The research master Brain and Cognitive Sciences, taught at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (UvA), is a selective master’s programme that attracts excellent students who:

• Have a strong ambition to become an academic researcher in a subfield related to cognitive science or neuroscience.
• Want to gain expertise in a specific research domain, but also learn about the perspectives from other fields.

As part of their programme, the students partake in two graduation projects:

• Year 1: Research Project 1 (26 EC; about 4 to 5 months)
• Year 2: Research Project 2 (36 or 42 EC; about 7 to 8 months)

In the typical cases, Research Project 1 starts in February, and Research Project 2 starts in November.

About our students

Our students come from many academic disciplines, ranging from pharmaceutical sciences and neurobiology, to psychology and psychobiology, to philosophy and linguistics. What they share is their interest in the brain and/or cognition, and each of them develops expertise in their own specific area within the broader field, but also works on multidisciplinary projects together with the other students.

This combination of deep and broad development renders the programme especially challenging, which is why the selection process is quite strict: high grades and a strong motivation for research are prerequisites for entering the programme.

What the student should learn

The goals of the Research Projects are to have the student gain hands-on experience in designing, tweaking and running experiments, as well in analyzing data and interpreting the results. In Research Project 1, the focus lies on data collection and/or analysis, while in Research Project 2 the student is expected to experience all phases of the empirical cycle.

For more details on the learning goals and structure of the projects, please see the Research Project Manuals.