ELLIS MSc Honours Programme

ELLIS offers an honours programme for talented MSc students at the University of Amsterdam, allowing them to connect with leading researchers and top-tier academics in their field. In the ELLIS honours programme, you are first conducting an independent research project together with an ELLIS member at the University of Amsterdam. With your Amsterdam supervisor, you will start a collaboration with an ELLIS member at an ELLIS partner institution outside of the Netherlands (host institution), and conduct your MSc thesis under their joint supervision. During your thesis project, you will spend (a minimum of) two weeks at the host institution, sponsored by the ELLIS Amsterdam honours programme. Students admitted to the ELLIS honours programme that successfully finish their independent project and thesis and finish their degree cum laude will be awarded an ELLIS Amsterdam MSc honours certificate.

What does the programme offer?

The ELLIS Amsterdam MSc honours programme allows you to connect with excellent researchers in your field, and covers up to 2,500 euro of expenses to visit your co-supervisor at an ELLIS partner institution outside of the Netherlands. Students that successfully finish the ELLIS honours programme will get the opportunity to present their MSc thesis work at an ELLIS workshop organised for ELLIS honours students and will be awarded an ELLIS Amsterdam honours certificate if they graduate cum laude.

Who can apply?

The ELLIS Amsterdam honours programme is open for excellent MSc students obtaining a degree in artificial intelligence, computer science, computational linguistics, or related fields. Applications are open for students who are in their second semester and have a grade point average of at least 8.0 and no single grade lower than 7.0. Third semester applications may also be permitted, if you have already started a research project that is not your thesis with an ELLIS member at the university of Amsterdam.

We encourage strong applications from women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and members of other marginalized communities.

How to apply?

Step 1. Identify a potential supervisor

Step one in the application process is to find a suitable supervisor. To do so, start by having a look at potential supervisors at the people page of the ELLIS Amsterdam website. All ELLIS members at the University of Amsterdam can serve as potential supervisors. To find out more about the research topics of the different researchers, check their website and publications, to which links are provided under their photo.

Step 2. Approach a potential supervisor

After you have identified a potential supervisor, you can approach this supervisor to ask them if they have the time and are interested in supervising you. We recommend you to send an email in which you briefly explain something about your research interests and why you are excited about working with this supervisor, and attach your CV and grades to this email. If you have the opportunity to first talk with your prospective supervisor in person, this may help you to capture their interest. If your prospective supervisor agrees to supervise you, you can move to step 3.

Step 3. Find a second supervisor

Now that you have found a supervisor at the UvA, your next step is to find a second supervisor at a different ELLIS institution abroad. You should find your second supervisor in consultation with your UvA supervisor. Your supervisor will likely have some suggestions, but you are free to suggest potential second supervisors yourself as well. A list of all ELLIS members, which are eligible to be a second supervisor, can be found at the ellis.eu webpage.

Step 4. Write a research proposal

Together with your first and potentially also second supervisor, you can now write a brief research proposal of maximally 250 words, in which you describe the research that you will conduct with them. Put the research proposal in the application form, and collect (digital) signatures of both your supervisors. You don’t have to specifically mention what you will do in your independent project, and what in your thesis, but bear in mind you have to do research with your supervisor before starting the thesis!

Step 6. Submit your application

To apply, please send an application form (word/pdf) along with a one-page CV, and your transcript as one merged pdf file to ellisinfo-science@uva.nl.

Honours certificates

If you successfully complete the ELLIS Honours programme, you will receive a certificate. Requirements to receive the certificate are:

• You were admitted to the ELLIS Honours programme (see above);
• You have conducted a prior research project under supervision of an ELLIS member at the University of Amsterdam and can show that (for instance by a grade in your grade list, a report, publication or preprint);
• You have conducted your MSc thesis under the joint supervision of the same ELLIS member at the University of Amsterdam and another ELLIS member at an institution outside of the Netherlands;
• You have done a research visit of at least two weeks to the partner institution of your co-supervisor;
• You graduated cum laude.

Honours students will get the opportunity to present their MSc thesis work at an ELLIS workshop organized for the ELLIS Honours students as well as other ELLIS events.

The ELLIS unit Amsterdam asks the MSc Honours students to acknowledge ELLIS unit Amsterdam in the acknowledgment sections of their papers and on their scientific posters or presentation slides. The students are also asked to provide to the ELLIS unit Amsterdam their research information. The name of the Honours student, the research and/or paper information, and the conferences where the papers are published, if any, will be listed on the ELLIS unit Amsterdam website.