Research Workshop

Owner	Master Earth Sciences
Coordinator	dr. W.M. de Boer
Part of	Master Earth Sciences,

Course manual 2021/2022

Course content

When you have finished your Master’s program of Earth Sciences, it is expected you will be fully equipped to function as a future researcher or an environmental manager in a professional organization. The course Research Workshop offers some necessary guidance and support to get you there. It aims at offering you an open, safe, and challenging learning space in which you can further develop your professional attitude and skills.

The course is mandatory in all three tracks of the Earth Sciences MSc at UvA: Geo-ecological Dynamics (GD), Future Planet Ecosystem Science (FPES) and Environmental Management (EM).

The Research Workshop is a platform where you present your research proposal and – in the end – discuss your research results with teachers and fellow students. Also you may present what you have learned during your internship that forms part of the Environmental Management track.

This course guide explains what you have to do to successfully complete the course Research Workshop and to get the most out of it for yourself, as well as for the Earth Science student community at UvA.

Objectives

• Presenting an earth science research proposal and/or environmental project and following report in an understandable, structured and transparent way relevant to a particular audience using adequate, attractive and convincing presentation materials
• Feedback - apply generally accepted rules of providing and receiving feedback from peer students, teachers, and other professionals when participating in scientific discussions or in expert panels, and in response to written work
• Discuss research topics
• Extra curricular activities
• Relate a particular topic or issue to the context of current research in the earth and environmental sciences

Teaching methods

• Presentation/symposium

As for the Research Workshop, you are provided with a platform of monthly arranged meetings to present your work and ideas, take notice of work by others, and to discuss, question and provide feedback to each other’s work. From last year on it is possible to publish the results of you master thesis and/or your internship in a ESRI Storymap. In this way a nice and user-friendly website is available for creating and sharing useful knowledge for fellow master ES students.

The Research Workshops not only provide you with the opportunity to train yourself but also to show your qualities and build-up a small portfolio which may be very relevant in your next career steps. At the end of the course you can for instance prove that you are able to effectively present complex information in an accessible way (using powerpoints, slide reports or films) and provide constructive critical feedback.

All students (of all tracks) will have to attend at least 12 Research Workshops in the course of the master phase (2 or more years).

Learning activities

Attendance

Requirements of the programme concerning attendance (OER-B):

1. Attendance during practical components exercises is mandatory.

Additional requirements for this course:

This programme does not have requirements concerning attendance (TER part B). Additional requirements for this course: The standard rules of attendance do not apply, as you are free to choose whenever you want to take part in a Research Workshop.

Participation in a Research Workshop 

• If you want to present something in the Research Workshops, please fill in a row in the table on Google Docs via the link that will be made available by the course coordinator via Canvas to reserve a time slot for your presentation. The course coordinator will finalize the presentation scheme a few days to a week before the date of each Research Workshop and close the reservations on Google Docs for that meeting.
• After you have given a presentation, upload your presentation in Canvas. Include the Powerpoint or film of your presentation in your personal portfolio.
• Feedback on a presentation needs to be completed and sent in an e-mail to the presenter within two days after the presentation, with a cc to the coordinator (w.m.deboer@uva.nl). Add the feedback form in your portfolio.
• Feedback to written texts needs to be sent to the author with cc to coordinator (w.m.deboer@uva.nl). Add the feedback form in your portfolio.

Table 1. Required activities for completion of the course Research Workshop

Required activities	Minimum amount
	all tracks
Presence at / Participation in Research Workshops, where you also Give written feedback on oral presentations Give written feedback on written research proposal, research or internship report, literature review or thesis, and Give a presentation of your MSc research proposal Give a presentation of your final MSc thesis and/or your internship (EM track) report[1]	12  4  1    1  1

[1] Be aware that if you present your MSc research proposal or report, or your literature review, you have to make sure that your supervisor can also attend that Research Workshop. For this supervisor will have to perform the role of assessor for the courses Master Thesis and/or Literature Review. 

Make sure that you register your attendance by means of signing the attendance sheet on paper that is distributed during each Research Workshop (in live meetings) or signing with your name in the chat of the Zoom meeting, at the start as well as at the end of the Zoom-session in which the Research Workshop is held. Your camera must be on in the Zoom-session. If these requirements are not met, there will be no attendance registred in Datanose for you for this RWS. This holds also for signing in  more than 5 minutes late or leaving more than 5 minutes earlier than the end. Exceptions can be granted by the course coordinator, after consulting him in time (that is: before the RWS meeting).

