Master in Human Movement Sciences (Research)
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Key Information
Campus location
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
2 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 2,314 / per year *
Application deadline
01 Apr 2024
Earliest start date
Sep 2024
* EU students: €2.314 per year | non-EU students: €15.910 per year
Introduction
How do toddlers learn to walk? How can augmented reality help patients with Parkinson’s Disease? How do top athletes get maximum performance out of their muscles? What’s the best training to improve stability and prevent falls among elderly people?
This two-year multidisciplinary Research Master's programme integrates fundamental scientific research with relevant questions from clinical and sports practice. You’ll cover topics ranging from molecular biology to systems neuroscience, and from biomechanics to motor behaviour.
Admissions
Curriculum
First year
Your first year is dedicated to preparing you to conduct scientific research, and is made up of a variety of compulsory and elective courses. These electives allow you to tailor the programme to your own areas of interest. You’ll follow courses focused on:
- Health-related topics, such as topics in rehabilitation, treating locomotor disease and training, aging and disuse. You’ll learn about the restoration of motor function during rehabilitation, as well as the effects of aging on mobility.
- Physical performance, such as maximal neuromuscular performance and exercise and clinical immunology. This includes modelling human endurance performance and biomechanical analyses of technical sports, plus the way in which muscle activation and properties determine maximal neuromuscular output.
- Neuroscience, such as coordination dynamics, perceptual motor learning, and the coupling between perception and action. You’ll gain insights into the clinical problems associated with neurological diseases, and into new possibilities for treatment.
- Biomechanics, such as applied biomechanics, neuromechanics, advanced 3D kinematics, mechanical and adaptive myology, and neuromuscular simulation models.
- Research methodologies, such as molecular cell biology, scientific communication, statistics, tissue engineering, electromyography and time series analysis.
Second year
The second year is entirely dedicated to a research project of your choice. Since extensive experience in high-quality research is indispensable for a career in research, you’ll be aiming for a first-class project that eventually results in a scientific publication. This may be at the VU Amsterdam or in collaboration with another institute anywhere in the world.
Career Opportunities
About 70% of students acquires a position in an academic context within six months after they finished the Research Master's programme Human Movement Sciences.
After completion of the programme, graduates are qualified to work as well-versed researchers with an independent work attitude, capable of successfully completing a PhD trajectory if aiming for a career in academia, or contributing to R&D in industry or other non-academic institutions. They can tackle timely research questions in the multidisciplinary realm of human movement sciences as well as in fundamental and applied clinical disciplines.
The majority of graduates enters a career in (inter-)national academic research institutions or R&D units in industry, health care or sports.
What can you do after your Master's degree?
Start your career
To date, about 70% of our alumni have taken up research positions. You’ll also be well equipped to start working in other research-related roles, or to pursue a career as an embedded scientist or knowledge broker in the fields of sports or health.
If you decide not to embark on a scientific career after graduating, that’s no problem – you’ll still benefit from excellent career prospects. For instance, alumni have found work in ICT, movement-related technology, teaching in higher education, research-related coordination and management.