30 ECTS credits
900 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4013958ENR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester
1st and 2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
In order to enroll the 'Masterthesis Bioengineering sciences', students must be enrolled in the final year of their study programme, and must effectively be able to graduate in that year. 
Taught in
Dutch
Faculty
Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences
Department
Bio-Engineering Sciences
Educational team
Dominique Maes
Stefan Magez
Jo Van Ginderachter
Wim Versées
Eveline Peeters
Steven Ballet
Frederic Leroy
Luc De Vuyst
Geert Angenon
Promotor . (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
750 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

The Master’s thesis is an independent research work with original scientific content, created and publicly defended by the students. Firstly, the Master’s thesis demonstrates that the students can competently identify the state-of-the-art in a specific domain of Bioengineering Sciences and can collect, interpret and report on the relevant scientific literature. Additionally, specific hypotheses, objectives and/or questions that will be tested or answered through an appropriate experimental approach are defined within the Master’s thesis. Finally, original conclusions are formulated. These requirements must be presented both in a written text and verbally to a jury and audience.

By successfully defending an original Master’s thesis, the students demonstrate their expertise on a certain topic in the Bio-engineering Sciences. Via their work, they contribute to advances in science. As described above, the written Master’s thesis is the final report of individually performed research.

Requirements for the written Master’s thesis:

  • provide a clear research question with an explanation of the importance thereof;
  • provide the broad societal context of the research question;
  • reflect extensive knowledge and understanding of the scientific literature relevant for the research, including facts, experimental methods and theories;
  • concisely explain the questions, hypotheses and objectives specific to the research, as well as situating the research in its broader context;
  • present the experimental methods in detail so they can be reproduced;
  • present qualitative and quantitative results obtained with these experimental methods clearly and coherently;
  • interpret the results in relation to the postulated hypothesis and state-of-the-art literature;
  • analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the results and situate them in the context of current scientific knowledge;
  • present the most important findings in a clear and short conclusion;
  • suggest potential perspectives for future research based on the results obtained.

The recommended organization of the Master’s thesis is as follows:

  • Front page with title. The title concisely describes the essence of the research carried out in an informative way.
  • Foreword.
  • Table of contents.
  • Introduction (maximum 2 pages). The introduction briefly outlines the motivation of the study, situates it in the current knowledge and states its global goals. The introduction thus covers the background or historic perspective as well as the intended purpose of the research topic. The introduction also provides the broad societal context of the research question.
  • Literature study (about 1/3 of the complete Master’s thesis). The literature study describes the state-of-the-art of the research field. Only those topics directly related to the study should be discussed, and a mix of primary journal and review articles are cited, rather than secondary sources such as handbooks and manuals, to refer the reader directly to the original work.
  • Purpose and Framework. The purpose of the work accurately describes the objectives of the study. The framework describes how the research fits within the whole of the research activities of the project in question.
  • Material and Methods. This section uses well-structured paragraphs/parts to describe how the experiment/observation was performed and which material (biological, method, technique, device, software, etc.) was used. The description should be complete and accurate, so enabling others to reproduce and verify the experiments.
  • Results and Discussion (about 2/3 of the complete Master’s thesis). This section summarizes the findings of the experiments or observations, and interprets the results obtained, providing possible explanations, hypotheses and theories in function of the current state-of-the-art of the research field.
  • General conclusion (maximum 2-3 pages). The conclusion presents the most important findings of the study and highlights its innovative aspects. Additionally, this section expands on the future perspectives of the work and formulates possibilities for further research.
  • Summary (1 page). This includes (1) a short introduction (background and purpose), (2) a short description of the methodology, (3) the results, and (4) the conclusion.
  • Dutch summary (1 page). A Dutch summary must be provided for Master’s theses written in English.
  • References. The reference list contains the external sources that were consulted by the students and cited in their work, presented in a consistent referencing style.
  • Possible appendices (analysis results, sequences, software programs, etc.): depending on the topic, the appendices can vary in size.

The Master’s thesis consists of an experimental study conducted at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (or at another research institute, university or company in Belgium or abroad), supervised by a (part-time) academic staff member of the Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (promotor). If experiments are conducted outside the home university, the student will have both a promotor from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and a promotor from the other institution or company, who will be responsible for the progress of the thesis. Regardless of where the experimental part was conducted, the defense of the Master’s thesis always takes place at the Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Redaction and defense of the Master’s thesis can be performed in Dutch or English.

