Behavioural Science (Research Master)
Are you intrigued by the complexity of human behaviour? Are you inspired to learn more about emotions, motivations, and the cognitive aspect that regulates human behaviour and decision-making? This Research Master's programme might be just for you!
Something for you?
- You will be connected to the renowned Behavioural Science Institute during this research Master's programme.
- You will participate in group-based education and be part of a small, select group of highly motivated national and international students.
- You can do the internship for your major research project abroad.
- You have a good chance of gaining a PhD or other research position.
Our goal is to train you to become an excellent behavioural scientist through courses in statistics, methods, skills, theoretical thinking, and research experience. You also have the flexibility to compose your own track by choosing theme courses, selective method courses, elective courses, and the subject matter of your projects. We encourage you to create your own path in the field of behavioural science!
We believe that a multidisciplinary approach is needed to get the best understanding of human behaviour. We combine knowledge and research methods from the fields of psychology, educational sciences and communication science. These disciplines are not taught separately but instead are brought together in most of our courses, making our approach unique. Half the programme consists of learning research skills. There are many issues you can choose to study and a large research staff you can work with.
The programme provides an excellent basis for a scientific research career. About 70% of our graduates have gone on to PhD positions. Each year there are, on average, about 12 PhD positions available at the graduate schools Donders Graduate School for Cognitive Neuroscience (DGCN) and the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS). There are many other options open to our graduates. We prepare our students to become behavioural scientists with excellent analytical research skills, advanced statistical knowledge and in-depth understanding of human behaviour. This profile makes our graduates highly valuable within various settings, including academia, industrial and commercial settings (e.g. Unilever, CapGemini,), non-profit organisations (e.g. SCP and Cito), and clinical settings (e.g. Kentalis and Praktikon). Another possibility is to combine research with clinical practice in psychology or educational science and become a scientist practitioner. Students who are interested in this latter option usually do a clinical or applied master in addition to our programme.
Possible occupations
- Scientific researcher
- Societal reseacher
- Policy maker
- Scientific practitioner
- Journalist
