Admission requirements
All bachelor students are obliged to do a bachelor research project as the final part in the bachelor programme, in principal during the second semester of the third year. Students may deviate from this in consultation with the Study Adviser.
Orientation
-Visit the internship market on 20 September 2024 for orientation and internship possibilities (more information & invitation via email and Brightspace in June/July)
-Read the BSc research project booklet (BrightSpace>Opleiding Biologie>’BSc research project ’)
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).
-Go to https://science-stage.universiteitleiden.nl/ and log in with your ULCN account. You can also log in via BrightSpace (BrightSpace>Opleiding Biologie>’BSc research project’)
-Go to ‘Aanvragen’ and click on the tab BSc research project.
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 course Academische Vaardigheden: General Research Skills (GRS) familiar skills, such as formulating a research idea, experimental design, statistics, data analysis, and report writing, are highlighted again and applied during the Research Project.
GRS starts prior to, and then runs parallel to the research project. The topics attended to in GRS keep pace with the timing of the research project.
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. External research projects can be carried out in pairs or individually.
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 3 March to Friday 4 July 2025, fulltime (90 working days, ca. 17 weeks).
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable. Any teaching activities that you have successfully 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
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
Part 1:
Register in MyStudyMap as explained below:
Choose the correct version of the 'course':
In case your project is at CML, choose 4023BRPCM
In all other cases, choose 4023BST07
Every student of all years must enroll via MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you will see step by step how to enroll in courses in MyStudyMap. Note that your enrollment is only completed when you submit your course planning in the 'Ready for enrollment' tab by clicking 'submit'.
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 register for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam. Keep in mind that there are enrollment deadlines, see this page
for more information.
Extensive FAQ on MyStudymap can be found here.
Part 2:
Registration in ProjectMAP.
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
Bachelor Research Project booklet: BrightSpace>Opleiding Biologie>’Bachelor research project’
More information about how to look for an internship: BrightSpace>Opleiding Biologie