Medical Natural Sciences
The programme in a nutshell
The Master’s programme in Medical Natural Sciences is a two-year program worth 120 ECTS. During this time, you will take compulsory courses in your chosen specialization, plus a number of optional courses. Your own laboratory research is an important part of the program, which you perform in one of the participating research groups. Moreover, you write a literature thesis on a subject within Medical Natural Sciences research and you acquire general academic skills.
Programme components
The Master’s programme in Medical Natural Sciences consists of:
| Programme component | ECs |
| Compulsory courses | 12 – 30 |
| Optional courses | 12 – 18 |
| Major research project | 39 |
| Minor research project | 21 |
| Literature thesis | 6 – 12 |
| Elective space | 12 – 18 |
| Total | 120 |
The exact balance between these components depends on the specialization and profile you choose. You are at liberty to put together your own programme, as long as it reflects the interdisciplinary character of Medical Natural Sciences. The Master's coordinator will help you choose the proper courses for your individual programme.
Specializations
Within the Master’s programme Medical Natural Sciences you choose one of four specializations:
Profiles
Next to a specialization, you are also ought to chose for a profile. There are four profiles: research, social, communication and education. Each specialization and profile combination can be tailor-made to your personal requirements. You can choose between the following profiles:
- Research: focuses on Medical Natural Sciences research. With this profile you gain experience for a career in research, both in the university (PhD) as in industry.
- Social: focuses on policy-analysis, management and entrepreneurship. This profile enables you to combine your background in Medical Natural Sciences with policy or management in industry.
- Communication: focuses on science communication theory and research, as well as on practice (partly in Dutch). This profile provides you with special training for a job in science communication.
- Education: provides you training as a teacher in chemistry or physics for Dutch pre-university (VWO) level or vocational education (HBO) level (partly in Dutch).
At the initial planning stage of your Master’s, you can define your own programme in consultation with the Master’s coordinator. Each specialization and profile combination includes a balance between compulsory courses, optional courses and research training.
