Bachelor Thesis in Marine Biotechnology

The course is an elective course in the Bachelor's programme in biotechnology (Bachelor i bioteknologi, Norwegian program) as an alternative to BIO-2610 (10 STP/ECTS) and an another 10 ECTS elective course. The course can also be taken as a singular course. It is a practical laboratory course with an extensive report writing (approximately 10 000 words).

• Practical, individual laboratory work under supervision on a given subject (individual projects) in biotechnology
• Theoretical project can be done in agreement with teacher as an alternative to a practical project
• A list of titles and topics (and supervisors) is given at the beginning of the semester.
• The experimental work will go on during the whole semester, but in total, it will mean approximately 6 weeks of experimental work in the laboratory
• The writing process for the thesis will go on during the whole semester with 4 intermediate submissions (separate deadlines)
• One final report submission on the completed term paper (Bachelor thesis exam)

Applicants from Nordic countries: Generell studiekompetanse + Matematikk R1 eller (S1+S2) og enten Matematikk (R1+R2) eller Fysikk (1+2) eller Kjemi (1+2) eller Biologi (1+2) eller Informasjonsteknologi (1+2) eller Geologi (1+2) eller Teknologi og forskningslære (1+2).

International applicants: Higher Education Entrance Qualification and certified language requirements in English. It is a requirement that students have some prior knowledge of biology and ecology, chemistry and mathematics (Participants must have taken introductory level university courses, and achieved pass grades, in these subjects).

A list of the requirements for the Higher Education Entrance Qualification in Norway can be found on the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education website - nokut.no

Application code: 9197 (Nordic applicants).

After having completed the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge

• Describe how to address a problem (subject)
• Describe methods used in the practical laboratory work (or described in a theoretical thesis)
• Describe and present findings and interpret the importance and conclusions

Skills

• Read and find scientific information (references) on a scientific topic
• Learn to use methods in the practical laboratory work
• Work independently in a laboratory
• Organize practical work in the laboratory
• Write a report structured in an IMRAD format and plan the writing process daily in accordance with a proposed plan
• Complete assignments and a report (thesis) before the deadlines

General competence

• Work in collaboration with members (supervisor team) within a research group
• Work independently
• Evaluate and present scientific data in a laboratory report (thesis)

• Introduction at the beginning of the semester with presentation of the possible projects/tasks available. A given supervisor(s) or supervisor team is appointed for each project
• Students choose from projects that are presented in class
• Lectures and feedback focusing on reports throughout the semester
• Each project will be done in the research group(s) of the supervisor(s)/supervisor team(s) the Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NFH). Projects can also be done in collaboration with external partners
• Guidance, practical and theoretical, by the supervisor(s) within the objective and work of the project
• Training of writing a scientific report and reading scientific literature. The writing process starts at the beginning of the semester. Submission of different chapters of the report each month (introduction in January/February, material and methods in March, results in April and discussion in early May)
• Lectures, discussion/seminar/guidance before/after each submission

Language of instruction and examination

Re-sit examination