Presence for the Research Workshop implies being present during the entire meeting, if it takes less than 2 hours. Longer meetings (mostly > 3 hours) can be split into two blocks (in time after each other on the same afternoon) by the course coordinator, for which case an announcement on Canvas will be made. Students can then choose which presentation block they wish to follow. In that case, attendance of one block in sufficient.

Obviously, the coordinator is responsible for organizing and accurately administering the course. However, it is your responsibility to make sure that the coordinator can do his job properly: your activities and output are not registered „automatically‟: you are responsible for your plans, your planning and your output and you have to take action yourself. Part of this responsibility is that you have to keep track of your own records in a portfolio. On Canvas you can find a downloadable Excel sheet for this. Again, we want to emphasize here that you will be responsible for the fulfilment of the requirements to complete this course. Nobody will remind or warn you if you postpone your presentations for the Research Workshops or do not submit your feedback on presentions held by other students.

Please be aware that there are no exceptions if you do not fulfil all demands prior to your graduation date.

Assessment

Item and weight	Details
Final grade

On Canvas you can find a downloadable Excel sheet for keeping track of your portfolio building. This document also shows you how the different parts of the course are graded.

To complete the course Research Workshop, you’ll have to be able to show that you have fulfilled all requirements and that you have received a ‘Pass’ for each of them.

The activities mentioned in Table 1 are minimum requirements when fulfilled lead to a grade of 6.0. To obtain a higher grade, you would need to do something extra. Table 2 provides an overview of the potential ways to get additional points on top of the basic grade to pass for this module which is a six out of ten.

We work with a credit system: for each Research Workshop you attend you’ll receive 1 credit point. In order to pass this course you are required to collect 12 credits by attending 12 Research Workshop sessions in the course of two (or more) years.

On top of this basic, minimal attendance of Research Workshops, you can earn extra credit points. These extra credit points will add to a bonus on your final grade. For instance, if you follow an external scientific symposium of one day, you can earn one extra credit points. And for every two hours of attending a scientific lecture you will receive 0.5 credit point.

You can also deserve extra bonus points by attending, presenting at or assisting in organisation of a seminar, symposium or congress. In addition, making an ESRI Storymap of you master thesis or internship or organising alumni presentations will entitle you to earn 0.5 bonus points. Besides these activities you may come up with your own ideas – if you have any do not hesitate to contact the course coordinator.

The RWS credit/bonus reward system is mainly designed to reward extracurricular academic activities that either relate to earth science activities outside the ES Master Programme or its promotion and outreach. Studying Dutch for instance can therefore not be regarded as such, if it were for example a course in Dutch earth science terminology then it could be considered.

There will be a shift in the credit/bonus system from September 1, 2020 on. As it was very easy to earn many credits and bonuspoints, the system is adjusted to get more realistic end grades. If you started your master studies before September 1, 2020, the 'old' rules (left hand column in table 2) apply. If you started your master studies after September 1, 2020, the new rules apply (right hand column in table 2). Note: the way to earn the basic 6 points for your end grade will stay the same. So the demands to pass the lower limit of the course will stay the same after September 1, 2020. Just het credit/bonus system to earn extra points to your end grade changes.

