{"id":1900,"date":"2021-05-06T09:37:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T09:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uantwerpen.be\/fbd\/?p=1900"},"modified":"2021-05-06T09:40:25","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T09:40:25","slug":"uantwerp-honours-college-dive-into-research-and-develop-your-talents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uantwerpen.be\/fbd\/uantwerp-honours-college-dive-into-research-and-develop-your-talents\/","title":{"rendered":"UAntwerp Honours College: dive into research and develop your talents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Astrid Van den Branden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Hello, my name is Astrid Van den Branden and I\u2019m doing the Master of Biomedical Sciences at UAntwerp<\/a>. I have always been interested in understanding the complex biomolecular processes in the human body and learning about what happens when these processes go wrong and diseases occur. My Master at UAntwerp is specifically focused on Clinical Scientific Research, which perfectly fits my interests. I\u2019m also enrolled in the UAntwerp Honours College program<\/a>. I had the opportunity to participate in this prestigious program after my first Bachelor year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut what exactly is the Honours College program?\u201d, I hear you thinking. This program, which starts during the 2nd<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> Bachelor years, offers students the opportunity to further develop their talents and to gain more experience with scientific research. Students in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences that meet certain criteria, i.e. obtain an average grade of 70% and obtained all credits in their first Bachelor year, are invited to submit an application letter and to attend an interview. If you are ambitious, willing to take on some extra workload during your degree course and want to broaden your scientific horizons, then don\u2019t hesitate to join the Honours College! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t very familiar with the UAntwerp Honours College and wasn\u2019t sure exactly what this program would entail, but I decided to apply. I am always looking for opportunities to expand my knowledge and I\u2019m really happy that I got the opportunity to join the UAntwerp Honours College. It has been quite an adventure so far!  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I visited the labs of several research groups, shadowed PhD students for a day and attended interdisciplinary lectures. But, for me the most interesting part of this program was the summer internship. Based on my research interests, I joined the Laboratory of Pathophysiology<\/a> where Prof. Patrick D\u2019Haese<\/a> and Prof. Anja Verhulst <\/a>offered me the opportunity to assist a PhD student for three weeks with her research. Two years later, I again did a three-week summer internship in this lab as I had also enrolled in the follow-up Honours College program during the Master years, which was being organized for the first time. Not only did I gain lab experience, I also learned what daily life in a laboratory looks like and I learnt more about the various research topics in this lab in depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n