Admission Requirements
You can only participate after successful completion of both the first and second year of the Physics bachelor’s programme. All projects have to be approved by the Study Advisor. In case of pending courses, the Study Advisor will evaluate your progress to day and decide on whether you may proceed with the project.
Description
In the Bachelor Research Project (BRP), you independently perform scientific research in one of the research groups of LION during a period of 17 weeks. You will be actively involved in a on going research program where you will investigate experimentally and quantitatively a related partial question. Your contribution will involve runing experiments, collecting, analyzing and interpreting data and presenting your results in a research thesis and a technical presentation and may involve co-defining the research question and determining the appropriate method.
The research project is primarily a project in experimental Physics. Students in the double Physics and Math program have the option of carrying out one research project in Experimental Physics and one in Mathematics, or they may do a single Physics research project which may be on a theoretical topic. Students in the double Physics and Astronomy program may choose a project from either Physics or Astronomy. Astronomy projects for double-BSc students that involve lab or instrumentation work are appropriate.Astronomy projects with a primary focus on data analysis should still address data collection, callibration and reduction and should demonstrate a technical understanding of the involved instrumentation.. All Astronomy projects have to have a second supervisor from Physics who is ultimately responsible for approving the project (or a modified version thereof).
In November-December, the available projects will be presented in a poster session named the ‘Bachelor Project Fair’. This allows students to select a project and a supervisor and discuss the details in a follow-up meeting (if needed).
You will start your BRP with a number of sessions that address specific research skills, including time management and the use of scientific databases (see Research Skills and Introduction Bachelor Project ). In parallel, you will join your research group. You will start your research as part of ongoing work in the host group and participate in regular group meetings and other activities. Every two weeks there will be a BRP meeting event, where you meet with your fellow BRP students and the BRP coordinators to shortly discuss the progress of your research. This starts with a short talk on ‘Introducing my project’ in the first month, continues with a ‘Midterm talk’ halfway and is concluded with your ‘BRP presentation’ at the end of your BRP. On June 28th you will need to hand in your BRP thesis.
Course objectives
After completion of the Bachelor Research Project you will be able to contribute originally to the design and execution of research projects, analyse and interpret experimental (or other) results and report on the findings to a technically versed audience.
This means that after this project you will be able to:
Propose a (novel) measurement or analysis procedure that can lead to relevant results
Implement plans and carry out reproduceable measurements (or calculations)
Interpret results in an objective way, linking your research question to a scientific conclusion
Present your research question, research approach, research findings and conclusions, both orally and in a bachelor research thesis
After the project, you will be able to:
Collaborate within a research group, contributing to its scientific work
Plan your research activities realistically and deliver expected products by agreed deadlines
Professionally respond to feedback and adapt practices accordingly
Hone your ability to seek original and creative solutions
Develop further life-long learning skills
Timetable
In consultation with supervisor and study advisor.
Also consult the Bachelor Research Project sessions (BRP) in the schedule for March, April, May and June (full-time).
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
This section is completed when the research project is completed and the thesis and presentation are assessed by both the supervisor and a second assessor using a rubric. For more details about the assessment and grading of the research project, thesis and presentation please visit the 'Plagiarism, Rubric, Assessment and Thesis Publication Forms' section on the 'Aanvragen Afstuderen' page.
Reading list
Registration
From the academic year 2022-2023 on every student has to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to both preregister and confirm your participation for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
Remarks
- All forms for arranging your graduation can be found on the Student website Aanvragen Afstuderen Natuurkunde
- Students who follow a dual bachelor, should timely contact the study advisor. For them, usually research projects are available that are approved by both programs. About a month before the start of the bachelor project students need to submit a registration form, to be downloaded from the website Aanvragen afstuderen under Forms all listed