Communication Skills (6 CP)
Module description - pdf (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible)
Essay (2 CP)
The essay may be written on an academic topic as part of a seminar, a lecture or a laboratory practical, and will be marked by the course tutor and discussed with the student.
Simply ask a lecturer whether they would be willing to supervise an essay.
The essay should be no longer than 10 pages.
Design and presentation of a poster (2 CP)
Under supervision, you must prepare a research poster and present it at a seminar or a scientific conference.
The poster can be produced as part of a seminar or a course. Simply ask the seminar leader or your laboratory course supervisor.
Project outline for the Master's thesis (2 CP)
Before you begin your Master’s thesis, you should draw up an outline of your thesis project. The outline should be around two pages long and should cover, for example, the background, the objectives, possible methods and the implementation of the project. The outline will be corrected by your supervisor and discussed with you.
Job Skills (6 CP)
Module description - pdf (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible)
Excursions and/or professional qualification events and/or work placement (total 6 CP)
In this module you can choose from various module components.
Excursions: botany, zoology or industry excursion (see SPUR)
Language courses (e.g. German or English language course)
Career qualification events (e.g. IT courses, job application courses, career days for biologists, trade fair visits); 1 CP can be earned for attending career days and trade fair visits, whereby a maximum of two career days and/or trade fair visits can be attended.
Professional internship (in companies with a field of activity for biologists); 2 CP per week full-time; 1 CP per week non-full-time; max. 6 CP
Alumni Talks / RIGeL Lecture Series / Company Talks: These lectures are organised by the graduate school RIGeL for students; for programme see RIGeL homepage (external link, opens in a new window) (external link, opens in a new window). For attending eight lectures you can earn 1 CP as a professional qualification course. Download the form: pdf! (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible)
For online presentations delivered via Zoom, the names of participants who remain logged in for the entire duration of the presentation will be recorded. You must therefore log in to Zoom using your full name.
Enter the presentation details into the form and submit the completed form (eight presentations) by email (elisabeth.brunner@ur.de).
For a selection of possible professional qualification courses see!
If you need help finding a career-qualifying course, please contact the study counselling office.
Research Skills (6 CP)
Module description - pdf (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible)
The only course in this module is the ‘Research Skills’ course (6 CP), which is compulsory for all Master’s students in Biology; 3 weeks in a block (annually in March); link SPUR (external link, opens in a new window) / GRIPS (external link, opens in a new window)
Note: Please try to take the course in your first year of study! The course content will be helpful for your studies.
For information and enrolment, please refer to the course catalogue (SPUR) for the winter semester.
Course content:
- Introduction to the philosophy and history of science, the scientific method
- Finding a good research question
- Literature research and organisation
- Experimental design and reproducibility
- Data analysis in R
- Visualisation
- Introduction to LaTeX
- Scientific writing
- Logic and clarity
- Scientific presentations
- Good scientific practice
Module catalogue
complete Module catalogue for first-year students from the 2018 summer semester onwards – PDF (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible)
complete Module catalogue for first-year students from the winter semester 26/27 – PDF (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible)