Digital Health Ecosystems

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In the topic line of

Digital Health Ecosystems

we offer topics for analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation in the following areas for a bachelor's, master's, diploma, or seminar thesis:

  • Development and Evaluation of Digital Health Applications
  • Interoperability for Digital Health Applications
  • Digitization in the Public Health Service
  • Platform business models and research data infrastructures
  • Digitization in nursing care

Digital Therapeutics 

Scientific Evaluation of a Digital Patient Support Program for Hip and Knee Replacement

Every year, several hundred thousand people in Germany undergo hip or knee replacement surgery. Patients can make an important contribution to the success of the procedure - for example, through adequate preparation, regular exercise, appropriate physical activity, correct medication use, and the early recognition of relevant symptoms. However, in routine care, patients often lack information that is understandable, individually appropriate, and available at the right time.
ActiveTEP is a digital health application that informs, activates, and supports patients in self-management before and after hip or knee replacement surgery. The application provides evidence-based information and exercises, accompanies patients throughout the different phases of the treatment pathway, and can also support processes in hospitals and other healthcare settings.
As part of the thesis, a selected aspect of the development, use, or impact of ActiveTEP will be scientifically investigated. Possible research questions include:

  • Acceptance, usage, and usability of the application,
  • Changes in users’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and health-related behavior,
  • Potential effects on workload for clinical staff and healthcare processes,
  • Barriers and success factors in implementing the application in hospitals, or
  • Development of suitable metrics for further evaluation.

The specific research question will be defined jointly and tailored to the degree program, level of qualification, available timeframe, and available data. Depending on the focus, the thesis may involve qualitative interviews, questionnaire-based surveys, literature reviews, or analysis of existing data.
The thesis offers the opportunity to work at the intersection of Digital Health, health services research, and patient-centered orthopedics while making a directly applicable scientific contribution to the further development of ActiveTEP.
Analysis of Sex- and Gender-Specific Needs in Digital Health Services Along the Care Pathway

Digital health services - such as Digital Health Applications (DiGAs), health apps, and patient portals - now accompany patients throughout the entire care pathway, from prevention and treatment to follow-up care. However, the extent to which these services are designed to address sex- and gender-specific needs remains largely underexplored.
This thesis aims to address this gap, preferably in the field of oncology, although other areas such as eating disorders or other medical conditions are also possible. Biological differences (sex) and psychosocial factors (gender) should not be considered in isolation but rather in their interaction. The aim is to identify gaps in care - particularly those that are evident in women’s health - and derive approaches for more individualized communication and support through digital health services.
The thesis can follow either an analytical approach (e.g., systematic literature review, systematic analysis of available applications, or qualitative interviews) or a design-oriented approach (e.g., Design Science Research, requirements analysis, development of design principles, or prototype development and evaluation).
Development of blended care approaches using the example of obesity care
Digital health applications (DiGA) are seen as key innovations in the healthcare sector and are attracting increasing international attention. In obesity care, however, many DiGAs have so far been isolated and poorly aligned with the care context. This study investigates how a blended care approach that integrates digital and analog forms of care can be developed and optimized for obesity treatment. The aim is to integrate various DiGA into a comprehensive treatment pathway, e.g., in the form of a “master path,” in order to improve long-term therapeutic success and ensure seamless patient care. Challenges in the areas of implementation, interoperability, and adaptation to individual therapy needs are also analyzed.
Digital health applications are regarded as one of the most important innovations in the German healthcare system and are becoming increasingly important. They are now also receiving a great deal of international attention and recognition. Nevertheless, many digital health applications are very selective and not very integratively tailored to the healthcare context. A scientific analysis should examine how various DiGa could be integrated in a treatment context (e.g., in the sense of a “master path” as an extension of the pathway approach).

Digitalization in the public health service 

A step-by-step approach is required to expand public health departments' digital infrastructure and networking at the local, state, and national levels. The Digital Health research group has developed a maturity model based on literature and empirical data to facilitate such a step-by-step approach. On the one hand, the maturity model should enable health authorities to measure their own level of digital maturity. Furthermore, the maturity model should support health authorities in deriving digitization potential and concrete recommendations for prioritized digitization projects. As the digitalization of public health departments is a complex undertaking, eight dimensions have been developed in the maturity model to enable digitalization in a variety of ways. These dimensions include digitalization strategy, employees, process digitalization, IT security, IT provision, citizen centricity, collaboration and software, data, and interoperability. Final theses in this subject area can, for example, address further substantiation of the individual dimensions based on the literature.

Interoperability for Digital Health Applications 

The development of digital healthcare innovations presents interdisciplinary project teams with the major challenge of having to meet a complex set of requirements. Depending on the nature of the planned innovation and its target environment of the existing practice, various interdependent aspects must be taken into account in addition to medical quality: regulatory framework conditions, existing information system landscapes, economic interests, healthcare processes, etc., among others. In order to successfully integrate modern IT solutions into healthcare practice, a holistic (socio-technical) understanding of interoperability should be strengthened and made manageable for various types of digital health applications.

 Standardization and Methods

Interoperability in the German Healthcare System – Barriers and Opportunities for Integrated Care and Research

This thesis focuses on the analysis and measurement of interoperability in the German healthcare system. It examines key interoperability standards used in German healthcare, such as gematik ISiK, KVB MIOs, and the MII Core Dataset.
The thesis will first conduct a systematic literature review to identify and evaluate existing methods for measuring syntactic and semantic interoperability. Based on the findings, an assessment method will be developed that addresses the specific requirements of the German healthcare system.
Another component of the thesis is the development of a concept for technical mapping between the aforementioned standards. The aim is to explore how data can be transferred and consistently interpreted across different systems. As part of this work, the potential of modern AI tools to support and facilitate the mapping process will also be investigated.
The thesis will thus contribute to the further development of methods and concepts for measuring interoperability and enabling effective data exchange in the German healthcare system.
Improving Semantic Interoperability in Patient Pathways

Cross-sectoral care and the exchange of patient pathways between different stakeholders and IT systems require a high degree of semantic interoperability. In practice, however, numerous standards are used, such as BPMN for process modeling, FHIR for data exchange, and medical ontologies for terminology, which are currently only insufficiently interconnected.
This thesis focuses on developing an integration concept that links BPMN-based patient pathways with FHIR resources and medical ontologies to enable a continuous, semantically consistent, and interoperable representation and use of patient pathways.
Students will investigate how the different standards can be integrated at both a technical and conceptual level, which challenges arise in the process, and how such an integration can improve the reusability, adaptability, and quality of patient pathways in practice.

If you are interested, please e-mail a brief presentation of your ideas or subject interests, including your CV, to .

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Emily Hickmann
Last modified: Aug 24, 2026