Getting Started
This process is executed before the official start of your Research Project and is excluded from the duration of the Research Project.
Follow this checklist to get started with your Research Project:
Step 1: Find a project
We expect you to follow your own interests.
You have to take the initiative and contact one or more researchers directly. Alternatively, some research groups may advertise a ‘coordinator’ that matches students with available projects. More information on the actual research topics can be found on the website of the Institute for Gravitational and Subatomic Physics or the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science.
Supervising and support
You will be supervised by a staff member (your project supervisor/first examiner) and a daily supervisor, who is in many cases a PhD candidate or a post-doc. A second examiner needs to be appointed, for which your first examiner may suggest a good candidate.
Step 2: Define your Research Project
Together with your project supervisor/first examiner (and if applicable, your daily supervisor), you will define your Research Project, title, and research aims. You will also write a short project description. Together, the student and supervisors come to an agreement on the organisation of the supervision, planning of the project, holidays, etc.
Extra step for projects outside UU or NL: prepare the internship contract
Read the instructions in the drop-down below.
Step 3: Submit your Research Project application
- When you have found your subject, you have to submit an application form via Osiris Student. Select ‘My Cases’, ‘Start a new case’, 'Thesis and graduation' and then ‘GSNS Research Project (Thesis)’.
- End date: In the form in Osiris Student, you set an end date for your project. If you work full-time, set the end date 37.5 weeks after the starting date. Shift it to a later date if you work part-time during certain periods, for example because of courses, holidays, or work as a student assistant. A 7.5 EC course counts for 5 full-time weeks of work.
Other information you will need for the form are:
- Names of project supervisor/first examiner, second examiner and/or daily supervisor
- Your internship contract if you do a Research Project outside Utrecht University
- Planning of regular meetings with your supervisor(s)
- Workload per week
- Student absence
- Supervisor(s) absence
- Presentations to be held
- Group meetings to be attended
Important: to apply correctly, you must have discussed the project setup with your intended project supervisor/first examiner beforehand. We advise you to study the application form before you discuss it with your project supervisor/first examiner or fill it out together to make sure that it includes all the required information.
Step 4: Wait for approval
After submitting the application form in Osiris Student, your form will be forwarded to the Student Desk, your supervisor(s) and second examiner, the programme coordinator and finally, the Board of Examiners for checks and approvals. You may be asked for modifications, should they find any problems with the form. You will be notified of this via e-mail.