Courses & curriculum
Curriculum Revision for the Research Master Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience (2027-2028)
The curriculum of the Research Master Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience will be revised in academic year 2027-2028. Main changes include a substantial increase in the number of choice elements in the curriculum and a more in-depth integration of data science / AI approaches, next to further alignment with recent developments in research, professional practice, and society.
When will the changes take effect?
Starting the 2027-2028 academic year. Students who start a master’s programme before the revised curriculum is implemented will be able to complete the current programme. Those starting in 2026–2027 or earlier will have a transition period, during which courses that will no longer exist in the revised curriculum will be offered again. After one transition year, individual, tailor-made solutions will be provided where necessary, which may include completing a limited number of ECTS within the revised curriculum or providing extra exam opportunities.
How will the programme be structured?
Each academic year is divided in 6 periods. In year 1 we will start with 4 periods with specialization specific theoretical and skills courses combined with general skills (such as statistics, data science and professional and academic skills). In period 5 and 6 we will then continue with advanced courses from which students can choose, and performance of a short individual research project.
In year 2 students follow 2 more advanced courses of their choice, combined with guided preparation of their Research Proposal and corresponding Master Thesis Research Project that will be performed for the remainder of year 2. Within the specialisations Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology, there is the option to perform a shorter Research Project combined with a clinical internship (in case students fulfil the entrance requirements for the clinical internship).
Assessment will consist of a combination of graded components and pass/fail components, combined with ECTS allocation and a Grade Point Average. For smaller components, such as professional skills, a portfolio may be used as a supplementary assessment method.
The curriculum of the research master Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience is divided in two parts.
The first part focuses on a set of modules offering theoretical and practical research training, and covers the first year as well as the first eight weeks of the second year (for detailed module descriptions please scroll down). In each specialisation, you will participate in domain-specific intensive core courses covering important theories, models, and analytic approaches. Depending on the specialisation you choose, the courses will cover genetic, environmental, affective, cognitive and neurobiological processes underlying the human mind and behaviour, in health or disease. In addition, you will take advanced statistics courses and practical workshops that will allow you to develop your proficiency in general skills like data analysis, scientific writing, and data acquisition with methods and techniques specific for your chosen field.
The second part of the curriculum, occupying most of the second year, focuses on an internship in which data are collected that form the basis for your research master thesis. In the specialisations Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, you have the option to do an additional clinical internship, which also entails a smaller research project and minor thesis. Once enrolled in the Research Master, you will receive timely and detailed information on how to choose a thesis topic, how to approach potential supervisors, and how to choose a good host for the local or (inter)national internship. The curriculum as a whole corresponds to 120 European credit points.
You will be able to tailor some aspects of the curriculum to your specific interests, for example by choosing an elective outside the required curriculum of your specialisation. There are three types of electives: attending regular modules of another specialisation, writing a review paper, or assisting in an ongoing research project. In addition, to foster a better understanding and appreciation of the rich interdisciplinary connections linking cognitive and clinical neuroscience, the curriculum also includes a colloquium series, with interactive lectures by UM faculty as well as visiting national and international speakers. The research grant writing component of the curriculum entails a workshop at the end of year one and a core module at the beginning of year two, during which small groups of students from different specialisations work together to formulate an interdisciplinary research proposal. This primes you to think concretely about all aspects of doing research, which is an excellent preparation for the internship and thesis that follow.
On this page you'll find a curriculum overview of the research master Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience specialisation Neuropsychology for the academic year 2026-2027.
Previous years
Below you'll find PDF's of the curriculum of previous academic years. If you cannot find the file you need, please contact askpsy@maastrichtuniversity.nl.