The End of Master's Degree Project (EMP) aims to prepare an integrating or synthesizing exercise that will allow the application of the knowledge acquired in the subjects of the Master's Degree so that they are linked to its areas of knowledge.
The EMP will be presented once the rest of the subjects of the Master’s Degree have been passed.
The subject called End of Master's Degree Project (EMP) provides the practical components for the design and presentation, by the student, of an original research project, taking into account all the aspects that are relevant when an investigation arises: the background and current status of the subject under study, the hypothesis and objectives of the project, the methodology to be used, the analysis of possible results and the discussion of these results taking into account the specific literature.
Each student will be assigned a tutor who will necessarily be a professor with a doctorate in the Master's Degree to carry out this subject.
The Master's Degree thesis involves the student carrying out a project, report or study in which they apply and develop the knowledge acquired in the Master's degree in Biomedical Research. The Project must be oriented towards the application of the general competences associated with the degree and will be carried out under the supervision of the assigned tutor.
The EMP will consist of the preparation of a document describing the activities carried out in the laboratory in the case of experimental work, or that meets the objectives set out in the work proposal in the case of theoretical work. In addition to presenting this document, the student will defend it before a tribunal.
In the EMP the student will apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired in the rest of the master’s degree in a more practical way. In a majority of cases this application will be in one of the research laboratories that may offer places. However, there is also the possibility of carrying out the work as a more theoretical project where the previous knowledge will also be applied in cases where the situation and expectations of the student so advise. This will be a minority option, but possible since some students will be able to study the Master's Degree without the intention of working physically in a laboratory, and above all, many students will enter a doctoral programme after completing the Master's Degree, and there their main task will be precisely to work in a laboratory solving real problems in biomedical research from an experimental point of view.
The Master's Degree Committee will coordinate and supervise the process of carrying out the End of Master’s Degree Project, ensuring quality, compliance with the ECTS credits established for this subject in the Study Plan and homogeneity in the level of requirements applied in the assessment of the students. The Master's Degree Committee will establish the guidelines for the assignment of the tutor to students and the subject of the End of Master's Degree Project, and will guarantee the individual assignment of the tutor and the subject to each student. The assignment of the tutor and the subject must take place at least four months before the end of the deadline for submission of the EMP and in any case, before 1 February of the academic year in which the registration took place.
A tutor will be assigned to each student to help them complete the End of Master's Degree Project (EMP). The student will have the opportunity to choose a line of research from those being conducted by the tutor within the framework of the projects or research activities being carried out at any given time.
The EMP tutors in the afternoon-evening are the teachers of the Master’s Degree. In some cases, students may be tutored by researchers who are recognised as external professors for work placements and EMP, belonging to centres, institutions or companies with which there is a collaboration agreement or with which a new one can be carried out within the academic period.
The EMP will consist of carrying out a systematic review research study or with experimental or clinical data. This activity must be proposed by mutual agreement between the student and the tutor and assessed by the academic committee of the master's degree for approval. Experimental or clinical studies must also be approved by the appropriate ethics committee before work is undertaken.
After the EMP document is submitted, its presentation and public defence will be made before a panel of expert professors. The teaching platform of the Master’s Degree has the necessary means for the on line public defence in the case of EMP carried out in other centres or countries with difficulty for the student to carry out the defence of the work in a face-to face format, with it being the academic committee of the master’s degree who will value and approve its defence on line, if appropriate.
The EMP will consist of carrying out intervention studies, clinical, observational, experimental, semi-experimental, pilot or systematic literature review studies, using appropriate statistical analysis (including the application of modern data analysis techniques): Bioinformatics, PCA, PLS or Big data (Data mining) on a topic included in one of the lines of research.
The EMP will have an extension of 12 credits. It may consist of an empirical work related to any of the lines of research offered in the Master’s Degree, or an eminently theoretical contribution, which includes the updated, exhaustive, systematized and critical bibliographic review of some aspect of knowledge linked to these lines, together with a detailed research proposal aimed at solving a scientific problem raised in that area.
The EMP will consist of an original work directed by one or more professors of the teaching team. This work will initiate the student into scientific research, allowing them to acquire the skills, techniques, knowledge of the subject and capacity for analysis and criticism in order to carry out a possible research project.
This work includes both face-to-face activities (attendance at individual authorisation sessions, presentation and public defence of the projects raised) and non-face-to-face activities (updated and complete bibliographic review in reference to a topic, research design, statistical treatment of data, interpretation and discussion of results, preparation of conclusions, of the final report, trials for the oral defence of the project).
With regard to assessment, a uniform methodology will be followed in which performance and skills acquired through a balanced combination of training and final assessment activities will be assessed. The former must value effort and progress in learning, and encourage constant dedication to the subject. The latter will allow for the assessment of learning results.