Part C: Broadening Life Sciences

Broadening Life Sciences is a part of the compulsory Life Sciences Academy (LSA) module: BMB509718, GSLS-ACAD since September 2018. Did you start earlier? Please scroll down. 

If you started your studies before September 2021 following the Career Events is not compulsory, however highly adviced! 

Life Sciences Academy Part C: Broadening Life Sciences - Seminars and Career Events 

1. Life Sciences Seminars 

The GSLS organises a total of 10 monthly LS seminars per academic year: 

5 seminars related to specific Master's programmes     5 seminars on      more broad  topics 

- The Master's programme-related seminars are given by prestigious, international scientists who present their cutting-edge research on topics that span across a wide range of life sciences fields. Attending these seminars gives students an overview of the various research posibilities and enables them to place their own research in the general context of this broad field.

- The broad-topic seminars focus on interdisciplinary subjects and soft skills that are valuable for professional development.

Students are required to attend:

7 seminars or more during their studies
At least 5 must be organized by the GSLS (all the seminars mentioned on this webpage)2 seminars can be followed   elsewhere*

*Approval for seminars outside the GSLS needs to be granted by the programme coordinator in advance. 

Student attendance during each LS seminar is registered. It is advised to take notes during the seminars.

All Life Sciences Seminars start at 16:00 h, unless stated otherwise.

2. Life Sciences Career Events

The GSLS organises monthly career events. During your Masters you have to follow two of these career events and add them to the track list of your Life Sciences Seminars. Also, a live career event - symposium with poster presentations - is organised on the 11th of May, 2022. You can find more information about this event on this page.

During the Life Sciences Career Event ONLINE webinars, (young) alumni who work in different jobs at different organizations, will tell you more about their work. Get to know how it is like to work at a pharmaceutical company, at a non-profit organization or within academia. This webinar will start off with a short introduction, after which two alumni will give a presentation about their careers and the choices they made. You have the possibility to ask all your questions beforehand or during the webinar by chat.

The Life Sciences Career Event ONLINE webinars will take place on Thursdays from 16.00 to 17.00. Find more information about the dates of the events on this page.

Programme in short

16:00     Start and introduction
16:05     Alumnus 1
16:20     Q&A
16:30     Alumnus 2
16:45     Q&A
16:55     Closure

In order to pass part C (Broadening Life Sciences) of the Life Sciences Academy, students need to submit:
- An overview (track-list) of 7 attended seminars (of which at least 5 are LS seminars offered by the GSLS) and 2 attended career events. 
- A self-reflection document (max 3 A4 pages) about the knowledge they obtained during the seminar series and career events overall. This self-reflection will be evaluated by the programme coordinator (or track coordinator for Neuroscience and Cognition students) with a pass/fail. The self-reflection assignment can be found on Blackboard. 


Did you start your studies before September 2021?

The career events are not compulsory for you. For completion of Part C you only need to follow the Life Sciences Seminars and hand in the reflection report based on that. However, we do highly recommend you to explore the career events and including them in your reflection report as well! 

Did you start your studies before September 2018?

Students, who started their Master’s before September 2018, are enrolled in the individual courses Introducing Life Sciences (BMB509713) and Life Sciences seminars (BMB509214 or GSLS-SEMIN). Together with Introducing Life Sciences, the Life Sciences seminars are 1.5 credits in total. Please have a look at the blackboard page of BMB509214 or GSLS-SEMIN Life Sciences Seminar Series. 

Students must attend 10 seminars or more during the course of their studies. Of these, at least 8 need to be selected from the LS seminars organized by the Graduate School of Life Sciences (all seminars mentioned on this webpage); two seminars can be followed elsewhere, subject to the approval of the programme coordinator (approval needs to be granted in advance).

To pass the course**, students hand in 10 individual summaries (of which at least 8 are of LS seminars). These should be in the style of a brief report (maximum 1 A4 page per seminar that was attended).

**Master's programmes Regenerative Medicine and Technology, Medical Imaging, and Science and Business management are an exception. Please look in the Education and Examination Regulations for more details. 

For questions, you can contact us by emailing lsa@umcutrecht.nl

                                                                                                                                                                             SCHEDULE OF GSLS-ORGANISED LS SEMINARS