Study programme

Over a two-year period, students complete advanced courses on research methods and statistics. Furthermore, students will be trained in computer skills (programming) and writing and presentation skills. During the remaining time, students will take courses in two fields of their choice and receive excellent research experience.

The programme requires two separate research projects resulting in two research papers (Research Internship and Research Thesis), the latter should be written in the form of a publishable journal article. In their first master’s year, students write their internship in close collaboration with a supervisor wheareas the research thesis is carried out independently.

Schematically, this leads to the following study programme:

Please follow the link below for a more detailed overview.

• Advanced courses (36 EC)

Students will attend six specialized courses in at least two areas of psychology, preferably four courses in their major and two in their minor, to be selected out of the following six specializations:

• Clinical Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Methodology and Statistics
• Brain and Cognition
• Social Psychology
• Work and Organizational Psychology

Each of these fields organizes a total of four advanced courses (6 ECTS each) dealing with recent developments in theory and research.

• Methods and Statistics Courses (18 EC)

The research Master’s programme is firmly embedded in experimental psychology. Over a two-year period, students complete advanced courses on research methods and statistics. All students should attend the course Applied Continuous Multivariate Analysis (6 EC). Furthermore, students attend a total of 12 EC in advanced methods and statistics, to be selected out of 12 courses ranging from 2 to 6 EC. Choice for each course may depend on interest and relevance for one's own research project and specialization.

• Writing and Presenting Skills (6 EC)

Students will be trained in writing and presentation skills. The course ‘How to write and present’ (6 EC) is included in the first year of the programme and should be attended by all students. This course is designed to improve student's scientific communication skills in articles and presentations.

• Programming Skills (6 EC)

Students will be trained in computer programming skills. Two types of programming skills courses (6 EC each) are available. Students choose one of these two programming skills courses. The choice depends on the research. Studies from Psychonomics usually involve other programming skills than studies from Social Psychology.

• Research projects (54 EC)

In the final part of each year, students will devote their time primarily to their own research and the writing of a thesis. The programme requires two separate research projects (Research Internship and Research Thesis) that will be supervised by senior staff members. These theses should not focus on the same issue, and should preferably include an internal research project and an external research project. This requirement should widen the scope and research expertise of our students and prepare them for intra- and interdisciplinary collaboration later in their career.

For both theses the student is expected to carry out one or two empirical studies, analyze the data and write up the results in the form of a journal article (in English). Preferably, reporting will be in the form of a publishable journal article.

In order to further enhance the scope and breadth of the programme, students will be encouraged to carry out one of the two research projects abroad. Members of staff of the Psychology Research Institute with extensive international networks are also key teachers in the research master's programme. Research topics of the six programmes can be found below.