Lab Rotations / Industry Internship
Lab rotations are flexible short research/lab projects in which students gain an overview of different research areas by applying concepts taught in the core courses and advanced courses.
Important: At least one lab rotation or industry internship needs to be completed in a different group or company department - and supervised by a different professor - than the master’s thesis!
Students completing a lab rotation at D-BSSE are required to inform the
at least 2 weeks before the scheduled start of the lab rotation about the following:
- The name of the BSSE group you will be working in (for the group server access)
- The start and end date of your lab rotation
Options - (students starting 2021 or later)
Students need to acquire a total of 18 ECTS and have the following options:
- Lab Rotation Short 1 and Lab Rotation Short 2 (6 weeks each)
- Lab Rotation Short 1 and Industry Internship Short (6 weeks each)
- Lab Rotation Long (12 weeks)
- Industry Internship Long (12 weeks)
Note: students starting in AS2021 or later must select the courses with course numbers starting with 262-03* in the course catalogue.
Students are expected to contact the research group they are interested in directly.
The lab rotation is an ungraded semester performance. A failed performance can only be repeated once.
Supervisor
The supervisor needs to be a professor of the University of Basel, University of Zurich or ETH Zurich. It can either be the mentor or someone associated more closely with the respective research topic.
If the supervisor is not listed in myStudies, the respective registration and grading forms need to be submitted.
All forms can be found under Documents & Templates
Duration
Students can complete one long lab rotation of 12 weeks, or two short lab rotations of 6 weeks each.
Students may voluntarily extend their stay in the research group. However, for reasons of fairness and comparability the lab rotation work and report, and consequently the assessment must only refer to the official allotted duration, i.e. the first 6/12 weeks. The exact dates of the official report period must be written on the first page of the report.
Registration
Students need to fully register the lab rotation(s) prior to the start.
The lab rotation needs to be registered in myStudies.
External Lab Rotation
Students who wish to carry out a lab rotation outside ETH Zürich, the University of Zurich, or the University of Basel, need to additionally register the lab rotation with the respective registration form, and need to find a supervising professor from within ETH, UZH or UBas to act as supervisor and assessor of the lab rotation.
If the supervisor is not listed in myStudies, the respective registration and grading forms need to be submitted.
All forms can be found under Documents & Templates
Written Report
A written report of approx. 10 pages is mandatory for each lab rotation performance and must be submitted to the supervising professor after completion of the lab rotation.
Details on the report are to be discussed and agreed upon with the supervising professor. There are no department specific rules, criteria with regard to the written report. It is suggested to ask the supervising professor for a good sample report beforehand and afterwards for feedback to improve own writing skills for future reports/theses.
Students are responsible to look for an industry internship on their own. The mentor may advise and support students with regard to their internship choice.
The industry internship is an ungraded semester performance. A failed performance can only be repeated once.
Details on the industry internship procedure, duration and requirements are set out in the D-BSSE Industry Internship Regulations.
Internship Company
The industry internship is completed in an industrial company (medical, bioinformatics, biotechnological and or pharmaceutical industry, including hospitals) inside or outside Switzerland. The Director of Studies may allow exceptions to this rule upon request.
Supervisor
The supervisor needs to be a professor of the University of Basel, University of Zurich or ETH Zurich. It can either be the mentor or someone associated more closely with the respective topic focused on during the internship.
Duration
Students may complete a short industry internship of 6 weeks or a long industry internship of 12 weeks.
Students may voluntarily extend their stay in industry. However, for reasons of fairness and comparability the internship work and report, and consequently the assessment must only refer to the official allotted duration, i.e. the first 6/12 weeks. The exact dates of the official report period must be written on the first page of the report.
Registration
Students need to fully register the industry internship prior to the start.
The industry internship needs to be registered in myStudies. If the supervisor is not listed in myStudies, the respective registration and grading forms need to be submitted.
Additionally, the respective registration form including a one-page project description must be submitted to the D-BSSE Student Administration before the start of the internship.
All forms can be found under Documents & Templates
Written Report
A written report of approx. 10 pages is mandatory for the industry internship and must be submitted to the supervising professor after completion of the internship.
The report must include information on the company (e.g. industry, size, products, organisation, competitors), departments visited, activities performed as well as acquired skills and competencies. The report must provide sufficient information on the research performed and the results obtained that the supervising professor can assess the internship. The report must be signed by a responsible person of the host company.
NDA / Agreement
A confidentiality agreement may be requested by the external institution. Any agreement is subject to negotiations between the student, the host institution and the supervising professor. Students must clarify NDA/agreement questions in advance and be aware that ETH professors may refuse to sign any agreement other than the standard ETH templates:
- Non-Disclosure Agreement: Download (login required)
- Project Agreement Template: protected pageDownloadlock (login required)