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Media Technology

Are you eager to bring your own questions and curiosity into scientific research? Do the creation of media and use of technology drive your research interests? Could you be a researcher who challenges scientific practice and pushes its boundaries?

Research informed by a creative and critical mindset

The Media Technology MSc programme offers an interdisciplinary and international environment for students to produce scientific work informed by a creative and critical mindset. We welcome applicants from diverse educational backgrounds with a shared fascination for research and technology. Besides engaging in our core courses, students draw from the knowledge throughout Leiden University and other institutes. After graduation alumni pursue a career as life-long researchers within science, (creative) industries, or education.

Education

Our education specializes in creative exploration and a broad understanding of scientific research and technology. It prepares students for a career involving creative and critical thinking, and in particular for a future in scientific research. We aim to fulfil the need for flexible, technically autonomous, critical individuals in research. We offer a full-time Master's program that takes two years. This is an intense research-oriented study programme and students must be available to study full-time.

Research

Research is meant to generate knowledge, in a rational and sensible way. Many research methods exist to do this, and creativity is an important factor. Our mission is to explore creative, playful, unexpected, and unconventional forms of academic research. Through our research we hope to bring fresh views, challenging thoughts, and a creative spark to academia. Whether this is in the natural sciences, humanities or any other academic field is irrelevant.

For more information about the programme you contact the programme coordinator by sending an e-mail to: mediatechnology@leiden.edu

First year

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Core courses

Media Technology Field Trip 1
Research Fundamentals 3
Strategies in Creative and Performing Arts 3
Creative Programming 6
Human Computer Interaction and Information Visualization (Msc) 6
Playful and Creative Science 6
Hardware and Physical Computing 3
Meta Media 2
Non-human Cognition 4
Artificial Creatures 4
Sound, Space and Interaction 6
Exhibition: Science to Experience 12
Sciences and Humanities 4

Second year

Elective courses level 400+ 10-19 ECTS
Students are expected to take the core courses with a total of 92 ECTS including the Graduation Project. The remaining 28 ECTS are obtained through a combination of accent courses and elective courses. Student must take minimally 2 and no more than 3 accent courses.

The courses New Media & New Technologies (level 500, 5 EC) and Language Evolution (level 500, 5 EC) are considered as core courses if completed before 1 September 2020.

Students can apply for elective courses at LIACS, Leiden University and other universities and have to obtain approval from the Board of Examiners. Approval is based on motivating that the course contributes to the student's Media Technology curriculum.

A number of courses have programme-wide approval, meaning that all students can choose these as electives. Most of them are listed in the overview below. Additional electives with programme-wide approval are:

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Core courses

Graduation Lab 1
Graduation Project (Media Technology MSc) 30
Portfolio (Media Technology MSc) 1

Accent courses (select 2 or 3 out of the 5 courses below and obtain 9-18 EC)

AI in Society 6
Computational Creativity 6
Innovative Methods in Science Communication and Society 3
Research Seminar Artificial Intelligence 6
Video Games for Research 6

Elective courses (obtain 10-19 EC, depending on selected accent courses)

Programme-wide approved electives

Marketing Science 3
Text Mining 6
Data-driven Policy Making 6
Educational Technologies 6
Foundations of Software Testing 6
Image Analysis with Applications in Microscopy 6
Information Retrieval 6
Modern Game AI Algorithms 6
Robotics 6
Sports Data Science 6
Financing Technology Ventures 3

Career Preparation

Career preparation at Leiden University

In addition to offering you a solid university education, Leiden University aims to prepare you as well as possible for the labour market, and in doing so contribute to the development of your employability. In this way, it will become easier for you to make the transition to the labour market, to remain employable in a dynamic labour market, in a (career) job that suits your own personal values, preferences and development.

'Employability' consists of the following aspects that you will develop within your study programme, among others:
1. Discipline-specific knowledge and skills
Knowledge and skills specific to your study programme.

2. Transferable skills
These are skills that are relevant to every student and that you can use in all kinds of jobs irrespective of your study programme, for example: researching, analysing, project-based working, generating solutions, digital skills, collaborating, oral communication, written communication, presenting, societal awareness, independent learning, resilience.

3. Self-reflection
This concerns self-reflection in the context of your (study) career, including reflecting on the choices you make as a student during your studies, what can you do with your knowledge and skills on the labour market?

In addition, reflecting on your own profile and your personal and professional development. Who are you, what can you do well, what do you find interesting, what suits you, what do you find important, what do you want to do?

4. Practical experience
Gaining practical experience through internships, work placements, projects, practical (social) assignments, which are integrated into an elective, minor or graduation assignment.

5. Labour market orientation
Gaining insight into the labour market, fields of work, jobs and career paths through, for example, guest speakers and alumni experiences from the work field, career events within the study programme, the use of the alumni mentor network, interviewing people from the work field, and shadowing/visiting companies in the context of a particular subject.

Employability in the curriculum of Media Technology

General
During the master Media Technology (MT), we want to provide you with the best possible preparation to enter the job market after graduation.

The master MT programme is strongly research-driven, which allows training of discipline-specific knowledge and skills, but also teaches students to work in a professional environment and fosters the development of an extensive set of transferable skills. This makes its graduates also well-prepared for a career outside academia.

In addition, in the Graduation Lab, students are explicitly trained in several aspects of academic skills and are stimulated to make self-directed, conscious choices for their own professional development and preparation for a successful start of their career on the job market.

Activities contributing to employability

First and/or second year

  • All courses (discipline-specific knowledge and skills)

  • Field Trip (practical experience)

  • Science Skills Platform with a Personal and Professional development domain (transferable skills, self-reflection)

  • Mentorship and tutoring (transferable skills, self-reflection)

  • ‘Inhousedays’ at companies via study association De Leidsche Flesch (labour market orientation)

  • Symposia and seminars by study association De Leidsche Flesch (labour market orientation)

  • Workshops and Career Colleges Science Career Service (transferable skills, self-reflection, labour market orientation)

  • Portfolio (self-reflection, labour market orientation)

  • What’s Next talks (labour market orientation)

Second year

  • Graduation Project (discipline-specific knowledge and skills, transferable skills, self-reflection, practical experience)

  • Graduation Lab (transferable skills, self-reflection)

Activities to prepare for the labour market co-curricular or outside the curriculum of Media Technology

Every year, various activities take place, within, alongside and outside of the MT study programme, which contribute to your preparation for the labour market, especially where it concerns orientation towards the work field/the labour market, (career) skills and self-reflection. These may be information meetings on decision moments within your programme, but also career workshops and events organised by the MT programme, the faculty Career Service, study association De Leidsche Flesch, or others, including:

  • Alice & Eve

  • Leiden University Study abroad festival

  • Annual Leiden University Diversity Symposium

Career Service, LU Career Zone and career workshops calendar

Faculty Career Service
The Career Service of your faculty offers information and advice on study (re)orientation and master's choice, (study) career planning, orientation on the labour market and job applications.

Leiden University Career Zone Leiden University Career Zone is the website for students and alumni of Leiden University to support their (study) career. You can find advice, information, (career) tests and tools in the area of (study) career planning, career possibilities with your study, job market orientation, job applications, the Alumni Mentor network, job portal, workshops and events and career services.

Workshops and events
On the course calendar you will find an overview of career and application workshops, organised by the Career services.