Lisa Maeder

Mental and physical health have a reciprocal relationship and thus influence each other.

Often, the related disciplines do not sufficiently collaborate to acknowledge this reciprocal relationship. I wanted to acknowledge this relationship and that many different aspects, such as social, psychological, and medical aspects, play a significant role in physical and mental conditions. Because of this, I applied for the Research Master in Clinical and Psychosocial Epidemiology as it acknowledges these relationships and highly emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach among disciplines within research.

Within this programme, top researchers and experts within their fields are teaching the courses. As the cohorts are small, the courses are very interactive. As the Research Master students of the Clinical and Psychosocial Epidemiology Research Masters come from different academic backgrounds related to Health Sciences, discussions always include many different perspectives, which widens the perspective.

Another unique aspect of the Research Master is that the students pick their Master Theses topics and supervisors - not vice versa. Within interviews, the students interview the potential supervisor to check whether they are a good match.

Within the Master Thesis projects, which make a big part of the whole programme, students can learn in-depth about medical and mental conditions, data collection, storage and processing, and advanced statistics. Within my Master Thesis project, in which I compared the prevalence of Functional Disorders across ages, I learned an advanced statistical method I had always been interested in learning.

The Research Master ideally prepared me for my future career in research as it provided me with the necessary knowledge and taught me the relevant research skills. I found a PhD position within the department I wrote my Master Thesis, and I am excited to continue my research journey in Groningen!