Health brings the faculty's two honours programmes together in a single programme and creates an interdisciplinary programme under the title 'Research & Innovation'. The goal is a closer correlation between research, education and innovation via shared activities and more, while the target group remains particularly talented and highly motivated students.

2020.08.06 | Sabina Bjerre Hansen

The ambitious students on the faculty's two talent tracks will work together on knowledge collaboration at the intersection of research and innovation in a single honours programme with effect from the autumn semester 2020. Photo: Lars Kruse/AU.

Since 2017, Health has offered two honours programmes: The Research Honours Programme and the Business & Innovation Honours Programme. Both have been available for those students who wish to supplement their education with knowledge and competences within research and innovation.

From and including the coming intake, the two honours programmes will be combined in a single honours programme focusing on interdisciplinarity and generic competences that support knowledge collaboration in the interface between research and innovation. However, students will still need to choose whether the extra honours teaching should primarily focus on research or innovation – and must do so already upon registration for the programme.

Equipped to solve complex healthcare issues

"Our honours programme educates graduates who can contribute to research and research-based innovation in collaboration with other fields of study and disciplines – competences which are absolutely pivotal in relation to solving complex healthcare issues in an ever more complex healthcare system. And with a programme like ours behind them, the students will be able to contribute to the health and welfare of citizens in a broad sense," says Vice-dean for Education Lise Wogensen Bach.

Through the honours programme, the students ready themselves for a career in health science research and knowledge-based innovation, for example by participating in activities and situations which introduce them to research, innovation and commercialisation in collaboration with partners from the university, the healthcare system and business and industry. This includes areas such as research dissemination, feedback skills, organisational understanding, idea development, project management, self-management and career planning.

Sharper profile via choice of track and project

Although there will now be a single honours programme, the students will continue to choose either a research track or an innovation track. Here, they acquire supplementary generalist competences at a high level and academic and methodological qualifications within the chosen subject area. The difference in relation to previously is that there are now joint activities for all students on the honours programme concurrently with the work on the two tracks.

While the research track focuses on competences such as research methodology, funding applications, good research conduct and research dissemination, the innovation track includes elements such as business models, innovative practice, entrepreneurship and identification of needs. Both tracks include a self-chosen project worth 20 ECTS over a period of between one and one-and-a-half years with individual supervision.

"I hope that our students, teaching staff, supervisors, employers and partners will welcome the new shared elements in our honours programme. We’ve really tried to organise it in the best possible way and we look forward to trying it out in practice and have high expectations for it," says Lise Wogensen Bach.

The deadline for applications to Health's honours programme is 13 September 2020, and all interested students are encouraged to attend the information meeting on 1 September 2020. Read more about Health's honours programme and the information meeting on the Graduate School's website.

Contact

Vice-dean for Education Lise Wogensen Bach
Aarhus University, Health
Mobile: (+45) 25 48 85 22
Email: lwb@au.dk