Transforming Interactions in Thesis Supervision: An Expos\'e-First Workflow in Higher Education

Abstract

At the studied research institute, one professorship oversees approximately 20 theses per semester, while day-to-day supervision is distributed among doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. To manage this supervision demand, the institute uses an expos\'e-first workflow in which students prepare a research proposal before entering the main thesis-writing phase. This paper asks how students, supervisors, and administrators experience the expos\'e-first workflow as a structured process for early thesis preparation, and how it redistributes responsibility, supervision, and administrative coordination work across roles and two digital platforms. Based on a mixed-methods study analyzed through Frauenberger et al.'s four reflective design lenses, the findings show that the expos\'e-first model made thesis preparation more structured by turning early research planning into a staged process of proposal writing, feedback, and approval. Students reported that this process helped them clarify research goals and take ownership of their research plans at an early stage. However, the workflow redistributed rather than reduced work: supervisors shifted toward iterative feedback, feasibility checking, and preliminary quality assurance, while administrators carried much of the coordination across platforms, deadlines, submissions, and feedback. The paper contributes an analysis of expos\'e-first thesis preparation as a sociotechnical workflow, showing how workflow redesign can improve structure while leaving essential administrative coordination work underrecognized.