Admission Requirements
There are no requirements
Description
This course introduces selected contemporary topics in physics as well as basic academic skills of modern research.
Students will be provided with a bird’s-eye view of contemporary challenges in the physics community through work sessions and guest lectures covering all the major fields in physics. There will be special emphasis on the topics that are central to LION (Leiden Institute of Physics) because LION most likely will play a part in the student’s foreseeable future.
In interactive work sessions, students will learn about academic skills: searching literature, reading papers, writing reports, and presenting posters. A group research project forms the core of this class. In groups of three, you choose a recent research question and apply the before mentioned research skills to discover current challenges related to your question. You will discuss the outcomes with your peers, and will present a poster with your findings at the end of the course.
Course objectives
After this class, you will be able to dive into a completely new research topic and summarize the key challenges in a written report and a poster presentation.
This involves that you are able to
select a difficult contemporary topic in physics that interests the members of your group
pose a physics related and unanswered question
use the main tools for literature search to find papers related to a specialized topic
digest difficult research papers efficiently so that you can gauge their quality and extract key information
write a literary overview that recapitulates the main results of an extensive collection of research papers related to a specialized topic
summarize the current key challenges for a specialized physics topic in a written report and a poster presentation
Transferable Skills
After this class, you will be able to
work in a small group on summarizing key challenges in a specialized physics topic and distribute and manage the various tasks involved
write a report on a very difficult, specialized topic
create a poster that summarizes a topic clearly
present a poster to your peers
make an informed choice about a future research field you want to be involved in and have an overview of the possibilities within LION concerning that choice
Timetable
Schedule
For detailed information go to Timetable in Brightspace
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
See Brightspace
Assessment method
Handed in reports and poster session.
Reading list
Papers related to your research project.
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for registering on time, i.e. 14 days before the start of the course. This can be done via Mystudymap. You do this twice a year: once for the courses you want to take in semester 1 and once for the courses you want to take in semester 2. Please note: late registration is not possible.
Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from July; registration for courses in the second semester is possible from December. For more information, see this page
In addition, it is mandatory for all students to register for exams. This can be done up to and including 10 calendar days prior to the exam or up to five calendar days in case of a retake exam. You cannot participate in the exam or retake without a valid registration in My Studymap.
Contact
Dr. Semonti Bhattacharyya Dr.ir. Paul Logman
Remarks
none