Human Movement Sciences: Sport, Exercise and Health (Research)

How do toddlers learn to walk? How can augmented reality help patients with Parkinson’s Disease? How do top athletes get maximum performance out of their muscles? What’s the best training to improve stability and prevent falls among elderly people? As a student in the two-year Research Master Human Movement Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, you will learn how to answer urgent and socially relevant questions while conducting research aimed at unraveling the secrets of human movement through fundamental and applied scientific studies in Sport and Health.

Understanding movement is also critical for building resilience and preventing diseases like diabetes or cardiovascular disease — as well as for enhancing elite performance. Addressing these challenges requires advanced scientific expertise and the ability to translate theory into impact.

In this two-year programme, you will specialise in one of four scientific domains:

Biomechanics in Sports, Exercise, and Health

Movement Neuroscience for Health and Rehabilitation

Physiology of Human Performance and Health

Psychology in Sports, Performance, and Health

You will complete three advanced courses within your chosen domain. At the same time, you will follow a set of courses focused on developing your academic, methodological, professional and data science skills. This includes in-depth training in research design, data analysis, machine learning, and science communication.

During the second year, you will carry out a full-year Master Research Project (MRP), allowing you to work intensively on a research question of your choice. The MRP is supported by expert supervision, an peer learning. You will conclude with an impact-oriented thesis and present your findings at a research symposium. In addition to becoming well versed in these research areas, you’ll be trained in state-of-the-art research methodologies and advanced statistics. During this programme, you are encouraged to define your own position, and in doing so to become a reflective, critical and committed academic professional. The interactive, small-scale teaching methods used in the programme allow you to have in-depth discussions that meet the level and intensity of a Research Master’s programme. Plus, all the lecturers are renowned experts in their fields of research.