Research Project/Industry Internship

The research project is a flexible 12-week project to familiarise students with scientific working methods and provide in-depth insights into current research topics.

The research project/internship must be completed in a different group and supervised by a different professor than the master’s thesis!

Note:

students must register their stay in the research group at least 2 weeks prior to the start to obtain server and group access
students are required to sign the ETH IP Agreement and submit it with the research group registration
registration via myStudies must be done by the project start date

The research project is conducted in one of the research groups at BSSE - the supervisor is a professor at BSSE.

Students contact the research group they are interested in directly to agree on a project and the start date. Usually, the contact person for research projects is a senior assistant or post-doc in the group.

Registration

The research project is registered via myStudies in section projects/papers/theses
Additionally, the stay in the research group must be registered via the Research Group Registration Form at least 2 weeks prior to the start.

Duration

The research project duration is 12 weeks full-time.
Students may voluntarily extend their stay in the research group. However, for reasons of fairness and comparability, the research project work and report, and consequently the assessment must only refer to the official allotted duration, i.e. the first 12 weeks. The exact dates of the reporting period must be written on the first page of the report.
Taking individual classes parallel to the research project is possible upon agreement on a corresponding extension of the research project duration with the supervising professor.

Report & Assessment

A written report (approx. 10 pages) mandatory and is submitted to the supervising professor.
Details on the report are to be discussed and agreed upon with the supervising professor. There are no department specific rules or criteria regarding the written report. It is suggested to ask the supervising professor for a good sample report beforehand and afterwards for feedback to improve own writing skills for future reports/theses.
A signed Declaration of Originality is a component of every research project/master's thesis, semester paper, or other qualifying paper written during the course of studies (including the electronic versions) and must be submitted with the report.
The research project is an ungraded semester performance. A failed performance can only be repeated once.

External Research Project

Students who wish to carry out the research project outside BSSE must find a BSSE professor to act as supervisor and assessor.

After organising with the external host institution and the D-BSSE supervisor, students can register the external research project as follows:

register the project in myStudies in section projects/papers/theses.
submit a one-page project description bearing the signature of the external supervisor to the

After completion of the registration, in case of a project abroad, students may apply for a SEMP scholarship

The organisation of an external project lies within the student's responsibility and the project must be fully registered prior to the start date.

Students wishing to pursue an external project or an internship, note the rules detailed on the intranet: Student Project Rules & Regulations (login required)

Students wishing to pursue an industry internship organise it independently. They are responsible for the timely organization and registration.

Students may complete an industry internship in a medical, bioinformatics, biotechnological or pharmaceutical company.

Students who wish to complete an industry internship must find a BSSE professor to act as supervisor and assessor.

Note

The organisation of an industry internship lies within the student's responsibility.
Completing an industry internship requires a work permit, to be obtained by the host company.
External institutions may request confidentiality agreements. Students are responsible for clarifying NDA/project agreement questions in advance and be aware that ETH professors may refuse to sign any agreement other than the standard ETH templates.
Further information is detailed on the BSSE intranet.

Registration

After organising with the host company and the D-BSSE supervisor, students can register the industry internship on myStudies in section projects/papers/theses. A one-page project description is mandatory and must bear the signature and stamp of the company supervisor.

The organisation of an industry internship lies within the student's responsibility and the project must be fully registered prior to the start date.

Duration

The industry internship duration is 12 weeks full-time.
Students may voluntarily extend their stay at the company. However, for reasons of fairness and comparability, the internship work and report, and consequently the assessment must only refer to the official allotted duration, i.e. the first 12 weeks. The exact dates of the reporting period must be written on the first page of the report.

Report & Assessment

A written report (approx. 10 pages) is mandatory and must be submitted to the supervising BSSE professor.
The report must include information on the company (e.g. industry, size, products, organisation, competitors), departments visited, activities performed as well as acquired skills and competencies. The report must provide sufficient information on the research performed and the results obtained that the supervising professor can assess the internship.
The report must be signed by a responsible person of the host company.
A signed Declaration of Originality is a component of every research project/master's thesis, semester paper, or other qualifying paper written during the course of studies (including the electronic versions) and must be submitted with the report.
The industry internship is an ungraded semester performance. A failed performance can only be repeated once.