More students getting the chance to be an interdisciplinary researcher

The research-orientated honours programme for Master’s degree students at Health is a well-functioning incubator for aspiring researchers, and the faculty management team has now said go for two more rounds after an evaluation showing that both the students and lecturers were satisfied with the honours programme.

As vice-dean of talent development at Health, Lise Wogensen Bach is the person behind the development of the research-orientated honours programme, which intends to strengthen interdisciplinary research collaboration in particular. She views the programme as being very important for the participants and for the established research environments at Health.

“The students get a realistic view of how it is to begin research, and the academic environments get young talents who know what they’re getting into. It’s a win-win for both,” says Lise Wogensen Bach.

Three students continuing with PhDs

The initial twelve students completed their programmes in April following two years with interdisciplinary workshops, ongoing supervision and peer feedback on their research projects. Following the end of the programme, three students are now enrolled on a Master's PhD scholarship and two of these are interdisciplinary projects. There is still not enough data to conclude whether the programme’s interdisciplinary characteristics also lead to more interdisciplinary PhD projects. However, Lise Wogensen Bach does not doubt that the interdisciplinary element strengthens the networks that the students have and helps their path into the research environments.

"As a researcher, you don’t work alone. You need to receive – and also give – inspiration to make progress. It’s tremendously important for finding new ideas that you’ve got people to discuss them with. This is also true of sparring with researchers who work on the 'borders' of your own research field and have a different academic background than you do," says Lise Wogensen Bach.

Planning of the third and fourth round of admissions to the research-orientated honours programme begins now and deadlines for admission applications will be announced in due course on the study portal (in Danish) and the Graduate School of Health’s website. 

Contact

Vice-dean for Talent Development Lise Wogensen Bach
Email: lwb@au.dk
Mobile: (+45) 2548 8522