Additional info

The Master’s thesis must be submitted at the latest:

- on the first Monday of the examination period (first examination period in January, second examination period in June, second session in August) to defend in that period electronically at the Faculty Secretariat (official deposit) and in a paper version (hard copy) at the Secretariat of the chairman of the examination committee (coordination and archiving).

Further, students must deliver one hard copy to each of the two readers and each of the two permanent jury members. An electronic version of the Master’s thesis must be subjected to a plagiarism control by the students using the ‘Turnitin' software, which is available to the students; the resulting report must be added to the Master’s thesis at the time of deposit to let it interpret by the indicated academic staff members.
If any part of the Master’s thesis is plagiarized, measures will be taken in accordance to the general examination regulations of the University and the complementary examination regulations of the Faculty of Science and Bioengineering Sciences.

The defense of the Master’s thesis is held on the Monday preceding the proclamation.

Learning Outcomes

General competences

Upon completion of this course, the students will have acquired the following competences:

  • execute literature studies and understand and interpret a substantial part of the research literature relevant to the topic;
  • efficiently communicate about a scientific topic, both orally and in writing;
  • constructively collaborate with others;
  • integrate ideas from diverse fields through analysis of hypotheses, methods, techniques etc. of different sources and innovative use of this information;
  • think independently and critically and defend their own opinions orally and in writing;
  • react autonomously and independently to new developments;
  • think and work with a problem-solving attitude: selecting, adapting, developing and applying methods; retrieve new information independently, and critically interpret this information and identify usable data; work accurately; critically evaluate results, process them and translate them into new research questions;
  • work independently and in a project-based way: formulate objectives, create an action plan, taking constraints into account, make decisions and take responsibility for them, work in a result-oriented way.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Master Thesis determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Master Thesis category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • examen with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The Master’s thesis is defended orally during a public session. The students orally present their work, followed by a questioning and answering period. The jury is selected by the Study Programme Committee or department council and consists of two permanent members, the chairman and a secretary who evaluate all oral presentations and defenses, and two readers with particular expertise in the topic of the Master’s thesis, that will read the thesis in its entirety and start the discussion during the public defense.

The oral defense of the Master’s thesis mainly aims to assess the students’ scientific communication skills. It gives them the chance to demonstrate to an audience that their research hypotheses are original and relevant, that the experimental method was set up and executed properly, that the results are of high quality and that the interpretations are logical. Furthermore, the oral defense allows to evaluate how the students’ work contributed to the research and to give an indication of how their work furthered scientific progress.

The Master’s thesis is assessed as follows:

(1) Research work carried out

- Commitment and motivation

- Technical skills, planning and organization

- Scientific skills (critical and creative thinking)

- Ability to cooperate with others, communication, independence

(2) Content and layout of the manuscript

2.1 Scientific aspects

- Literature study

- Results (scope and quality)

- Framework, description of the problem and objectives, discussion, profoundness, decision-making

2.2 Layout of the manuscript

- Use of academic language, spelling…

- Structure of the text, cohesion, logical structure

- Layout, quality of the tables, figures, reference list

(3) Oral presentation and defense

- Presentation (structure, readability, balance between figures / contents, relevance of information presented, use of language, attitude …)

- Mastering the topic, responding to the questions

 

Determination of the final grade

Before the start of the oral defense, the promotor and readers complete a grade form (see Appendix). The promotor assesses the scientific work carried out and the contents and layout of the manuscript. The readers only evaluate the contents and layout of the manuscript. The permanent jury members evaluate the layout of the manuscript too

After the oral defense, all jury members use the grading form to evaluate the presentation and the defense. The final grade is calculated according to a weighted average: 30% for the permanent jury members, 30% for the readers and 40% for the promotor.

The used grade scaling is the following: Failure (0-9), Poor (10-11), Satisfactory (12-13), Good (14-15), Very good (16-17), Excellent (18-20).

The end score is determined based on the grade form after discussion between the jury members.

Feedback on the final grade

After the final defense, the chairman of the jury provides the students with a feedback form, which indicates a grade (Unsatisfactory, Satisfactory, Moderate, Good, Very good, Excellent) for each of the different aspects.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Bioengineering Sciences: Chemistry and Bioprocess Technology: Food Biotechnology (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Bioengineering Sciences: Chemistry and Bioprocess Technology: Chemical Biotechnology (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Bioengineering Sciences: Chemistry and Bioprocess Technology: Biochemical Biotechnology (only offered in Dutch)