External summary

The physiological processes to control the reproductive organs, and their pathophysiological disorders which include infertility, reproductive cancers, ovarian and uterine dysfunction, complications of pregnancy such as preterm birth and pre-eclampsia, together with programming of the fetus in the uterus affecting onset of chronic diseases, all have major impacts on the health of individuals and their offspring. Furthermore, reproductive tissues display remarkable characteristics, with potentially significant implications on future developments in health-care well beyond the field of reproductive health. Examples include “scarless healing”, angiogenesis in the adult, and in the testis the >70 year maintenance of stem cell competence.

In the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health fundamental research complements initiatives aimed at the development of novel strategies for diagnosis and treatment of adult reproductive disorders, together with interventions that will ensure babies are maintained in a healthy environment within their mother’s uterus through to birth, so this health is maintained throughout adulthood.  These research activities are greatly enhanced by the collaborations with scientists in other Centres across the University of Edinburgh, a wide range of core facilities, together with proximity to the hospital, Veterinary School and Science campuses.  Our students are regarded as important members of the Centre, who are very much welcomed and integrated into our academic community of practise.

In this one-year, full time MSc by Research programme in Reproductive Sciences, students perform two ten week and one twenty week laboratory-based research projects.  They gain a wide spectrum of research and professional generic skills, a deep knowledge of the field of reproductive sciences, and of performing research within the field.

Studies in reproductive sciences can open up a broad range of opportunities across biosciences and healthcare, and this programme particularly suits students wanting to explore advancing into study for a PhD.

Educational aims of programme

The University of Edinburgh is one of the world’s top universities and one of the largest and most cosmopolitan in the UK. The Programme is intended for high calibre students with a Medicine/Veterinary Medicine or Biological Sciences background interested in a career in research in the areas of Reproductive Sciences.  The Programme aims to attract the best students from around the world to join the international of biomedical research community in Edinburgh.  It is designed to be flexible to accommodate the needs of excellent students from a variety of backgrounds. 

Key aims of the Programme are to enable students to gain insight into a career in the field of Reproductive Sciences research, to have some control over their own learning requirements within this field to fulfil their own professional aims.  If this becomes their chosen career path, they will be able to assimilate more rapidly into that research career, gain the award of an MSc by Research en route to a PhD, bringing a more mature perspective and a broader range of experimental approaches than would be possible for graduate students entering directly into standard three year PhD Programmes.

Programme outcomes: Knowledge and understanding

This one-year, full time MSc by Research programme provides a core grounding in research in basic and medical aspects of the reproductive sciences.  Student orientation includes a two week period of core laboratory skills training.  Students undertake two 10 week and one 20 week laboratory-based projects.  This allows them to develop key skills in a wide range of laboratory techniques which depending upon their own personal choices, interests and professional objectives may include molecular and cellular sciences, bioinformatics and bio-imaging, taking advantage of access to a broad range of in vivo and in vitro models and clinical tissues, all within the reproductive sciences academic discipline.  Students develop a wide range of key generic scientific skills during the programme.  Interacting with a senior member of academic faculty, students write a research proposal and are involved design their own experimental studies, critically appraising the literature in the context of their own findings.  Developing their abilities to communicate their research findings both as written reports and orally is a major element throughout the programme.  There are parallel taught lecture, workshop and tutorial programmes that provide participating students with depth and breadth to their understanding of the reproductive sciences field of study. 

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in research and enquiry

The MSc by Research in Reproductive Sciences has the following advantages:

• It provides students with insight into different research areas with the two 10 week mini-projects, before finalising their choice of their 20 week laboratory project and supervisor;

• The extensive and wide-ranging core skills training, followed by the three laboratory projects enable students to gain confidence and experience in the generic skills associated with research including critical appraisal, information technology, statistical techniques and communication of experimental results.

