When you get the right topic for the research, a grueling chore of a task becomes an exciting adventure. You want to know and hunt for the truth zealously. The only problem is that you cannot possibly be this interested in everything under the sun. Neither can you keep your vehement focus for the entire duration of the academic year. Meanwhile, the curriculum often demands exactly that. You are supposed to churn out essay after essay, one research paper after another – all the time being enthusiastic about every subject in your timetable and eagerly interested in any stale topic they throw at you.
That takes its toll on anyone. Here is why, my paper writer friends, I have compiled some ideas to keep your curiosity piqued. Below you will find new topics tied to trending themes of the departing year. This is your last chance to participate in important discussions while they are still current and poignantly relevant. Don’t miss out on the opportunity and bring your contribution to the table!
I have broken the list into subject areas for easier navigation, with the primary division being STEM and Humanities. However, be sure to check out all of them if you are looking for inspiration – some topics border on both. For example, bioethics. That’s STEM meets Philosophy on an epic scale! You can attempt to tackle such ambivalent issues on your own or make it an exciting collaboration with a colleague from another department! Interdisciplinarity is in vogue, so that research is going to be the hottest stuff EVER.
Just make sure you address the genuine problem and not just jump on the bandwagon. According to Lee Cronin from the University of Glasgow, “being problem-led from both the deep questions and the practical questions is the way to do interdisciplinary science.” Given that Cronin won the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Interdisciplinary Prize in 2018, he knows what he’s talking about.
STEM Trending Topics
Science
- 1. Cloaking devices from sci-fi through the prism of transformation optics
- 2. The curvature of Riemannian manifolds
- 3. Spectroscopy in searching for life in the Universe
- 4. Improvement of synthetic crystals for industrial use
- 5. Stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis
Technology
- 6. Global harms of Facebook’s surveillance advertising business model
- 7. Perspectives of DNA-based artificial neural networks
- 8. Social and financial consequences of the DNA profiling
- 9. Benefits and risks of AI-based contact tracing algorithms in COVID-19 pandemic
- 10. Perspectives and limitations of bioinformatics
Engineering
- 11. Perspectives and challenges of green walls in an urban environment
- 12. Sustainability vs. economic viability in heritage building renovation
- 13. Novel applications of 3D printing in construction
- 14. Artificial forms of gravity: viable solutions for future of space exploration
- 15. Improving the efficiency of solar photovoltaic power systems
Mathematics
- 16. Lying with numbers: how statistical data are manipulated and misrepresented in media
- 17. Modeling traffic and predicting crowd behavior
- 18. Random graphs and random matrices
- 19. Hyperbolic geometric graphs in studying social networks
- 20. Turing patterns in image-processing technology
Medicine
- 21. Global trends in vaccine confidence, hesitancy, and skepticism
- 22. Wellness and pathology in plastic surgery
- 23. Ethical Issues of CRISPR Genome Editing
- 24. The perspective of using bacteriophages against the threat of antibiotic resistance
- 25. Managing mental health risks of isolation
Environment
- 26. Efficient ways to deal with oil spills
- 27. Crowdsourcing in ornithology studies
- 28. Sustainability and safety of plant-based meat substitutes like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods
- 29. The perspectives of microalgae farming for green energy
- 30. Negative environmental impacts of global lockdown measures
Humanities Trending Topics
Literature
- 31. Bird metaphors in Shakespeare’s sonnets
- 32. Ancient poetry revival in the works of modern women writers
- 33. Magic realism in Angela Carter’s novels
- 34. Language of grief and trauma in post 9/11 fiction
- 35. Music in Contemporary American fiction
Philosophy
- 36. Ethics and politics of public memory in monuments
- 37. Forgiveness and reconciliation in the justice system
- 38. Divine righteousness in social justice discussions
- 39. The role of guilt in the evolution of society
- 40. Sympathy for the monster in pop culture: radical love or fascination with the macabre?
History
- 41. Bayeaux Tapestry to Brexit: Cultural conflict and convergence between the British Isles and Continental Europe
- 42. Illuminati to QAnon: Conspiracy theories in American politics and culture
- 43. Is Afghanistan to become a battlefield in a proxy war between India and Pakistan?
- 44. Evils of discrimination and unlawful use of force: evidence from the escalation of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in May 2021
- 45. Reconciling colonial past: Australia vs. the USA comparison
Art and music
- 46. The artistic expression of political protest from Antiquity to Modernity
- 47. Ornamental vs. sacral in Gothic architecture
- 48. The role of patrons in creating the classical canon in music
- 49. Auditory-visual synesthesia in art
- 50. Subversion of gender roles in modern folk music
Law
- 51. Data privacy compliance in e-commerce
- 52. Parental rights and contracts in medically assisted reproduction
- 53. Family law and succession in same-sex unions and factual partnerships
- 54. Legal regulation in support of life-work balance
- 55. Regulations on asylum-seeking minors
Business and marketing
- 56. Benefits and risks of outsourcing services
- 57. Tracking social media trends for better marketing ROI
- 58. Advantages and disadvantages of franchising
- 59. The face that launched a thousand ships: perfection vs. relatability in advertising
- 60. Third-party risk management in business
Why is it important to choose a current topic?
Current, trendy, up-to-date – however you call it, this characteristic is vital. Of course, some topics look like they only ended up on the curriculum because your instructor wanted to engage the attention of the class. Yet relevance goes deeper than merely following fads and humoring the students. When you choose a current topic, you fulfill all the relevant parameters for your research.
Scientific relevance
Scientific relevance means that your research is intended to fill the gap in existing scientific knowledge. When something new emerges with a broad impact on society (a trend), it creates such gaps. New phenomena have ramified implications that are not yet explored, hence the scientific relevance of studying trends.
Practical relevance
Research should have practical application, i.e., add value. Based on the knowledge you obtain during the study, you can make recommendations that will improve a specific industry, processes, or social conditions. Something current, up-to-date, something yet in the making has higher chances of holding a value that wasn’t discovered yet. Hence, the practical relevance of trending topics.
However, sometimes, research has an accumulative effect and leads to applied research in unusual ways. Dr. Graham Wilson, a scholar at the Ronin Institute, illustrates this by the following example. The primary research into the effect of colors on the rods of the human eye conducted in the 1980s led to the red instrument panels in Search and Rescue helicopters today – along with many other seemingly insignificant things that save lives.
Academic relevance
Your research should also be relevant to your educational program – connect the topic to the curriculum in a meaningful way. By solving practical, current, real-life problems, you show that you have acquired adequate skills and absorbed the educational materials necessary for functioning in contemporary society. Hence, the academic relevance of current topics.
Personal relevance
Your research topic should be in accordance with your intellectual curiosity. It must be relevant to you as a person – challenge you in an engaging way, pique your interest. Of course, that varies wildly from person to person. Yet, being of the 21st century yourself, you are more likely to be fascinated by something current. Or at least by something timeless that particularly resonates with us today due to some recent developments. Hence, the personal relevance of up-to-date topics.
