Roles and expectations of different parties

The student has the final responsibility for the master’s thesis. The student is responsible for the conception, planning, execution and follow-up of the research internship and for the writing of the master’s thesis. The student takes the initiative to regularly consult with the promoter(s) and/or supervisors and present progress.

 If the student experiences problems with the promoter(s) and/or supervisor(s), they can contact one of the ombuds persons.

Each master’s thesis is supervised by a promoter, who is an academic with a doctoral degree, affiliated with the Department of Bioscience Engineering (University of Antwerp), the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (Ghent University) or the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (KU Leuven). If a postdoctoral researcher is the promotor, a ZAP-member needs to be appointed as co-promotor.

A co-promoter can also be appointed: an academic with the degree of doctor and – in case of multi- or interdisciplinary master’s theses – preferably connected to another research discipline.

In addition, any member of the AAP or BAP can act as an additional supervisor of the master’s thesis.

These promoter(s) and/or supervisor(s) have substantive affinity with the topic of the master’s thesis. They shall monitor the feasibility of the objectives and stimulate the research process. They give regular feedback, both substantive and methodological, to promote the quality of the work. The promoter is responsible for an informal mid-term evaluation, using the evaluation forms that will also be used in the final assessment. It is also the responsibility of the promoter to appoint two assessors for the master’s thesis.

The project coordinator of the Master SUBE is a member of the Department of Bioscience Engineering of the University of Antwerp and is part of the Educational Committee (OC), which is responsible for the approval and allocation of the thesis topics. The project coordinator is also the contact person with regard to the execution of the research internship. The project coordinator is in charge of the administrative and organisational coordination of the research internship and liaises with the promoter(s) and assessors by providing them the course information and the evaluation criteria in a timely manner.

The project coordinator of the Master SUBE is Géraldine Godts (Geraldine.godts@uantwerpen.be).

Each master’s thesis needs two assessors to contribute to the final assessment. These two assessors are chosen based on their expertise in the field of the master’s thesis and have the degree of doctor (or a minimum of four years of research experience). The assessors are experts from the academic world or the professional field with knowledge of the subject, but were not directly involved in the master’s thesis. It is the responsibility of the promoter to appoint these assessors.