics Between Restored Prairie and Agricultural Soils in the U.S. Midwest

Globally, soils hold more carbon than both the atmosphere and aboveground terrestrial biosphere combined. Changes in land use and land cover have the potential to alter soil carbon cycling throughout the soil profile, from the surface to meters deep, yet most studies focus only on the near surface impact ( 3 and C 4 photosynthetic pathway plant community composition. Comparative analysis of edaphic properties and soil carbon suggests that deep loess deposits in Nebraska permit enhanced water infiltration and SOC deposition to depths of ~100 cm in 60 years of prairie restoration. In Illinois, poorly drained, clay/lime rich soils on glacial till and a younger restored prairie age (15 years) restricted the influence of prairie restoration to the upper 30 cm. Comparing the δ 13 C values of SOC and SIC in each system demonstrated that SIC at each site is likely of lithogenic origin. This work indicates that the magnitude of influence of restoration management is dependent on edaphic properties inherited from geological and geomorphological controls. Future work should quantify root structures and redox properties to better understand the influence of rooting depth on soil carbon concentrations. Fast-cycling C dynamics can be assessed using continuous, in-situ CO 2 and O 2 soil gas concentration changes. The secondary objective of my thesis was to determine if manual, low temporal resolution gas sampling and analysis are a low cost and effective means of measuring soil O 2 and CO 2 , by comparing it with data from in-situ continuous (hourly) sensors. Manual analysis of soil CO 2 and O 2 from field replicates of buried gas collection cups resulted in measurement differences from the continuous sensors. Measuring CO2 concentration with manual methods often resulted in higher concentrations than hourly, continuous measurements across all sites. Additionally, O 2 concentrations measured by manual methods were higher than hourly values in the restored prairie and less in agricultural sites. A variety of spatial variability, pressure perturbations, calibration offsets, and system leakage influences on both analysis methods could cause the discrepancy.

NSF Grant 1331906

Degree type.

• Master of Science
• Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

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• West Lafayette

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Additional committee member 2, additional committee member 3, additional committee member 4, additional committee member 5, usage metrics.

• Environmental biogeochemistry
• Soil chemistry and soil carbon sequestration (excl. carbon sequestration science)