Research internship (NWI-IMC047, 15 EC)
This webpage explains the procedures for the research internship. For
more information about the research
internship, you should also check out the
course description
in the studiegids .
NB there is a new
administration process for this course (esp. for gathering
project plans, final reports, and grades) starting spring
2017. Students have to register in Osiris and project plans and
final reports are then collected centrally. We have not yet been
able to confirm that all this works perfectly...
Contents
FAQ
What is the difference with the Master
thesis?
Unlike for the Master thesis, the internship need not be an
independent and stand-alone research project. In fact, it
typically will not be.
During the internship the student gets some practical
experience in carrying out research, as part of a team and in
collaboration with others. Depending on the specialisation and
the specific topic this can take difference forms, e.g. doing a
case study, trying out tools & techniques, developing tools or
prototypes, or a combination of this.
These activities need NOT constitute a consistent whole which by
itself tackles one well-defined research question, and which is
then documented in a thesis.
What is the difference between the review documents produced
as part of the internship and a Master thesis?
The review documents should focus on the process of doing
research, not about the motivations for and the outcomes of
this research. See the template documents below for guidance.
Of course, the activities performed by the student may well
contribute to scientific articles, technical reports, research
data sets, or software prototypes and tools.
Who can supervise a research internship?
A scientific staff member (professor, associate, or assistant
professor) acts as supervisor, and takes the responsibility for
the quality of internship and the evaluation at the end.
The supervisor can delegate the daily supervision to another
member of the research group (for example a PhD student).
The supervisor and daily supervisor can be one and the same
person, but then a second (associate or assistant) professor
should be asked for their opinion to provide feedback on the
final review and establish the final grade.
Can I do my research internship externally, with a company, a
research institute or group outside ICIS or
abroad?
Yes, this is possible, but you do need to get an internal
supervisor who will take the responsibility for ensuring that
the receiving group is well-suited to hosting a research
internship. The internal supervisor is also the first point of
contact for the supervisors at the external organisation,
and get their input for the assessment.
To do an intership externally, and especially if you want to do
it abroad, it is important to start planning this early!
For the student
BEFORE THE START OF THE SEMESTER
Think about want to do
your research internship, start thinking about a topic and
talking with possible supervisors. The seminar course
provides a good opportunity to start thinking about this.
Contact the coordinator of your Master specialisation
Arjen de Vries for Data Science,
Ralf Hinze for Software Science,
Peter Schwabe for Cyber Security,
if you need help coming up with a topic or supervisor, but
don't hesitate to contact other members of the ICIS staff.
Your supervisor must be an (assistant or associate)
professor. Your daily supervisor may also be a post-doc or a
PhD student.
Enroll for the course in Osiris. You will receive an
automatic email with an enrollment form at your science
account. Contact your supervisor as soon as possible and fill
out the form, including an internship/thesis plan concerning
the subject, criteria and the time frame. You will be asked
to provide details such as the name and e-mail address of
your supervisor and the second supervisor, and to upload the
abovementioned description of your internship/thesis. You
have one month to complete this form.
BY THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK OF THE SEMESTER
Send a one page
registration document to the coordinator of the master
specialisation you are doing, i.e.
Tom Heskes for Data Science,
Ralf Hinze for Software Science,
Peter Schwabe for Cyber Security
This document should include:
name and student number
list of Master courses you have already taken
start and end date of the internship
if you already know it, the supervisor of your internship
the research group you want to do your internship in (the
default choice is of course the group associated with the
master specialisation)
a indication of which topic(s) and what kind(s)
of activities you are most interested in
BY THE END OF THE SECOND WEEK OF THE SEMESTER
Send a
project plan to the coordinator of the master specialisation,
after having discussed this with your supervisor.
The project plan should be a 2-page document, describing
who is acting as supervisor
a brief description of the context of the research you will
be doing, and some background info on this
(this will typically include a review of some key
publications)
a description of the research activities you will be
carrying out
You do not have to include a detailed planning for the
research activities. The plan may well list several options
for which planning and progress will only become clearer in
due course.
To get a desk in one of the student rooms,
contact Simone Meeuwsen. You can contact
her via S.Meeuwsen@cs.ru.nl or in her room M1.00.06.
HALFWAY DURING THE INTERNSHIP
(which can be half way during
the semester, or halfway during the quarter, depending on
whether you do your internship full time or not), write up a
midterm review.
The midterm review, in the order of 2 or 3 pages, should
concentrate on the reflection of the research done so
far and things you'd like to learn or try.
Topics to address, and a template that you can use for this:
Activities
Describe which activities you have carried our, incl.
how you have documented or recorded your work.
Results
Which (preliminary) results and contributions were achieved?
How did you document these so far?
Reflection & Evaluation
What went well/not so well? What was harder/easier than expected?
What bottlenecks/possibilities/new problems/new ideas came up in the
course of doing the research?
Plans
Describe plans for the rest of the internship, incl.
skills you want to work at or try out, topics you still want to
learn about, and plans for documenting the outcome.
AT THE END OF THE INTERNSHIP
Write up a final review, in the order of 4 pages, reflecting
on what you have done. Topics to address, and a template
that you can use for this:
Activities
Describe which activities you have carried our, incl.
how you have documented or recorded your work.
Results
What were the results and contributions?
How did you document these?
Only give a very brief description of the outcome of the
research. Where possible give pointers to places where
more can be found about this. E.g. if you have produced
or contributed to software, data sets, articles,
technical reports, or other forms of documentation, then
give pointers to these, but don't include all this in this
final report.
Reflection & Evaluation
What went well/not so well/(not) according to plan? What
was harder/easier than expected? (Either due to the
subject matter, or your skills and experience.) Are there
particular activities that you found hard or easy, or
that you are not (or not yet) good at? If you were to start
over on the internship, what would you do differently?
Look ahead to your Master thesis, and to your future
career:
If you do the internship in the autumn semester, the final
review should be done before the Christmas break. If you do
the internship in the spring semester, the final review
should be done before start of the exam period.
WRAPPING THINGS UP
obtain a testimonium from the FNWI Onderwijscentrum for
your supervisor to give you the final grade
give a presentation about your work
get your supervisor to fill in the grade on the
testimonium and give that back to the FNWI Onderwijscentrum
For the supervisor and daily supervisor
Both supervisor and daily supervisor should involve student
in ongoing activities in the group that are related to the
work, incl. the group seminar, coffee breaks. Ideally
interns function as members of the group, allowing for
optimal interaction.
If there are several interns in the group, having
Scrum sessions may be a good way to foster interaction.
The daily supervisor is the first point of contact for the
intern, but the supervisor should meet interns for a
progress meeting every couple of weeks.
The supervisor is responsible for the final assessment and
awarding a grade, where the daily supervisor provides input
on the functioning of the intern.
If the supervisor and daily supervisor are one and the same
person, the supervisor should involve a second person in
the assessment.
Evaluation form [PDF , DOC ]
For the coordinator of the master specialisation
The coordinator of the master specialisation should
help along the match-making of students and projects;
keep a record of students doing the internship with the
planned dates for their mid-term and final reviews;
send student reminders if the deadlines for their
mid-term or final reviews are slipping, with supervisors in
cc;
synchronise an afternoon for final presentations at the end
of the semester, in conjunction with the supervisors.