Curriculum and courses

Specialisations

In this master’s you will choose a specialisation. Your choice for a specialisation will give direction to your master’s programme but will not limit it. You can still follow courses or internships with other topics and include other research themes. You can choose from the following specialisations:

• Clinical Human Movement Sciences:
  Explore different aspects of movement sciences with a clinical perspective, from neural control to disorders and from orthopaedic biomechanics to physiology.
• Drug Safety and Toxicology:
  Study the effect of toxic substances and adverse drug effects from molecule to man, to improve patient safety and become a registered toxicologist.
• Epidemiology – patient and population research:
  Students learn research designs and methods to study the distribution and determinants of health and disease conditions in human populations.
• Health Technology Assessment:
  Students learn explicit methods to determine the value of a health technology at different points in its lifecycle. The purpose is to inform decision-making in order to promote an equitable, efficient, and high-quality health system. 
• Immunology and Host Defence:
  Understand the immune system and its interactions with pathogens or cancer cells, and develop therapies for immunological diseases.
• Medical Neuroscience:
  Conduct research from basic to clinical and system-level neuroscience to provide better treatment options for brain-based disorders.
• Molecular Medicine:
  Translate fundamental knowledge on the molecular aspects of biomedical sciences into diagnostic, therapeutic and personalized treatment strategies.

Career profiles

To help kick-start your career after graduation we offer career profiles. There are mandatory courses and an internship connected to each profile. You can choose from the following career profiles:

• Research:
  This profile provides students with an extensive background in academic research within the field of biomedical sciences. In general, students will find employment in scientific departments of universities, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies or institutions where fundamental, pioneering, or translational research is performed. Others find work as advisors in a wide variety of public sectors and commercial organisations, or with private consultants, and regional environmental health services.
• Communication:
  This profile teaches about the problems that may be encountered when communicating about biomedical sciences, and how such problems may be resolved. Subjects include communication theory and how to apply this knowledge in a variety of ways. A wide variety of organisations employ communication advisors with a background in biomedical sciences, such as research organisations, government (responsible for public campaigns), municipal health services (responsible for local and regional health education), funding organisations, patients' organisations, science museums, and broadcasting companies.
• Consultancy:
  This profile is aimed at preparing students for a role as a scientific consultant or advisor. Scientific consultants combine ample knowledge of their scientific discipline with insight into the interaction between science, technology, and society. Additionally, they are sensitive to the views and stakes of people involved, and have the analytical and communicative skills to handle these. You will learn to think of consultancy as both a matter of content and as a matter of managing human interaction. You can help find sustainable and widely endorsed solutions to issues that come along with scientific and technological developments.

BMS Courses

There are courses associated with your chosen specialisation and chosen career profile. They are part of a broad range of over 80 different biomedical courses that we offer. Students can also choose to follow courses from other faculties or universities as electives.

Internships

Your programme must contain two internships, of which one must be a research internship. The second internship depends on your profile (the order can change). This implies that for a student with a research profile, both internships will involve scientific research. Students in other profiles can, next to their research internship, choose a second internship related to their profile choice. This means that students with a communication profile can, for example, perform a project in the field of health communication and students with a consultancy profile a health policy analysis.

Literature thesis

Your literature thesis must focus on a disease, mechanism, or methodology. It serves to demonstrate the depth of your understanding on a biomedical topic.

Remaining study load

After selecting the minimal required study load of courses, internships and thesis you get to choose on what you want to spend the remaining study load. This could be more courses, extra time on an internship and/or an extra internship. You can also choose additional courses in other programmes at Radboud University or at other universities in the Netherlands or abroad.

Integrity Rounds

Research Integrity Rounds are interactive events organized by the Radboudumc to stimulate dialogue and debate about matters of research integrity. Students have to attend at least 3 Radboud Integrity Rounds during their master’s programme. 

In short

In this two-year programme students have to do the following:

• A coherent set of biomedical courses in relation to your chosen specialisation and career profile
• Internships 
• Literature thesis 
• Electives for the remaining study load
• Research integrity rounds

Coaching

The specialisation coordinators take responsibility for the content and coaching of students within each specialisation. In addition to coaching the students, the specialisation coordinators represents and evaluates the specialisation and monitors/ensures the coherence, depth and structure of the specialisation.

The specialisation coordinator:

• Provides support and guidance to enable the student to carry out their learning process within the specified timeframe.
• Monitors progress of the student with respect to their specific learning goals, ambitions, interests and results in the educational components and give feedback.
• Advises the student regarding their choices for courses, electives and internships.
• Stimulates the student to reflect on their learning process and to improve themself.
• Will act as mediator should conflicts arise during any phase of the program. Individual issues can be discussed and confidentiality will be maintained if requested by the student.
• To guide students in their professional development and academic skills.
• To make students aware of their unique selling points and how to communicate these to others.