[staff-physics-and-astronomy-HL-UHD-UD] N&S BSc Y2 Research practicum

[Juan Rojo]

Dear all,

On behalf of Chase, we would like to ask PIs to provide Research 
Practicum projects for 2nd year N&S BSc students. See below for more 
details, Chase will provide more information during the staff lunch 
later today.

Last year, due to the move, VU groups could not offer sufficient RP 
projects, but let's aim to do better this year. To keep the balance with 
other institutes, our target should be that on average at least 30% of 
RP projects are hosted by VU groups (including Nikhef- and ARCNL-based 
groups).

Best,
Juan

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Prof. Dr. Juan Rojo
Professor of Theoretical Physics
Head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Science, VU Amsterdam
De Boelelaan 1081, 1081HV Amsterdam
----
Nikhef Theory Group, Science Park 105,
1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Webpage: http://www.juanrojo.com/
Zoom: https://vu-live.zoom.us/my/juanrojo
E-mail: j.rojo at vu.nl
         j.rojo at nikhef.nl
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*Research Practicum (RP)*
/Period 3 of Second year BSc Physics and Astronomy, January 2026/
//
The objective of the Research Practicum is to provide second-year 
students in the BSc program in Physics and Astronomy (UvA/VU) with the 
opportunity to undertake a research-related experimental project. This 
experience aims to familiarize students with research, the working 
environment, and the daily practices of research institutes in 
experimental physics and astronomy in the Amsterdam area.

*Participating institutes*
The institutes that participate, are WZI (Van der Waals-Zeeman 
Instituut), Nikhef, API/ASTRON, LaserLaB (VU), AMC (Laboratorium voor 
Medische Fysica), ARCNL, Amolf, and SRON (Leiden).
**
*Project description and registration*
The available projects are defined by the participating research groups. 
Descriptions (typically one paragraph) are collected and posted on 
Canvas by the coordinator of the research practicum. Students register 
for a project via an online form. If necessary, the coordinator of the 
research practicum will shift students between singly subscribed 
projects, to ensure all projects are done in pairs. The project 
coordinator will collect all the projects from the participating 
institutes via a platform - the link will be send at the end of October 
2025.
*Timeline 2026:*
*Week 1 *(Jan 5-09): full-time week for group A+B.
*Week 2 *(Jan 12-16): full-time week for group C+D.
*Week 3 *(Jan 19-23): report writing and preparing oral presentation; 
two-hour (mandatory) workgroup session on reporting (group A+B: Jan 20, 
group C+D: Jan 22); students upload a preliminary version of their 
report prior to the workgroup. By the end of the week: hand in 
intermediate version of report to supervisor (deadline: Jan 23).
*Week 4 *(Jan 26- Jan 30): oral presentation in symposium (January 27). 
Continue report writing. Receive feedback from supervisor on 
intermediate version of written report. Finalize written report, 
incorporating feedback (deadline to hand in: Jan 30);**NB: send your 
final report to the supervisor and upload it to the Canvas site of RP).
**
*Grading*
/Parts and weighting:/
Work in full-time week:                       45%
Workgroup session on reporting:          5%
Report:                                                30%
Presentation in symposium:   20%

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