Admission requirements
Students must have passed all courses from the first year of the Bachelor programme.
Orientation
Read the information on BrightSpace >Bachelor Biologie >Biologie Jaar 3 > BSc Research Project Information
Visit the internship market on 2 October 2025 (more information & invitation via email and Brightspace in June/July)
After the internship market, and until 16 November: apply for available research projects
If you have not found a research project by 16 November the Study Adviser will assign you one
Description
The bachelor research project is the first acquaintance of students with independently designing and performing scientific research. All aspects of scientific research, from reading relevant literature and formulating a research question until the reporting and presenting of the results will be addressed. During the research project, the student is a member of a research group and participates in the common scientific activities of the research group (such as work discussions) and lectures in the host institute (for instance IBL spotlight seminars).
During the Research Project you will work on assignments for the course General Research Skills.
The bachelor research project is in principle carried out at one of the biological institutes of Leiden University (IBL, CML, Naturalis), LUMC, Hortus, or other institutes of the Faculty of Science. External research projects, e.g. in companies, other organisations, or abroad need to be discussed first with your Student Adviser, and then approved by the Board of Examiners.
Research projects at IBL/CML/Naturalis are carried out by students in pairs.
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, the student is able to:
1. Acquire in-depth knowledge about a current research project, concepts and approaches in a particular biological research area.
2. Carry out relevant literature research
3. Use relevant methods and techniques to conduct experiments.
4. Formulate a research question and hypothesis.
5. Design and implement a research study under supervision.
6. Critically evaluate the results of scientific publications.
7. Actively report and present research results to a scientific audience.
Timetable
Monday 2 March to Friday 3 July 2025 (90 fulltime working days, ca. 17 weeks in total).
Mode of Instruction
Consultation and feedback (daily supervisor at least once a week; responsible supervisor at least once a month).
Writing a scientific essay/project report.
Assessment method
The final mark for the BSc-research project is calculated as follows:
Research proposal 10%
Practical work 40%
Report 40%
Final presentation 10%
Reading list
Scientific literature according to supervisor's instructions.
Registration
Registration is done in ProjectMAP (not via MyStudymap).
Prior to the start a research project agreement form must be filled out in ProjectMAP together with the supervisor, and approved by the Internship coordinator. ProjectMAP is the online administration tool for IBL research projects (agreements, evaluations and assessments).
Instructions:
Go to ProjectMAP and log in with your ULCN account
Go to ‘Aanvragen’ and click on the tab BSc research project.
Contact
Contact via bio-internshipscoordinator@biology.leidenuniv.nl.
Remarks
Information can be found on BrightSpace >Bachelor Biologie >Biologie Jaar 3 > BSc Research Project Information
Students carry out their Research Project during the second semester of the third year. Students may deviate from this in consultation with the Study Adviser.
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.