General information

Completing an internship is very different from completing courses. You will have to make arrangements for your internship yourself. Based on your personal preferences you will have to make choices. These choices may be new for you and in this section we provide information that might be helpful.

Biology

Start by finding a research group within your field of research. At Radboud University research in Biology is organised amongst others within Radboud Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences (RIBES), Radboudumc and Natuurplaza. The smaller unit of organisation of research within the institutions is the department. Suggestions for this level you will find in this course guide. In the list you can see which departments fit in your specialisation.

Medical Biology

Start by finding a research group within your field of research. At Radboud University research in medical biology is organised within three institutions: Radboudumc, RIMLS and Donders Institute. The character of Radboudumc is medical in a broad sense, RIMLS is working in the field of molecular and cell biology and Donders Institute in the field of brain and nervous system. Please study the sites to find the research of your interest. The RIMLS and Donders Institute have their own building. Researchers of Radboudumc sometimes have their laboratory in the hospital, sometimes in Donders Institute, but mostly in RIMLS. The smaller unit of organisation of research within the institutions is the department. Suggestions for this level you will find in the course guide. In the list you can see which departments fit in your specialisation.

NB: visit our listing of research opportunities for students (Medical) Biology internships  Please note, that Bachelor's and Master's opportunities are listed together.

Application for an internship

When you are considering a certain internship, you write a letter of application to a staff member of the department. This letter is also an assignment of the master’s portfolio. Sometimes somebody is specified as the contact of the department. This may be the professor or one of the scientific staff members. Please do not hesitate to contact them. They are specialists in their field and are qualified to inform you about the future possibilities within their specialism. In case you experience difficulty contacting a specialist, contact your student advisor as soon as possible.

You can meet with  internship coordinators (internship.biosciences@ru.nl) to discuss  general information regarding the internship proposal or procedure.  Please contact your student advisor to discuss the details of your internship planning. If you would like to complete an internship outside Nijmegen, even abroad, then check the part of Study Abroad in the course guide for possibilities and contact persons.

Once you have chosen a certain internship, meet with your future examiner and/or daily supervisor and make adequate arrangements. Importantly, your examiner needs to be an examiner associated with the (Medical) Biology programme of the Radboud University (5. List of examiners), your daily supervisor can be a post-doc, scientific staff member and/or PhD-student. Discuss all the aspects of importance for your internship. The next section of this guide “preliminaries” will be helpful in the discussion. When you and your supervisor and/or examiner conclude that it is a “go”, please register for your internship as explained in the course guide  of the current academic year. Moreover, you have to write an internship proposal using a template (see Internship Forms) and discuss this proposal with your internship supervisor. Finally, you submit your internship proposal in Osiris before the start of your internship (the latest two weeks after the start of your internship). The internship coordinators will evaluate your internship proposal and approve it in Osiris when sufficient. If you have any questions regarding your internship proposal please contact the internship coordinators (internship.biosciences@ru.nl).

*There are several course codes for several types of internships:

*One master internship with 6 EC without permission of the examination board (check the EER), in agreement with your examiner and daily supervisor.

Grading of your internship is done digitally using an online survey. The forms are also available in a printable version via the course guide (Internship Forms), that can be used to get an idea of what you will be evaluated on. You can also use them to complete the self-assessment assignment in the Master Portfolio. Please note, that you need a second reader. He or she will read your report and grade your internship too. You can ask an examiner associated with the (Medical) Biology programme of the Radboud University to be your second reader (List of examiners).

Definitions of an examiner, second reader and daily supervisor

Terminology

Internal Internship

When you complete an internship at a RU department from the list, it is an internal internship: an authorised examiner is available at the department. Moreover, a second reader, an examiner associated with the (Medical) Biology programme of the Radboud University (see List of examiners) will  grade your report and presentation.

External Internship

When you, independently or with help from the student advisor, arrange an internship at a department or organisation not mentioned in the above mentioned lists, it is an external internship. This external internship needs approval, which can be given by an examiner associated with the (Medical) Biology programme of the Radboud University (see 5. List of examiners) on behalf of the Examination Board. The examiner will then also act as the examiner of your internship. At the end of your internship, the examiner associated with the (Medical) Biology programme of the Radboud University (see 5. List of examiners) will grade your report, presentation and internship with the help of your (daily) supervisor from the external internship. A second reader, also associated with the Radboud University (see List of examiners), will evaluate your report and presentation.

Importantly, we urge you to discuss this with your student advisor as soon as you decided to search for an external internship. In general, your plans for going abroad can best start with an appointment with the coordinator exchange Faculty of Science: mrs. C. Mooren, c.mooren@science.ru.nl

Internship goals & requirements

In general, your internship has the goal to develop your academic competences. Specified learning goals can be found in the course guides (Master) and associated to the internship grading form.

Specifically, your internship has to meet these requirements:

• Answer a biological/biomedical research question;
• Include (statistical) data analyses;
• Take the specified amount of time (Table 1). (One master internship with 6 ECS with the approval of your examiner)
• An individual report and presentation describing your results.