FROM:
Directing Committee for the UAM Master in Neuroscience
SUBJECT: Master in Neuroscience Thesis Calendar and Requirements TO:
Master's Thesis in Neuroscience Students and Directors
DATE:
May 2018
MASTER'S THESIS IN NEUROSCIENCE (MNT) PROPOSALS AND CONTENTS 1. Master Course Directors can offer one or more subjects for the Master's Thesis in Neuroscience (MNT) during the month of March each year. 2. All professors with a doctorate who participate in one of the Master courses of that year or in one of the two previous years are eligible to be Master Course Directors. If the number of subjects offered is greater than the number of students who are eligible to do the MNT, a director may direct a maximum of 2 MNTs. 3. With the authorization of the Master in Neuroscience Directing Committee(1), a doctor from another teaching or research institution that is not part of the teaching staff of the Master in Neuroscience (Universities, CSIC, Hospitals, etc.)(2) may be a MNT CoDirector, jointly with a Master professor, or a single Director as long as a Master Course Director is a Tutor for the MNT candidate. (1)
The committee requires the following documentation: 1) a letter from the Director declaring: his/her intention to direct the MNT, that he/she is aware of the Master's requirements, and that the student will have access to the different materials necessary to perform the MNT in the Director's laboratory. 2) Title and summary (1-2 pages) of the MNT to be done under the Director's supervision. (2)
In those cases in which doing an external MNT (outside the UAM) is proposed, it is the student's responsibility to be sure that the thesis complies with all UAM requirements, particularly those relating to the existence of agreement/s with the participating Institution. If no agreement with the external institution exists, the MNT cannot be done in that institution. Please contact the UAM School of Medicine Postgraduate Studies Secretary at
[email protected] for any inquiry regarding existing agreements. If an agreement must be established with the institution in which the candidate wishes to do an external MNT, we recommend presenting the request four months before the master is supposed to begin to the Postgraduate Studies Secretary (
[email protected]).
4. MNT candidates will inform the Master Directing Committee of the title and Director for their MNT during the month of May at the following e-mail:
[email protected]. 5. Candidates’ definitive acceptance into any of the proposed MNT’s will be given by the Directing Committee taking into account the agreement between the candidate and the Director of that MNT. 6. The content of the MNT can take multiple formats and may or may not include experimental work. Whatever the case, an ample conceptual basis describing the proposed thesis subject of 6,000 to 10,000 words will be required. We suggest that the total length of the manuscript text be between 10,000 and 14,000 words (not including Bibliography). There is no limit on the number of bibliographical references, but the candidate should be aware that during the oral presentation of the MNT he/she may be required to display some familiarity with the references. 7. The MNT manuscript must be approved by the Director of the Thesis and should be presented in written Spanish. Only those candidates whose maternal language is not Spanish or who have done the MNT with a non-Spanish-speaking Director may present the thesis in English. In any case, and with the exception of special cases which must be approved by the MN Direction Committee beforehand, Spanishspeaking candidates must give the oral presentation in Spanish. 8. In the case of the use of animal or human subjects, experimental work must be evaluated by the Subcommittee of Ethics of the Faculty of Medicine (
[email protected]), or by the Research Committee of Ethics (CEI) of the teaching unit where the work is to be done. In the latter case, form 1B, filled in and signed, must be sent to the Faculty, with a copy of the approval: http://www.uam.es/otros/ceiuam/Formularios2015/Anexo1bdefinitivo32015formulsrio.pdf
MNT associated to projects in other institutions, are only required to send a copy of the CEI approval of the corresponding project.
MNT FORMAT Independently of their general structure, all MNT must begin with three pages detailing the following: -
1st Page: Title Page (example in Annex 1).
-
2nd Page: A Declaration by the Director/s of the MNT authorizing its presentation to prior evaluation, or, if this is the definitive manuscript, its presentation for public defense (example in Annex 2). In those cases in which animals or human beings are employed this page must also mention approval by the corresponding ethical committees for the use of these subjects.
-
3rd Page: An Index for the Thesis.
