Human Movement Sciences: Sport, Exercise & Health (research)

Discover the secrets of human movement

Power to the athletes
In many sports, athletes have to make powerful movements. Which neuro-muscular factors are involved in power production and how can muscle power production be improved?

Walking with robots
To improve gait function after stroke, a lot of repetitive training is required. This is often difficult to achieve due to limited staff time. Can robot driven gait devices alleviate this problem?

Better movers are better perceivers
Top volleyball players differ from novice players in how they use visual information. How can we enhance the perceptual skills of athletes?

Walking while talking
Many brain damaged patients encounter problems doing two tasks at the same time. Can focus of attention strategies while re-learning motor tasks reduce these problems?

Spastic muscles
In children with spastic cerebral pareses, overactive stretch reflexes result in a limited range of motion. Are spastic muscles stiffer and/or shorter? Is it possible to increase their range of motion?

Deepen your insights and skills

The Research Master’s Human Movement Sciences: Sport, Exercise & Health (research) is a two-year full-time programme that teaches you how human movement works and how performance can be improved. Our focus is on integrating fundamental scientific research with relevant questions from clinical and sports practice.

The Research Master's offers a multidisciplinary programme, stretching from molecular biology to cognitive neuroscience and human motor behaviour. Teaching and research go hand in hand: the vast majority of our lecturers are researchers at the interdisciplinary research institute MOVE, which is a collaboration between the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU Medical Center, and ACTA (dentistry).

The first year is dedicated to preparation for research. You will be able to select courses on human movement sciences and research skills, creating your own personal track with an emphasis on sport or clinical issues. Your second year is dedicated to a research internship of your own choice.

After completing the Research Master’s, you are all set to pursue your PhD studies. However, you are also well equipped for other research-related positions.

Admisssion
The Research Master's is a so-called selective master's programme. This implies that the programme has a maximum intake of thirty students per year and that admission is tied to strict criteria such as the average grade (for either BSc-, or premaster programme), the quality of the premaster / bachelor research project and of course, motivation and proficiency in English.

Contact the Research Master's coordinator