Career prospects

Utrecht University’s Master's in Neuroscience and Cognition is an international research Master's that trains multidisciplinary neuroscientists who are equipped to face the challenges of modern neuroscience research.

Academic and Professional Knowledge and Skills

The international Master's in Neuroscience and Cognition at Utrecht University will give you insight in the fundamental principles of the field. You will be trained to practice neuroscience research in a multidisciplinary team.
The neurosciences comprise a vast, multidisciplinary field of research that works to understand normal and pathological brain function. This interdisciplinary character makes the neuroscience and cognition field intriguing and challenging, offering you scope to investigate numerous areas of brain functioning. You will develop the ability to synthesise information from different disciplines in order to plan experiments; to collect, interpret, and analyse data; and to better understand how the brain functions.

For all this, you need to know how to combine information from mutiple disciplines. A basic function, such as sight, can demonstrate the complexity of neuroscience. Many elements of the brain and other processes are involved when you see something familiar, including cognition (the ability to recognise something), plasticity of neurons (the ability to remember), signal transduction (“translating” what you see), and behaviour (acting because of what you see).

Career outlook

A Master’s degree in Neuroscience and Cognition offers you many career prospects. Graduates continue on to universities and research institutes, teaching hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry. They may hold policy and management positions in the science, industry, and healthcare sectors.

In general, graduates will find employment in/at:

• Teaching hospitals (disease-oriented research)
• Research institutes (fundamental research in the various areas of the neurosciences)
• Pharmaceutical industry (research and development)
• Science, industry, and healthcare sectors (policy and management positions, applied science and design)
• Clinical settings (neuropsychologist, clinical physicist)

Possible prospects

Over the past years, 95% of all students in the Master's programme Neuroscience and Cognition were already employed before graduating. Of these, 25% were approached for a PhD project by one of the research institutes in Utrecht.

Graduates have many career opportunities, such as:

• Researcher (as a PhD student) in one of the academic hospitals (disease-oriented research)
• Researcher (as a PhD student) in a research institute, either national or international (fundamental research in the various areas of the neurosciences)
• The pharmaceutical industry provides ample opportunities (research and development)
• Policy and management functions in science, industry, and healthcare
• Clinical settings (neuropsychologist, clinical physicist)