Table 2: Overview of the potential ways to acquire additional points 

Additional activities	students started before September 1, 2020 Additional points in grade or credits (if mentioned)	students started after September 1, 2020 Additional points in grade or credits (if mentioned)
Attend at least 4 additional Research Workshops during your Master’s phase	+0.5	+0.25
For every 4 extra credits collected (in a period of two years)	+0.5 (max of +1.0)	+0.5 (max of +1.0)
(Co-)Write a scientific article for a journal, present a poster or oral presentation on an  scientific symposium	+ 0.5 or higher (max +1.5)	+ 0.25 or higher (max +1.0)
Give additional written feedback on at least 2 written research proposals, literature reviews or theses	+1.0	+0.5
Give written feedback on at least 10 oral presentations during your Master’s phase	+1.0	+0.5
Organize a seminar around a self-chosen topic	1, 2 or 3 credits	1, 2 or 3 credits
Attending a symposium	half a day 1 credit, whole day 2 credits 2 days 3 credits 3 days 3 credits	half a day 0.5 credit, whole day 1 credit 2 days 2 credits 3 days 3 credits
Participate in at least 4 additional Skills Labs during your Master’s phase	+1.0	+1.0
(Co-)Write a scientific article for a journal, present a poster or give an oral presentation on a scientific symposium	+0.5 - 1.5	+0.25  - +1.0
(co-)organising a symposium or seminar or (open-air) lecture or excursion around a self-chosen topic	1, 2 or 3 credits	1, 2 or 3 credits
Moderating an academic Wiki/ website/ blog	+0.5 or higher  (max 1.5)	+0.5 or higher  (max 1.5)
Make a Story Map in ArcGIS Online of your Master Thesis or Internship	+0.5	+0.5
Any other ideas? Let us know!	to be determined by coordinator	to be determined by coordinator

Whenever you decide it is time to finish the course, you will be graded according to the quantity and quality of your work, which will be verified based on the content of your portfolio.

If you have any additional ideas of interesting additional activities that are not listed, please contact the coordinator to consult with him whether this could earn you additional credits or points.

Inspection of assessed work

In the Research Workshops, the presentations will be given feedback using the feedback forms for Research Proposal, Research Report or Internship (see folder Presentation Feedback Forms on Canvas). The assessment and grading of the presentations is NOT part of the RWS course, but part of another course.

Contact the course coordinator to make an appointment for inspection of your portfolio at the end of your master period. He will ask you to upload your portfolio files and Excel sheet of your portfolio to Canvas and will grade your portfolio. There will be communication, about the content and quality of the uploaded portfolio files and the final grade, between the student and the course coordinator before he uploads the final grade to Canvas and Datanose. After uploading to Datanose, the grade will be tranfered to SIS automatically within a few working days.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Additional information

Enrolment for the Research Workshop course will be done each year automatically for all MSc Earth Sciences students.

Note for second year and older master students:

the old course Research Workshop & Skills Lab (5264RWSL6Y) will change as of September 2021

Up until the academic year 2020-2021 the combined course Research Workshop & Skills Lab (5264RWSL6Y) of 6 EC existed. All students were enrolled in this course, that run over the 2 years of their programme.

As of the academic year 2021-2022, the course will no longer exist. It will be replaced by two separate  parts:

1. Research Workshop (5264REWO3Y) – this course contains exactly the ‘Research Workshop’ part of the old course. Students have to attend 12 research workshops in order to pass the course. The same additional rules apply for attendance and grades as for the ‘Research Workshop’ part of the former RW&SL course. These rules are published on the Canvas page of the course.
2. Two courses from the list of (6) Professional Skills courses (1,5 EC). These courses are offered by the Science Faculty to all master students. MSc ES students have to choose 2 of these courses.

All students starting in 2021-2022 will follow the combination of courses as described above.

Transitional Arrangement for students that started in 2020-2021 or earlier

Students that have started their programme in 2020-2021 or earlier have followed part of the course Research Workshop & Skills Lab (5264RWSL6Y). For these students, the following transitional arrangements apply:

1. If the student has attended a minimum of 10 research workshops and 4 skills labs, the student can receive a grade for the original course Research Workshop & Skills Lab (5264RWSL6Y). The additional rules as described on the canvas page of the course apply.
2. If the student has followed at least 12 research workshops and has attended 2 or 3 skills labs, the student has to follow one Professional Skills course (of 1,5 EC). The student can then receive a grade for the original course Research Workshop & Skills Lab (5264RWSL6Y). The additional rules of the course apply. The EC credits for the Professional Skills course are not counted separately, but will be part of the 6 EC received for the course.
3. If the student has followed at least 12 research workshops and has attended 1 skills lab, the student has to follow two Professional Skills courses (of 1,5 EC each). The student can then receive a grade for the original course Research Workshop & Skills Lab (5264RWSL6Y). The additional rules of the course apply. The EC credits for the Professional Skills courses are not counted separately, but will be part of the 6 EC received for the course.

Course enrolment

• Enrolment for Professional Skills courses has to be done by the students themselves in the regular course registration periods, prior to the semester the course runs in.
• Enrolment for the Research Workshop course will be done automatically for all MSc Earth Sciences students.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. W.M. de Boer