Rotations

The orientation week is followed by a 6-month training period, comprising of seven-week research projects in three different laboratories. This training period provides the students with a comprehensive practical background of experimental techniques and approaches.

It also helps them to familarize with the different labs of the Graduate School and to select a lab for their thesis research. At the same time, the research group leaders have the opportunity to assess the individual students. The decision of the final thesis research lab is made jointly, on the basis of both the students' and the supervisors' priorities.

In outline, we operate this scheme as follows: all accepted students hand in a list of five labs in which they would particularly like to work. Based on these lists, students are assigned to their labs of choice, if possible. At the end of the rotation period, both students and supervisors hand in lists of first, second and third choices of labs and students, respectively. These lists are then used for final thesis lab assignments.

After each rotation period students give a 7-minutes-talk and prepare a written report summarizing their project. The presentation is followed by a max. 5-minutes-discussion.