General provisions

The course is offered as part of the Master's programmes in the Faculty of Medicine to students admitted to the Master's Programme in Innovative Medicine (IMIM).

Entry requirements

Undergraduate education of 180 credits within biochemistry/chemistry, biology, biomedicine/medicine, biotechnology, cell-/molecular biology, genetics, life sciences, medical sciences or a similar field of study, including courses in biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, and molecular biology/-genetics totalling at least 30 credits. Prerequisites in the form of completed 45 credits from the courses included in the first year studies of the Master's Programme in Innovative Medicine.

Documented knowledge of English with results from an internationally accepted test is required. The minimum test scores are:

IELTS (Academic) with an overall score of 6.5 and no less than 6.0 on each section, or

Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)/ Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) with an overall score of 180, or

TOEFL IBT (internet-based test) with an overall score of 92, with no less than 21 on each section.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

On completing the course, the student shall be able to:

• describe the development and summarise the current scientific questions in a biomedical research field,
• identify coherence between the formulation of a scientific question and the choice or development of a method, and
• explain the fundamental principles of different forms of scientific communication.

Competence and skills

On completing the course, the student shall be able to:

• critically review results from the performed project,
• advance the project through active participation in group discussions, and
• use scientific and popular scientific forms of communication for mediating biomedical research results in a correct and understandable way.

Judgement and approach

On completing the course, the student shall be able to:

• propose alternative experimental approaches as well as reflect upon the future developments of a biological sciences research field,
• demonstrate a scientific approach when deliberating over relevant ethical aspects, and
• assess and argue for choice of different presentation techniques in a group.

Content

The course aims to provide a broad insight into different biomedical research areas via theoretical knowledge and practical experiences of a research project as wells as different forms of scientific and popular scientific communication.

A part of the Bench to Bedside and Beyond (BBB) learning line curriculum of interdisciplinary project work is carried out in groups of IMIM-students from all partner universities. 

Instruction

Teaching is given in the form of:

• lectures describing current research and novel techniques during the introductory week,
• hands-on guidance by the appointed research project supervisor,
• constructive feedback from an independent researcher, equivalent to a referee-evaluation of a review article, and
• regular meetings where ongoing research projects, achievements and problematics are discussed between peer-students under a mentorship of the course leader.

All instruction is performed in English.

Assessment

To pass the course, it is necessary to pass all compulsory elements:

• oral and written tasks and presentations assessed by the teacher, and
• practical project where performance is evaluated according to set criteria by the practical supervisor.

​The final course grade is based on the examiner's weighted evaluation of the course elements. Students who fail at individual parts of the course may complete compulsory tasks at the next course occasion.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.