Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Research Projects
Practical issues and information
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Programme
Practical information / Approval and supervision
Silke van Beekum and Femke Bokma
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Research project
All students conduct two research projects.
Research Project 1 – Credits: 26-32 EC
January – Half June (32 EC) – full time
February – Half June (26 EC) – full time
Research Project 2 – Credits: 36-42 EC
Total EC maximum: 68 EC
This means you can only choose to extend one of the two projects
1 EC = 28 hrs
26 EC = 728 hrs = 18 weeks
32 EC = 896 hrs = 22 weeks
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Research project
Research project
In the time frame of the research project you have to
explore, conduct, report and present the study.
You need to work on all stages of the research:
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Development of a research question
Designing the experiment
Selection of the research methods to address the question
Data collection, analyses of the data, literature used
Interpretation of the data
Development of the argument and discussion
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Research project
How to find a research project?
Find it yourself:
• Subject
• Technique
• Lab
Package deal:
• Internship advertisements
• Internquest (8 October)
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• Courses
• Lectures
• Books
• Advice
• Journal articles
• Lab websites
• Second year students
• Academic mentors
abc.uva.nl/education/information-for-current-students/research-project
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Research project database
How to find a research project?
What has your interest -> What do you want to research!
• Google!
• Talk to second year students – 24 September: Internshit!
• Talk to academic mentors
• Talk to your lecturers
• Email research groups
• Keep an eye on abc.uva.nl
Have a global idea of what you would like to do (e.g. which techniques, what kind of
study, which subjects, which institute, second project abroad?)
More important: know what they do…
Inform yourself about the research they conduct
Always be polite and respectful when initiating contact
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Good Internship
LUCK
SUPERVISOR
PROJECT
PLANNING
YOUR INPUT
Beware:
• you might get offered a different project than you orignially were interested in
Realize:
• an internship is good for you but your supervisor can also benefit from it
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Research project supervision
Inform us on where you will do your research
and who will be your supervisor! -> info-mcs@uva.nl
• Supervisor
• ‘daily’ guidance during the project
• assesses and grades experimental work, presentation and report
• Co-assessor
• reads and grades the report
• co-assessor and examiner can be the same person
• UvA representative
• can mediate between student and supervisor if necessary
• doesn’t grade, unless the roles of examiner and co-assessor are
combined
• makes sure UvA standards are realised in the project
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Research project
Research project supervision
• Supervisor
Permanent member of staff, PhD student or post doc at
the research institute
• Co-assessor
permanent member of staff at the UvA (preferably from a
different discipline than the supervisor, not a PhD student).
• UvA Representative
permanent member of staff at the UvA (not a PhD student)
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Research project supervision
Don’t forget to discuss
these themes in advance:
Time schedule
Research subject & question
Techniques
Meetings
Your work station
Courses
Holidays
Appointments
Work
Supervision: agree on guidance
How often per week?
Agree on certain day and time
Are daily informal discussions?
Back up supervision?
What techniques will you learn?
Supervision: agree on time planning
Discuss time planning concerning research
and courses
Deadline for project, keep study plan in mind
Plan enough time for data-analysis and
writing
Provide your supervisor with the supervisor
manual
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First meeting
First meeting
Start Internship
Plan project
Read & study
Learn Techniques
Plan project
Read & study
Do experiments
Learn Techniques
Do experiments
Data analysis
Data analysis
Presentation
Writing
Presentation
Writing
Finish Internship
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Approval procedure
Hand in your proposal within a month after the start date of your project!
N.B. Submitting it later can lead to deduction of credits since the board
does not acknowledge more than 6 EC for preparing the research
proposal
• Research Project Agreement form
• Master Study Plan form
www.abc.nl -> info for current students -> ‘forms and documents’ or
‘research project’
Without approval students will not be credited for their research
project!
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Research project
Research proposal
research project agreement form
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Data of participant and supervisor
Title
Description (e.g. key questions)
Procedure (operationalisation, materials, data analyses etc.)
Work plan (time schedule, task distribution etc.)
References
The Board of Examiners needs to approve, without approval your grade can not
be registered!
Deadline: Last workday of the month
Make sure your proposal is compete and submitted in the first phase of your
research
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Research project
Mid-evaluation
Evaluation of the project halfway through
Student is responsible for setting the meeting
Important meeting to discuss progress, planning and expectations
Mid-evaluation form to be filled out independently by supervisor and student
and to be discussed in the meeting
Final mid-evaluation form has to be sent to info-mcs@uva.nl
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Research project
Research report
The research project report:
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in English
scientific article set up
depends on the project itself and on the editorial
guidelines of the intended journal for which it is written.
In general:
The report should be an account of:
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the researched (sub)questions arising from the project
used methods and techniques
discussion of all discovered results
Research project
Colloquium
• public presentation of research project
• part of the final grading
• supervisor and/or co-assessor needs to be present
• 30 minutes presentation, 30 minutes defense
• final stage of the research
• at the research lab or at the university, but must be public
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Research project assessment
The assessment of the research project is
based on three components:
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Research Report (scientific article)
Experimental work
Colloquium (presentation)
Student and supervisor agree in advance on the relative weight of the
three parts
Weight factors should be stated on the Research Agreement Form
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Research project: in short
• Select a supervisor / UvA representative / co-assessor
• after internship agreement: inform us (info-mcs@uva.nl) who your supervisor is
• Write your research proposal agreement form with help from your supervisor.
• N.B. make solid plans concerning your time planning with your supervisor!
• Approval by the Board of Examiners within the first month of starting with the
research project
• without approval your grade can not be registered
• no more then 6EC is aknowledged for working on agreement form
• if BoE decided changes need to be made these can still be implemented
• Results should be reported in a scientific journal article format, the editorial
guidelines of the intended journal should therefore be followed
• The results of the thesis should be presented and defended in public (colloquium)
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Research project
Tips from second year students
• Don’t be too ambitious for your first project
• If you take on too much for your first project, you might take a lot longer than planned and lack time to
learn the basics
• Read up on the research your supervisor has done before going to the first meeting
• Come prepared and ask questions
• Connect with your supervisor
• This is a person you will be spending a lot of time with. Make sure you get to know your supervisor/ find
the right person
• Keep a journal /Start writing your report the day you start your internship
• Write down what you do, when and why from the start. This saves you a lot of time when you have to
write your report
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Research project
•Set your own deadlines, even if the supervisor doesn’t seem to care that much
• Projects can go on and on if you don’t set deadlines. Agree on them beforehand and make sure
you stick to them.
•Plan a mid-evaluation meeting with your supervisor
• If you plan your mid-evaluation already when you start your project, you know you have a fixed
moment to discuss progress and expectations
•Be ready for your project to change
•Take a summer break
•Don’t continue on to your second study year without taking some time off
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Follow up meetings
Tuesday 17 September
SIGN UP TODAY!
Workshop: Do’s and Don’ts when searching for an internship
REC JKB.25
17.00-18.00
Tuesday 24 September
Cognitio presents: Internshit
REC JKB.25
Tuesday October 8
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Cognitio presents: Internquest
REC JKB.25
19.00-21.00
19.00-21.00
Questions
Any questions concerning the given information?
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Research project
Academic mentors
Elise Seip
Guido Meijer
Wouter Boekel
Berno Bucker
Marlies Vissers
Esther van Duin
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Kasper Kok