The Master’s programme in Cognitive Neuroscience has a total load of 120 EC* (two years).
- The first year is mainly devoted to the compulsory courses and the courses dedicated to your track.
- The second year is mainly devoted to the research internship and the writing of the thesis.
Students embark in their second year on a big research project that they can call their own. Under supervision of a researcher at the Donders Institute, or one of its affiliated institutes, a research project starts of course with a research question and ends in the Master’s thesis, written in the form of a research paper that is in principle submittable to a scientific journal.
Year 1
Compulsory courses
As a student in the Master’s programme, you take part in the set of compulsory courses together with all other students of the programme. In these general compulsory courses you’ll become acquainted with the most important theories, models, techniques and analysis methods in Cognitive Neuroscience.
Advanced Research Methods
Each student chooses an advanced methods course within neuroimaging, with either a focus on haemodynamic methods or electrophysiological methods.
Personal and Professional Development
5 EC are devoted to Personal and Professional Development. Here, you may choose to get coaching, focus on the next step in your career, to take on lab rotations, and/or to take part in summer school, workshops, etc.
Skill training
A total of 12EC of skill training needs to be chosen in two years. How you divide the ECs (e.g., 9EC of skill training in the first year and 3EC of skill training in the second year) is up to you.
Track courses
Based on your track, you also choose 18 EC of courses to make up your specialised training.
Programme elective
Next to the 18 EC of coursework of your track, you need to complete an additional 6 EC of coursework to fulfill the programme elective. To do so, you may choose any track course. You may thus choose another course from your own track, or choose a course from the other tracks.
Year 2
Practical training: research project
The second year of the Master’s compulsory programme is primarily spent in the laboratory so that you gain plenty of hands-on experience. You’ll execute practical training in one of the participating research groups under the supervision of a researcher. In this way you’ll acquaint yourself with the discipline in actual practice. You’ll:
- Develop a theoretical research question.
- Report on your research in a Master’s thesis. This thesis must be written in the form of a scientific article.
Electives
Finally, the theoretical training is completed by choosing 10 EC of elective courses. For this elective space, you may choose any Master's level course. You may thus choose electives from outside your track, or choose to do extra skill training courses, or choose to do courses from other Master's programmes to broaden your background knowledge.
Tracks
The programme offers four tracks that coincide with the research themes of the Donders Institute:
- Language and Communication
- Perception, Action and Decision-making
- Development and Lifelong Plasticity
- Natural Computing and Neurotechnology
All tracks in the Master's programme have a common basis, but each track has its own set of six core courses and a student has to complete 18 EC of these courses to complete their track.
Combining Master’s programmes
Motivated students can combine this Research Master’s with either the Master's degree programme in Artificial Intelligence, Psychology (Dutch-taught specialisation Gezondheidszorgpsychologie) or Behavioural Science to gain a double Master's. This will take three instead of two years. A double Master's degree gives you the advantage of having a more extensive understanding and broad career prospects. It’s possible to get exemptions of overlapping courses to reduce the study load. You will have to submit an individual request to the examination boards of both programmes for approval. Find more information about the possibilities in the Education and Examination Regulations (EER). If you have questions about combining your Cognitive Neuroscience Master's programme with another programme, please contact simonjan.hazenberg [at] ru.nl (simonjan[dot]hazenberg[at]ru[dot]nl).