Keep up to date with the ambassador of 2016 Laura Dijkhuizen by
Example submissions
2016 Application Laura Dijkhuizen Ambassador 2015-2016
2015 Application Hannah Löwenhardt Ambassador 2014-2015
2014 Application Anouk Boersen Ambassador 2013-2014
Entry requirements
To be eligible to follow the course you have to have at least 120 ECTS and the major of the biology bachelor must have been completed (this includes all courses of the first year and the course biostatistics), ECTS obtained from the profiling space are not included.
Study path
The ambassadorship is done in combination with the bachelors thesis and fits in all the study paths. It is the closing part of the bachelor.
Study goals
Thesis part: This part of the course is thesis course as can be seen in Osiris with ‘afstudeeropdracht’.
Research part: You will gain insight in the complete research process. From organizing funds to setting up and performing your research and how to efficiently use your budget.
Ambassador part: It is important that society understands the importance of the research. You will put Biology in Utrecht on the map by seeking publicity (e.g. newspaper, television, museum etc.)
Skills
In the course the following skills will be explicitly addressed
– (digitally) Tracking and archiving of literature; selecting and processing of literature, including displaying references in a correct way.
– Scientific writing; efficiently and effectively writing a scientific text in Dutch or English.
– Executing a scientific cycle
– Since you will create your own research project, funding and publicity, you will learn to actively, and independently plan, act and maintain contacts.
– Work in an independent, disciplined and planned way using your lab journal to document the research.
– To give a comprehensive clear oral summery of the research (possibly in English)
– To create publicity for the subject with the general public.
Content
In the thesis part of the ambassadorship you will study a specific subject from the biology in depth. You will search for all the literature with relevant information which you will process in a correct way into a thesis and which will contribute to your research plan. The end result of the thesis will not only be a descriptive summery of the available facts and ideas, but will also contain your own critical impression of the literature.
The resulting product will be a thesis consisting of approximately 20-25 pages. In consultation with your supervisor your own research results can be included in the thesis.
Next to the literature study you will participate, guided by a researcher, in a existing research. You will collect data and process existing data based on a research question.
In the research part of the course you will perform a research cycle with a research group based on the research question and hypothesis used in the thesis.
Lastly you will generate publicity for the subject by explaining it in the media for example.
Work forms
The different skills of academic writing will be explained and practiced during practical colleges (taught by teachers). This will be done in groups together with other students following the thesis course. In addition during your research you will have a personal supervisor specialized in the subject you are researching (a researcher, phd or post-doc of a research group within a organization).
Assessment
The thesis part of the course will be assessed as indicated on Osiris with ‘ afstudeeropdracht’ and will consist of:
- the structure/form of the thesis
- the content of the thesis
- the process/work attitude
The final grade is calculated by: (a+b)/2 : c = 8 : 2
All these components need to be sufficient to conclude the thesis part of the course. The research part of the course will be finalized with a presentation about your research to the research group. In addition you will be graded by your supervisor assessing your (active) working attitude and independence during the research. The ambassadorship will be assessed during a presentation given to the selection committee in which you will explain how you did the promotion of your research and how your ideas worked out in the end. All grades need to be sufficient and will be averaged according to the ratio 2:2:1 to generate the final grade for the course.
Course material
Book written by Warna Oosterbaan “Een leesbare scriptie” (Prometheus/ NRC Handelsblad), 7th revised edition, 2008 (ISBN-13: 9789044610475) (optional as this book is in dutch),