• It enables graduates of the programme to assimilate rapidly into a PhD project, bringing to it more mature perspectives and a broader range of experimental and professional skills than is possible under the standard three year programme.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal and intellectual autonomy

The MSc by Research in Reproductive Sciences programme has a clear postgraduate ethos, Facilitated by input and feedback from academic staff, to be successful students have to take responsibility to develop their academic and professional skills, taking into consideration their own personal professional aims.  Students come to this programme from a variety of academic disciplines and from a diversity of cultures. This diversity is recognised and fostered as an important resource.  Students support one another and it provides a valuable contribution, beyond the MSc Programme, to the Centre for Reproductive Health, the other units in the Queen’s Medical Research Institute, and the University as a whole.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in communication

There is a strong emphasis on interactive academic discussion with tutors and research groups and on student presentations. For instance, students are given specific academic tasks to complete including literature to critically appraise, in preparation for discussion in tutorials and journal clubs. This preparation involves reading the material, reflecting on it and reading around the topic, to permit in depth academic discussions on the material with the tutor and tutorial group. Participation in tutorials and seminars involves listening, asking questions and contributing to, as well as sometimes leading discussions. Furthermore, in the research projects, students develop more independent study skills that are essential in a research environment.  Students present their findings in depth as written reports and as oral and scientific poster forms of communication.

Students attend and gain transferable [generic] skills from a series of seminars and workshops organised through the Institute of Academic Development.  The compulsory courses are:

• Effective Presentations

• Writing Up Science

• Project Planning and Ethics in Scientific Research

There are also a range of optional courses depending upon their own requirements and professional aims.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal effectiveness

Postgraduate students are expected to be self-directed and motivated. They are responsible for organising their time, project and professional resources and making sure they meet assessment deadlines and any other requirements.

Programme outcomes: Technical/practical skills

The MSc by Research in Reproductive Sciences degree attaches a high priority to achieving competencies across a broad base of professional scientific skills helpful in a research career. These include a wide range of laboratory skills used within the field, gained during:

• the core laboratory skills training based within the Centre for Reproductive Health,

• a range of laboratory skills and problem solving, in association with each of the three laboratory projects, and 

• an understanding and ability to critically view their own research findings and set this in the context of the scientific literature by other researchers in the field.

MSc by Research in Reproductive Sciences students attend other courses from the extensive College Postgraduate Transferable Skills Programme, including compulsory courses on ‘Project Planning and Ethics in Scientific Research’, and a range of optional courses depending on personal learning requirements, including ‘Effective Writing’, ‘Searching Research Literature’, ‘Introduction to Medical Statistics’, ‘Communicating Science to Non-Specialists’, and ‘Web Page Production’. 

Programme structure and features

Credit-bearing components of the course

Semester 1 – Mid September to Mid December

• Reproductive Mechanisms lecture and tutorial series

• Core lab skills (2 weeks)

• Start first 20-week Laboratory Research Project

Semester 2 – Mid January to April

• Reproductive Systems lecture and tutorial series

• Complete first Laboratory Research Project

• Second Laboratory Research Project Proposal

• Start second 20 week Laboratory Research Project

Summer – May to August

• Complete second Laboratory Research Project

• Give oral presentation on project findings

Core compulsory Transferable Skills courses taken during the year

1: Effective Presentations

2. Writing Up Science

3.  Project Planning and Ethics in Scientific Research

Basic Laboratory training

The Programme begins with 2 weeks of practical training to equip you with the basic skills to enter a laboratory and begin your project work. Details of this course are covered in a separate core skills training handbook.

Laboratory Research Projects (three, two of 10 weeks and one of 20 weeks duration)

The Laboratory Research Projects are designed to enable students to gain experience and confidence in the technical skills associated with molecular and cellular biological research, and the generic skills required by research workers (e.g. use of web-based literature searching tools and information technology, statistical analysis and interpretation of findings, critical appraisal and communication of results).

