Research and Engineering Project II
Full course description
The two research projects within the MSc Molecular Imaging & Engineering (PRO4004 and PRO4005) offer you an opportunity to mature, integrate and apply your acquired knowledge, insight and skills. The projects allow you to develop practical experience in developing an experimental set up to study a research question (engineering), setting up and conducting a proper experiment to answer a research question (scientific research) in the molecular imaging domain.
You will work within a team and collaborate with internal and/or external [1] research groups in academia or industry. The real-life nature of the projects is the result of the involvement of Maastricht University research groups and companies, (non-)profit organisations and research institutes hosted at the Brightlands Campuses [2]. The interaction between you, teaching staff, research groups and company members, is beneficial to your learning and connections for future internships and employment, but also beneficial to the research groups and companies who can profit from your views and state-of-the-art input. Each project has a small deviation in focus. In the project at the end of the first semester (PRO4004), additional aspects such as intellectual property and valorisation will be part of the project. At the end of the second semester (PRO4005), the focus of the project will be in the domain of the chosen specialisation.
[1] “External” refers to Maastricht University research groups, research institutes, companies and (non-) profit organisations.
[2] Collaboration is not strictly bounded to parties affiliated with the Brightlands Campuses. We merely can guarantee that projects will be offered by the Brightlands Campuses due to our existing collaboration.
Course objectives
After completing this course, you are able to:
1. Plan and perform a group-led high-level scientific research project in the pertaining field. This includes:
• _Working together to analyze scientific problems/engineering challenges.
• _Making use of relevant specialist literature and formulating verifiable hypotheses.
• _Setting up and carrying out (as a group) research to test a scientific hypothesis.
2. Work and communicate effectively in a team by participating as an active member of a multidisciplinary research group. This includes:
• _Deciding on appropriate role and task division, which leads to effective team work.
• _Managing the group work within the provided time by setting deadlines/milestones, choosing if and how to meet, and choosing how to share/ store/ collaborate on the work.
• _Working autonomously on a research project with less formal supervision
3. Implement the scientific method and/or R&D professional practices by:
• _Writing hypotheses, collecting, and analyzing data, and troubleshooting where needed.
• _Solving a problem in a multi-disciplinary way, using all the groups’ knowledge, competences, and skills.
4. Critically reflect on and evaluate research work quality, group work, and scientific ethics and make improvements as necessary. This includes:
• _Performing constructive peer review on (part) products or contribution of group members
• _Performing constructive peer review on (part) products or contribution of group members
• _Integrating provided feedback (project 1 and 2) into the final product.
• _Identifying areas for improvement during the process of groupwork
5. Effectively communicate science both in writing through a written report describing the results, conclusions and the relevance of the conducted research, and orally in a final presentation. This includes:
• _Evaluating research results,
• _Communicating and defending these results verbally and in writing and discussing their societal relevance.
• _Writing and defending a comprehensive report (report results of the project).
• _Presenting the results for a wide public.
Recommended reading
Regardless the nature of your assignment, you can benefit from recap of the generic engineering cycle and/or the experimental research cycle. Below is a selection that covers theses cycles, but you are welcome to use other sources. Also included is a book that covers each section of academic writing with many useful tips, especially to write the results and discussion sections.
- Khandani, S. (2005), Engineering design process.
- Tanner (2002), Experimental research designs.
- Swales JM, Peak CB (2012), Academic Writing for Graduate Students, 3rd ed. University of Michigan Press