The Research Master’s programme is firmly embedded in the psychology research programme at the University of Amsterdam, with specialised courses in an elective major – minor structure. These specialised courses are taught in informal, highly interactive small groups settings.

Students will attend six specialised courses in at least two areas of psychology (i.e., three courses in their major, two in their minor, and one elective), to be selected out of the following six specialisations:

• Clinical Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Methodology and Statistics
• Brain and Cognition
• Social Psychology
• Work and Organizational Psychology

Each of these fields organizes a total of at least three advanced courses (6 EC each) over two years dealing with recent developments in theory and research in the field of the specialisation.

Over a two-year period, students complete advanced courses on research methods and statistics dealing with current developments and practices in psychological research. All students should attend the course Good Research Practices (6 EC) and Statistics 1 (3 EC). Furthermore, students attend a total of 12 EC in advanced methods and statistics. Students may choose these courses depending on their interests and relevance for their research project and specialisations.

The programme includes two research projects: The research internship and the Master’s thesis, each supervised by a senior staff member. In the first master’s year, students conduct a research internship in close collaboration with a supervisor. The internship is composed of a research proposal and a final report. In the second master’s year, students conduct their thesis relatively independently. The master’s thesis report is written in the form of a publishable journal article. At least one of the projects has to be an empirical study.

The research internship can be conducted either in the field of the chosen major or minor. The thesis has to be conducted in the field of the chosen major.

Students may carry out one of the two research projects abroad. Staff members of the Psychology Research Institute have extensive international networks and the study adviser and the department’s international office can give information and advice on how to organize this.

The researchers and the topics of the six programmes can be found below at the Psychology Research Institute. An overview of the high-quality technical research facilities (3T MRI scanner, EEG, eye tracking and TMS) can be found on the behavioural science labs website.

Psychology Research Institute

Behavioural Science Lab