Testimonials

After completing my bachelor’s in criminology at Leiden University, I decided to pursue my master’s degree at EUR and UGent. It was the international dimension of the master’s programme that caught my attention at first. Being part of an international community in which different academic backgrounds come together is an important aspect of the programme in my opinion. This aspect also establishes social awareness, an important quality in our field. Now that I have completed my master, I would say that this international dimension was indeed a very valuable aspect to me. 

During my second year, my thesis supervisor, Prof. Christophe Vandeviver (UGent, Crime Lab), gave me the opportunity to be part of his research team as an intern. I would say that a lot of my academic as well as personal growth was due to this opportunity. As part of the UGent Crime Lab, I actively collaborated in ongoing research projects, contributing to the team’s broader efforts. I was also responsible for designing and implementing my own independent research project, which allowed me to explore my interests in depth and apply what I learned throughout my education in a research setting. Even though I am unsure about whether I want to pursue a career in academia, this internship was a huge added value to my IMARC experience, and I am convinced that I will be able to use the skills in many other settings as well. I would recommend future students to make the most of their IMARC years through internships or part-time jobs, as I truly believe it enriches your experience. 

Another important advice for future IMARC students would be to ensure a good support system. Finding a supportive supervisor and a thesis topic that you love (not just like!) would also be part of this recommendation. The pace and organisation of the programme can get tough and lonely at times. It was my support system and interest for my thesis topic that kept me going. Above all, my main tip would be to try and enjoy it a little from time to time. IMARC is an extraordinary experience that I would not have wanted to miss out on.

When I started at university with my bachelor’s in criminology, the whole concept of research and science was completely new to me. During my bachelor’s, my interests in research started to emerge, and I learned how fun and challenging doing research can be. I followed several courses on methodology, but I had not yet gone through the entire research process of devising, setting up, conducting, and reporting. This is the main reason why I chose for IMARC, because here you have a full year for your research! It allowed me to explore whether a career in research would be something for me.

Besides further exploring your interests for doing research, I think IMARC offers several more important advantages. First of all, because you have a full year for you research (in the second year of IMARC), you can pick a subject that you like and completely delve into that. With the different tracks, IMARC allows you to pick courses at a university you find interesting. When you have a specific job in mind, this can be helpful as well. Moreover, you can combine your research with an internship, which I did at a municipality. There are several partners of IMARC but approaching others on your own initiative might be possible as well. This did not only offer me research experience, but also more work experience and networking opportunities. Finally, another important note is that the programme is completely English taught. Although this can be challenging at first if you are not a native speaker like me, it absolutely helped me to improve my professional English skills, which stills helps me today. Communicating with your student-peers (and maybe even future friends!) from many different countries offers important cultural learning experiences as well.

Taken everything together, IMARC is a challenging, but one-of-its-kind criminological research master programme. It has been of great value for my current research, but even if you seek another kind of job after your master’s, I think the skills you will acquire can be of great value!