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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Electives
Finally, the theoretical training is completed by choosing two elective courses, either from your own track, or from another track to broaden your background knowledge.