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.
Important: The research project or industry internship needs to be completed in a different group or company department - and supervised by a different professor - than the master’s thesis!
Students completing a research project at D-BSSE are required to inform the
at least 2 weeks before the scheduled start of the research project with the following information:
- The name of the BSSE group you will be working in (for the group server access)
- The start and end date of your project
Students are expected to contact the research group they are interested in directly.
The research project is an ungraded semester performance. A failed performance can only be repeated once.
Supervisor
The supervisor is a professor at D-BSSE.
Duration
The allotted duration of the research project is 12 weeks full-time. Students may voluntarily extend their stay in the research group. However, for reasons of fairness and comparability, the lab rotation 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 official report period must be written on the first page of the report.
Students wishing to take classes parallel to the research project or complete the project part-time, have to agree on a corresponding extension of the research project duration with their supervisor.
Registration
Students need to fully register the research project prior to the start.
The research project needs to be registered in myStudies.
External Research Project
Students who wish to carry out the research project outside ETH Zürich, the University of Zurich, or the University of Basel, need to additionally register the research project with the respective registration form, and need to find a supervising professor from within D-BSSE to act as supervisor and assessor of the research project.
All forms can be found under Documents & Templates.
Written Report
A written report of approx. 10 pages is a mandatory part of the research project and must be submitted to the supervisor after completion of the project.
Details on the report are to be discussed and agreed upon with the supervising professor. There are no department specific rules or criteria with regard to 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.
Students are responsible to look for an industry internship on their own. The mentor may advise and support students with regard to their internship choice.
The industry internship is an ungraded semester performance. A failed performance can only be repeated once.
Details on the industry internship procedure, duration and requirements are set out in the D-BSSE Industry Internship Regulations.
Internship Company
The industry internship is completed in an industrial company (medical, bioinformatics, biotechnological and or pharmaceutical industry, including hospitals) inside or outside Switzerland. The Director of Studies may allow exceptions to this rule upon request.
Supervisor
The supervisor is a professor at D-BSSE.
Duration
The industry internship duration is 12 weeks full-time.
Students may voluntarily extend the allotted duration of the internship. However, for reasons of fairness and comparability, the internship work and report, and consequently the assessment must refer to the official allotted duration, i.e. the first 12 weeks. The exact dates of the official report period mustbe written on the first page of the report.
An industry internship completed prior to the start of the master’s degree programme may be recognised upon approval of the Director of Studies. Details are specified in the D-BSSE Industry Internship Regulations.
Registration
Students need to fully register the industry internship prior to the start.
The industry internship needs to be registered in myStudies.
Additionally, the respective registration form including a one-page project description needs to be submitted to the D-BSSE Student Administration before the start of the internship.
All forms can be found under Documents & Templates.
Written Report
A written report of approx. 10 pages is mandatory for the industry internship and must be submitted to the supervising professor after completion of the internship.
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.
NDA / Agreement
A confidentiality agreement may be requested by the external institution. Any agreement is subject to negotiations between the student, the host institution and the supervising professor. Students must clarify NDA/agreement questions in advance and be aware that ETH professors may refuse to sign any agreement other than the standard ETH templates:
- Non-Disclosure Agreement: Download (login required)
- Project Agreement Template: protected pageDownloadlock (login required)