Curriculum

The doctoral program Health & Interventions comprises 18 ECTS credit points. These can be acquired according to the individual doctoral agreement in three curriculum areas (Research Content, Research Methods, Interdisciplinary Qualifications), with a minimum of ECTS credit points in each curriculum area. Freedom of choice exists in particular in the curriculum area of Research Methods and Interdisciplinary Qualifications; in these areas, participants of the doctoral program independently choose the continuing education courses that are optimal for their individual qualification.

Research Content (minimum 8 ECTS)

The aim of the Research Contents is to build expertise in the student's own specific research topic and related fields, and to establish a fundamental knowledge of relevant research topics in the fields of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, Placebo and Nocebo Research, Intervention Research, Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychooncology, and associated sciences. For this purpose, a continuous research colloquium (at least 4 ECTS) is offered, in which topical research work across all content areas is presented and discussed. Participation in conferences (at least 2 ECTS) as well as personal contact with external researchers (at least 2 ECTS) in Switzerland and abroad, in order to build up one's own research network, are also included here.

Research Methods (minimum 6 ECTS)

The aim of the Research Methods is to develop and further expand a sound repertoire of methods for one's own research career. This includes a broad repertoire of workshops to learn basic (e.g., Good Clinical Practise) and specific research methods (e.g., network metanalysis, handling qualitative data), statistical methods, and in-depth knowledge in the use of discipline-specific experimental software and statistical programs (e.g., R).

Interdisciplinary Qualifications (minimum 4 ECTS)

The aim of the Interdisciplinary Qualifications is to build up lasting interdisciplinary skills for a successful doctorate and to conduct effective and efficient scientific work. This includes workshops on scientific writing, the publication process, peer review of scientific papers, and the preparation and submission of external funding proposals. Furthermore, workshops include the promotion of communication skills, such as presenting and moderating as well as a basic didactic training.

In all three areas, cooperation with other doctoral programs of the Faculty of Psychology as well as doctoral programs of other faculties, educational development of the University of Basel, transferable skills of the University of Basel is possible; the recognition of relevant courses is carried out by the steering committee.