The first core course focuses on disciplinary backgrounds and shared themes and debates in the arts, while at the same time you will learn to formulate a decent research proposal for your project. 

The second core course focuses on collections and archives in a historical and theoretical perspective, and on the arts as a field of knowledge (production), while you also practice specific research skills and report on the findings in a professional way. 

The third core module challenges what you already know (about your research) by discussing contemporary concepts and practices to enable you to sharpen your propositions and arguments, and to position your research within the contemporary academic and artistic research field.

There is a specific course for Artistic Research students: in addition to the above, they will participate in a course about the discipline of Artistic Research, which provides them with scholarly and artistic perspectives helping them gain the insights to position themselves as artistic researchers.

Students choose from the complete range of master courses offered in the Faculty of Humanities, according to their research interest. They may even choose courses from other faculties, if necessary. This choice is always discussed with the tutor/coordinator. There may be extra requirements for Research Master's students to complete these courses.

Students take three tutorials, one with a Research School of their choice and of which they become a member, and two specific and individual tutorials with an expert within or outside of the university, chosen by the student. This may be a literature tutorial (to deepen or broaden certain knowledge), a research practice tutorial (to learn specific skills), or to do individually supervised archival or institutional research specific for their research project.

In the case of the Artistic Research students, a mandatory tutorial takes places in the second block of the first semester, where an artist teaching at the Sandberg Institute will supervise the progress of the students’ art practice, which ends with an exhibition to which a curator is invited to provide feedback.

Internships are possible, if they are focused on research and help with (the development of) the research project. The internship must be supervised by someone from the university staff and someone from the institution.

The final part of the programme is the Master’s thesis. By writing a thesis, you prove that you have developed into an original and professional researcher and that you know how to position yourself within a cross-disciplinary and international field. The thesis is supervised by a staff member or an expert on your subject from the university.

You will also take part in the thesis seminar in which professional standards of research and academic reporting are discussed, as well as practical issues concerning the writing itself. The seminar is mainly peer review.

When it comes to Artistic Research, in addition to the above, the student will show the final artwork at an exhibition for which a professional curator is invited in order to ensure the high standards of the end presentation of the Master.