Students choose a research project from the ongoing areas of current research within the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health and its associated Institutions from a list provided by the Programme Director. These will normally be related to hypothalamic-pituitary control, ovarian regulation, development and control of the testis, uterine function, pregnancy and parturition, fertility control and contraception, and genetics and development. Nevertheless, a range of other projects may also be offered in other research areas, depending on availability, which may also link with other Research Centres in the University of Edinburgh.  For example, recent projects have been based in, or between, our own Centre for Reproductive Health, and with the Centres for Cardiovascular Sciences, Inflammatory Research, Regenerative Medicine, Integrative Physiology, the Roslin Institute and the Royal Dick Veterinary School.

For the three Laboratory Research Projects, students choose from the list provided by the Programme Director and presented in outline form by the Principal Investigators and Supervisors beforehand. After the presentation of these outlines, students rank the projects in the order of their choice. The Programme Director then allocates projects aiming to ensure all students have their highest choices of project. Students, facilitated by the Programme Organiser, alternatively may negotiate with a suitable supervisor to design a research project that more closely suits their own interests. At the end of each Laboratory Research Project, students submit their findings in a research project report and give a 10-minute presentation.

Lectures, tutorials and seminars

Lectures and tutorials begin at the start of the programme and continue until the end of February. Attendance at these is compulsory. Throughout the year there are research seminars, research clinics and ad hoc lectures in the Centre for Reproductive Biology and the QMRI. Students are strongly recommended to attend all these additional sessions, which provide deep insight into developing research taking place across the Centre and in the wider scientific community. Students whose projects are based at other Centres or Institutes may attend their local seminars.  Our students are regarded as important members of the Centre for Reproductive Health, who are very much welcomed and integrated into our academic community of practise.

Assessment

The University Regulations covering assessment of work for a Masters/Diploma degree can be found in full on the University website at:

http://www.docs.sasg.ed.ac.uk/AcademicServices/Regulations/TaughtAssessmentRegulations.PDF

The Assessment Regulations set minimum requirements and standards for students and staff, expressing in practical form the academic goals and policies of the University.  The full regulations can seen at:

http://www.acaffairs.ed.ac.uk/Regulations/Assessment/Home.htm

All assessed work is double-marked by two internal examiners with expertise in the area of research concerned. Supervisors will mark laboratory performance. The External Examiner takes an overview of the process and has access to all work submitted for assessment.

These marks account for 90% of the total. The remaining 10% of the mark is provided by the project supervisor. The maxi project presentation will be marked by all members of the exam board and an average mark will be calculated.

The overall award of the MSc by Research in Reproductive Sciences is given in the table below:

Progression

Teaching and learning methods and strategies

The programme aims to develop student’s laboratory skills and broad range of scientific communication skills.  It consists of a two week introductory intensive laboratory orientation and skills course.  This is followed by two 10-week and a 20 week laboratory-based projects on different research themes based in different laboratories within the Centre for Reproductive Health.  In the first 5 months students receive teaching lectures and research seminars across and beyond the reproductive sciences field, delivered by internationally recognised experts in the field. Students submit a research proposal in the form of a grant application, as an introduction to the 20 week laboratory project. Students also participate in a wide range of student-and faculty-led tutorials, skills workshops and short courses, to gain laboratory skills, subject knowledge and critical understanding of the field, together with an array of generic skills for working and communicating across the biosciences field and beyond. These elements enable students to gain a clear in-depth and critical understanding of these research project topics with a wide range of up-to-date laboratory skills, while embedded within a research laboratory environment.  By the end of the programme, students achieve a breadth of knowledge of the Reproductive Sciences field and its context within the biomedical sciences.

Assessment methods and strategies

The main elements of assessment are the laboratory project written reports and project presentations, together with the research proposal.  Students receive formative feedback both before submission of assessments from their project supervisors, enabling them to improve, and then after submission to indicate how well they have performed. An important feature is that the feedback provided is extensive and is aimed and timed so students can continue to improve throughout the programme.

Career opportunities

This programme is the ideal route for those wishing to embark on a PhD, or in a technical laboratory role, in the field Reproductive Health, and spanning the biosciences, clinical and veterinary fields.  The broad range of skills gained is also readily transferable into careers at the clinical-laboratory interface and in the broader biosciences industry. 

Other items

This programme does not amount to specific training to become a clinical embryologist.