Extra opportunities

For students looking for an extra challenge in addition to their Master's, there are several options. 

Honouring your curiosity

Utrecht University offers several honours programmes for students looking for an extra avenue to explore their curiosity and foster their personal development. Honours education is followed on top of your regular Master’s programme. Both faculty-specific and university-wide honours programmes are offered.

Faculty Honours programmes

Faculty-specific honours programmes offer more depth to your learned subject matter. Here, you’ll have more time to focus on personal and professional development opportunities within your field. Your degree offers the following faculty-specific honours programmes:

University-wide honours programmes

In these interdisciplinary programmes, you can let your diverse interests run wild as you work on varying social and academic issues together with students from other disciplines. By analysing issues from different perspectives, you’ll learn how to navigate complex societal issues through a broader lens.

In an increasingly interconnected world, learning how to work with people from different fields is a vital skill. After completing these honours programmes you will receive an honours certificate during a festive ceremony. The following programmes are offered: 

For more information on honours education at the UU, go to the Honours College webpage, the honours Instagram, or email us at honourscollege@uu.nl.

Conferences and workshops

HPS students are stimulated to participate in academic life: attending and even organizing conferences and workshops. Activities can be supported by the Descartes Centre. In recent years, HPS students have organized study trips to conferences in Prague and Oxford, for example, and they have organized conferences featuring prominent scholars such as Bas van Fraassen, Erik Verlinde, Carlo Rovelli and Harry Collins.

Journal for Trail and Error

A group of HPS students has initiated the Journal for Trial and Error, to close the gap between what is researched and what is published in science.

Study abroad or internship

It is highly recommended to do an internship or a study abroad of 15 EC, followed by a thesis of 37.5 EC (in consultation with your thesis advisor), instead of a large thesis of 52,5 EC.

Recently, HPS students have studied at the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin, London School of Economics, Università degli studi di Bologna, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, University of Kyoto and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Recent internships include Boerhaave Museum popular science media; the Rathenau Institute for Science, Technology and Innovation; the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM); and UNESCO.

Double degree programmes in 3 years (180 EC)

Are you interested in more than just one of our Master’s programmes? Do you want to look across the boundary of your programme and combine it with another? Are you an excellent student and looking for an extra challenge? In this programme you effectively take two Master’s programmes within the Graduate School of Natural Sciences at the same time.

About the double degree programme