Elective component

All Master's programmes of the GSLS (excluding SBM and Epidemiology Postgraduate) have space for 12 EC of elective component. During this elective component you can follow education to grow competencies or skills of your own choosing - whether these are more research, academic, or soft skills. If you need help deciding what options for your elective component would fit your personal growth best, you can talk to your programme coordinator or take a look at our advice and counselling page for other options (for example to discuss this with the academic counsellors, coaches, or career officers). The Navigation Towards Personal Excellence workshops form the Life Sciences Academy also try to guide you in making these choices. 

There are multiple options to fill your elective component. Below you can find more information on the different options. 

Elective courses

One of the options to fill the elective component are (additional) elective courses. More information about the possibilities and how to follow elective courses can be found here.

Mini-project

A mini-project can take many forms, both in size (0.5 - 12 EC), content and end products (e.g. report, presentation, poster, advice, script). The content and deliverables should be determined in consultation with your examiner. A mini-project has to be approved by your programme coordinator and the Board of Examiners.

Examples of mini-projects performed in the past are designing an (online) course (module), write a news article or scientific paper, organise a symposium, perform extra research and many more options.

If you want to perform extra research, you may use these credits to perform a mini-project. For more information about research projects visit the research project page.

Extension of profile research project

Another option to fill in the elective component of your Master's programme is to extend the research project within your profile. This allows you to spend more time on research projects, giving you more hands-on experience. Any profile which contains a research project can be extended with a maximum of 12 EC. You should apply for this extension before the start of your project. More information about the profiles and their research projects can be found on the profile specific pages. Here you can find an overview of all GSLS profiles.