Mandatory Introduction GSNS

The plenary session of the introduction on Wednesday 7 September will take place online. The rest of the programme takes place on campus. The exact location of each activity will be published on this page closer to the introduction days.

Covid 19

There are currently no Covid-19 measures in place that affect educational activities. The university’s aim is to have the educational activities (including contact hours and exams) take place on-campus as much as possible. Naturally, some uncertainty remains and development in the Covid-19 situation could cause changes in the scheduling of education. However, please be aware that from the start of the academic year, the university expects to welcome all of its students, in person, on campus.

08:30 - 09:00 How to get Started (For students who are new to Utrecht University)

We start with a special session for all students who are new to Utrecht University. Study advisor Sara O’Keeffe will help you get started with the practical side of studying here. This session is not mandatory.

09:00 - 09:15 Break

09:15 - 09:30 Opening GSNS Masters's introduction 

We will give you an overview of the practical details of the introduction days.

09:30 - 09:45 Welcome by Prof. Toine Pieters, Chairman of the GSNS

09:45 - 10:30 Alumni panel

Are you already curious about what career possibilities lie beyond your master’s, and what choices you can make during your studies? During this session, we invite several alumni from different backgrounds to speak about their studies and careers. We invite you, the students, to ask them your own questions!

10:30 - 10:45 Break

10:45 - 11:00 Presentation from the Study Associations

Representatives from A-Eskwadraat and Proton will welcome you to the different Study Associations related to the Master’s programmes of our Graduate School, and explain how you can join them.

11:00 - 11:30 Scientific Integrity

Dr Hieke Huistra will present an interactive lecture about scientific integrity. What is scientific integrity about? To be sure, it is about fraud, plagiarism and fabrication of data. But these are not the most interesting aspects.

In daily practice, the ‘grey areas’ are of more importance, and also more interesting, because there are no straightforward rules on how to deal with issues in these grey areas. Hieke Huistra will discuss several examples of such issues with you, as well as some strategies on how to handle them.

11:30 - 12:15 Intercultural Awareness

We finish the morning with Dr Rena Zendedel, who will lead a short interactive session on intercultural awareness.

After lunch, from 14:00, your programme coordinator(s) will spend the afternoon introducing you to your study programme during the first programme-specific session.

More information on locations per programme will follow

Locations per programme:

• Artificial Intelligence: still to be determined
• Applied Data science: still to be determined 
• Business Informatics: still to be determined
• Climate Physics: still to be determined
• Computing Science: still to be determined
• Experimental Physics: still to be determined
• Game and Media Technology: still to be determined
• History and Philosophy of Science: still to be determined
• Human Computer Interaction: still to be determined
• Mathematical Sciences: still to be determined
• Nanomaterials Science: still to be determined
• Theoretical Physics: still to be determined

09:00 – 09:45 Information sessions (profiles and honours)

On Thursday, you can join one of the information sessions about our profiles and honours programme. The information below provides some information about each session. You can also find more information about Profiles and honours on the student website and in the Welcome Booklet.

More information about the location will follow.

Note: please check on uu.nl/students > your programme > Academics > Profiles which profiles you can choose from for your programme.

After the break, you start with a follow-up session of your Master’s programme. For some programmes, you will be joined by one or two alumni. They will tell you about their study and career choices and answer any of your questions.

More information on the locations will follow.

Locations per programme:

• Artificial Intelligence: still to be determined
• Applied Data science: still to be determined 
• Business Informatics: still to be determined
• Climate Physics: still to be determined
• Computing Science: still to be determined
• Experimental Physics: still to be determined
• Game and Media Technology: still to be determined
• History and Philosophy of Science: still to be determined
• Human Computer Interaction: still to be determined
• Mathematical Sciences: still to be determined
• Nanomaterials Science: still to be determined
• Theoretical Physics: still to be determined

After the lunch break, you will follow two workshops/interactive lectures:

13:30–15:00 Workshops Round 1

15:00–15:30 Break

15:30–17:00 Workshops Round 2

More information about the workshops will follow later. You will receive a separate email with instructions on how to sign up for the workshops.

Information about and the locations of the workshops will follow asap

The general platform we use is Microsoft Teams. You have access to Microsoft Teams with your @students. uu.nl-account. Here you find instructions for installing and using Teams. An overview of all IT facilities for students, like (free) software for your studies, is given in the Welcome Booklet (see email).

Closer to the introduction, you will receive the link to the Microsoft Teams event where the plenary session will be hosted.

International students will also receive an invitation for the Warm Welcome week (30 August – 2 September 2022). You will be informed about these activities separately.