Cognitive Neuroscience

Entry requirements

Bachelor requirements

The Master's programme in Cognitive Neuroscience is a selective programme, which means that a selection and placement process applies. The outcome of the assessment of your previous education determines whether you can be admitted to the selection process. You are admissible to the selection process if you have completed a Bachelor's degree in:

· Linguistics

· Physics

· Biology

· Medicine

· Mathematics

· Behavioural Sciences (e.g. Psychology)

· Artificial Intelligence

· or a related discipline.

To start this Research Master’s programme you will need to have obtained a Bachelor’s degree in one of the above mentioned disciplines from an academic university. A degree from a university of applied science (in German: Fachhochschule) is not sufficient. Completion of a pre-master programme in combination with a degree from a university of applied science is also not sufficient.

Language requirements

You need to be fluent in both written and spoken English. Students without a Dutch Bachelor's degree or VWO diploma need one of the following:

· An overall TOEFL iBT score of ≥100, subscores ≥ 22

· An overall IELTS score of ≥7.0, subscores ≥ 6.5

· Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency with a mark C or higher.

Applicants are considered to be a native speaker of English if they are from Australia, Canada (with exception of Quebec), Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, USA or South Africa.

For more information about admission requirements, please visit the university website.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Thanks to advanced brain-imaging techniques, scientists are now able to observe the human brain in action. Cognitive neuroscientists therefore no longer have to rely solely on patients with brain damage to ascertain which parts of the brains are involved in which tasks and functions. They can now conduct targeted experiments on healthy persons. As a result, the discipline has gained tremendous momentum over the past twenty years.

This research Master’s programme is open to students with Bachelor’s degrees in Linguistics, Physics, Biology, Medicine, Mathematics, Behavioural Sciences, Artificial Intelligence or a related discipline. It offers an in-depth theoretical background by internationally renowned scientists in the first year. The second year is dedicated to elaborate practical training in setting up, conducting and reporting research in cognitive neuroscience. A large majority of our graduates gain a PhD position, while other graduates find jobs in the commercial sector or at research institutes.

Specialisations

The research Master’s programme in Cognitive Neuroscience offers four specialisations that coincide with the research themes of the Donders Institute:

• Language and Communication - Studies the acquisition, understanding and production of language, and their biological underpinning.
• Perception, Action and Control - Studies basic sensorimotor aspects as well as the cognitive, contextual and social components of perception-action coupling.
• Development and Lifelong plasticity - Studies the mechanistic underpinnings and behavioural consequences of long-term changes in neural structure and function.
• Neural Computation and Neurotechnology - Studies the interaction between and within groups of neurons, and with the outside world.

If you have any questions, email us here: study-information@ru.nl

Learn more via the Radboud University contact form.

Information for international students

Application deadlines

Non-EU/EEA students

• The deadline for non-EU/EEA students who wish to apply for a scholarship is 31 January prior to the September intake. For the requirements and selection procedure for scholarships, please check our scholarship overview.
• The deadline for those not applying for a scholarship is 1 April for non-EU/EEA nationals for the September 2026 intake. You can apply for the September 2026 intake from 1 October 2025.

EU/EEA students

• The application deadline for EU/EEA students with housing assistance for the September 2026 intake is 1 May, and the deadline without housing assistance is 1 July. You can apply from 1 October onward for the 2026/2027 academic year.

The application deadlines for Master’s starting in February are 1 November for non-EU/EEA citizens and 1 December for EU/EEA citizens.

Fees and funding

Radboud University offers 3 different scholarships that are open to prospective Master's students from non-EU/EEA countries and who want to follow an English-taught Master's programme.

Radboud Scholarship Programme

The Radboud Scholarship Programme offers talented, highly motivated, non-EU/EEA students with outstanding study results the opportunity to be awarded a partial scholarship for an English-taught Master’s programme.

NL Scholarship (for prospective students)

The NL Scholarship (formerly known as Holland Scholarship) is a partial scholarship for non-EU/EEA students who want to do their Master’s in the Netherlands.

Fulbright-Radboud Scholarships

The Fulbright Commission, sponsored by Radboud University, is offering scholarships for talented American students to study at Radboud University.