2BIO201 Master`s Degree Thesis in Biotechnology
- Number of credits60
- Teaching semester2025 Autumn, 2026 Spring
- Language of instructionEnglish
- CampusHamar
- Required prerequisite knowledge
Completed at least 45 ECTS of the coursework in the master programme.
The thesis is an independent scientific investigation into a topic within the broad concept of biotechnology and/or life sciences. The thesis will be in the form and structure of a scientific manuscript. It is written in English or a Scandinavian language.
Students are offered thesis within the four main categories of biotechnology:
- Biomedical: focused on the prevention, treatment, or cure of disease, development of new therapies, and creation of new medical devices
- Agricultural: focused on the optimization of farming techniques, including soil management and genetic engineering of new crops
- Environmental: focused on developing more sustainable products and alternative sources of energy
- Bioinformatics: Bioinformatics is a branch of science that uses computers to store, retrieve, analyze, visualize, and distribute information related to biological macromolecules like DNA, RNA, and proteins. It is an interdisciplinary field that includes biology, computer science, chemistry, and statistics.
Learning Outcome
Upon passing the course, students have achieved the following learning outcomes:
Students
- has advanced knowledge on the theories, methods and research as well as extensive knowledge on the most updated scientific literature within a specific topic in biotechnology chosen by the student.
Students
- can plan and design scientific activities, collect, analyse and visualize data for scientific research and use it to interpret and discuss own findings.
- can carry out an independent research or development project of considerable size.
- can present the results from own research to a scientific community.
Students
- can communicate own scientific research as well as other important research findings from peer-reviewed publications to researchers as well as to students, stakeholders and the general public.
- can apply his/her knowledge and skills in scientific projects.
- can analyse and discuss relevant research ethical problems.
The master thesis is an independent work performed by the student under the supervision of a professional in the field. The thesis work will be based on scientific methods including wet-lab and/or computational methods. A supervision agreement regulates the supervision responsibilities, scope, and duration. In collaboration with the programme coordinator, the head of department appoints relevant supervisor(s) for each master’s student with necessary technical assistance.
A compulsory 15-minute oral presentation of the research project performed as part of the thesis is given in the start of the fourth semester to peers and scientific staff.
An examination committee consisting of an internal and external examiner will evaluate the written thesis and decide on a grade. The grading system is based on the letters from A-F, where E is the minimum passing grade. This grade may be subject to a minor adjustment based on an oral presentation and subsequent closed defence performed after thesis submission.
| Vurderingsordning | Karakterskala | Gruppe/individuell | Varighet | Hjelpemidler | Andel | Kommentar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Written assignment | ECTS - A-F | Individual |