MNT CALENDAR AND PRESENTATION PROCEDURE 1. For the oral public presentation and defense of the MNT there are two calls, in March and in September. 2. If the MNT is to be presented in March, candidates must send to the Master Directing Committee (
[email protected]) a very nearly finished (final) version of their Thesis in digital format BEFORE JANUARY 24. If the MNT is to be presented in September, this manuscript should be presented BEFORE JUNE 15. The document will be revised by one or two evaluators who may form part of the Evaluating Committee. 3. Within approximately 2-3 weeks of receiving the MNT the evaluator/s will give preliminary reports on each thesis; the main purpose of these preliminary reports is to make recommendations to improve the paper and/or correct errors, if any. If they judge it desirable, the evaluator/s may personally interview the candidate, their MNT Director or both. The Academic Committee may also incorporate additional remarks to the report. Once any necessary corrections have been made, and within a time period that will be communicated in a timely manner(3), the definitive version of the MNT will be sent in PDF format along with 3 hard copies to the Secretary of the UAM School of Medicine Department of Anatomy, Histology and Neuroscience. (3) In
the first fortnight of March or in the middle of September.
4. Approximately within the second fortnight of March or September, as the case may be, the public defense of the MNT will be held before a Tribunal of three judges named by the Master Directing Committee. The candidate shall present his/her work to the tribunal for an approximate time of 12 minutes and answer all questions they pose (8 minutes approximately). The specific date of this presentation and speaking order therein will be specified according to the program, which will have already been distributed. EVALUATION OF THE MNT 1. Within 48 hours of the presentation being over, the tribunal will emit and publish their evaluation on a score of 0 to 10. This final evaluation will be fundamentally based on the following: a. An evaluation of the written thesis that shall include but not be limited to the expert evaluation of the initial manuscript and the degree to which the candidate has followed any recommendations made thereto in their final presentation in written form (approximately up to a maximum of 7 points). b. An evaluation of the oral presentation of the work and its defense in the face of the questions posed by the members of the Tribunal (Approximately up to a maximum of 3 points). NOTES:
Candidates should remember that to enroll in the Master in Neuroscience Thesis they must have attended at least 60 ECTS, obligatorily including 35 compulsory "Module
I" ECTS. For the submission of the nearly finished version of the Thesis, and for the oral public presentation and defense of the Master's Thesis it is mandatory to have approved 60 ECTS (35 ECTS compulsory and 25 ECTS optional subjects). [revised May 2018]
ANNEX 1 Master en Neurociencia UAM
MASTER THESIS
The Role of inhibition in cerebellar(?) microcircuits. Basket cell involvement
Author:
Miguel Marín Padilla
Director:
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
co-Director:
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Institute:
Biological Research Laboratory c/Ramón y Cajal 1, Madrid, Spain
20 September 2016. Madrid, Spain
EMPTY SPACE FOR A LOGO OR OTHER INFORMATION THAT IS RELEVANT TO THE STUDENT.
ANNEX 2 Master en Neurociencia UAM
Santiago Ramón y Cajal Laboratorio de Investigaciones Biológicas, c/Ramón y Cajal 1, Madrid Spain Rita Levi-Montalcini Centro di Ricerca Neurobiologica Roma, Italia As Co-Directors of the Master's Thesis entitled "The role of inhibition in cerebellar microcircuits. Basket Cell involvement", performed under our supervision by D. Miguel Marín Padilla as part of his work to obtain the Degree of Master in Neuroscience from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, WE DECLARE: * ____ * Pending the last corrections and our final revision, this work is suitable for presentation to prior evaluation by the Academic Committee of the Master in Neuroscience. ____* It has sufficient qualities/merits to be publically presented and defended. ___** The use of animals/patients/subjects in this Master's Thesis research is justified and authorized by the corresponding Ethical Committee. Madrid, 10 September 2016
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Rita Levi
* Use the appropriate sentence in each sentence ** If appropriate, a brief description to the Ethical Committee for the institution where research for the Project is to be done, justifying/supporting the appropriate use of animals or human beings.