• Programme Mobility Structure
• Learning Outcomes
• Career Opportunities
• S-DISCO Mobility&Study Programme
• How to apply
• Finances

Programme Mobility Structure

The International master S-DISCO is a 2-year study programme (120 ECTS) in English: 90 ECTS (semesters 1-2-3) consist of face-to-face and on-line learning and 30 ECTS (semester 4) are dedicated to a master thesis.

The programme is preceded by a one-week summer school at Ghent University, starting with a half-day assessment of the selected candidates (compulsory), in order to help them identify sub-optimal starting competences. While one unit (i.e. Scientific communication) will be compulsory for all students, 2 additional units will be assigned to each student based on the results of the assessment.

The first semester follows immediately after the summer school at Ghent University and will introduce the students to the broad perspectives and basics of sustainable drug discovery. At the end of the first semester, students will go to Lille for the S-DISCO day, organized at the University of Lille. During this day, students will be exposed to the research activities of doctoral, postdoctoral and senior researchers.

The programme continues with the second semester when students move together to the Medical University of Gdańsk, where more in-depth courses on e.g. molecular modelling, omics and green analytics are given.

The third semester takes place at the University of Lille or the University of Groningen. The different stages in the drug discovery process up to drug development are discussed, i.e. screening, target identification and validation, hit-to-lead, preclinical studies up to first-in-human trials. By selecting the appropriate mobility track, students will be able to become more proficient in certain aspects of drug discovery by benefitting from the specific expertise of the selected partner university.

The final semester is dedicated to the execution and writing of the master thesis. The thesis is performed under the supervision of a lecturer of one of the four consortium universities and will preferentially take place at an international (incl. non-academic) partner worldwide.

Learning Outcomes

The major educational objectives of the S-DISCO programme are to:

1. Understand, evaluate and compare the different fundamental drug discovery concepts and processes, including common problems and possible solutions.
2. Integrate key concepts of drug discovery to elaborate on specific drug discovery processes.
3. Describe and apply sustainability principles within a drug discovery context.
4. Understand the importance and impact of sustainability in drug discovery within local and global health-systems.
5. Explain how and where ecologic and socio-economic systems interact to influence sustainability in the drug discovery process.
6. Consider and include sustainability in drug discovery decision making.
7. Analyse and explain regional and global sustainable drug discovery using a transdisciplinary and holistic approach.
8. Possess a global collaborative culture by building upon others’ ideas and treating team members with respect.
9. Integrate a sustainability attitude and participation in personal and professional life.
10. Be able to clearly present (orally and in writing) and argument conclusions in dialogue with colleagues and laymen in international contexts.

Career Opportunities

Our graduates will be trained to find creative and innovative solutions for the various challenges in the pharmaceutical field. Emphasis is on the crucially important discovery phase, taking into account environmental, ecological and socio-financial sustainability aspects. Workforce shortages exist for almost every position within the pharmaceutical and related industries, and scientists with the skills offered by our master program are extremely in-demand by the industry. Moreover, both national medicine-competent authorities as well as international agencies, such as EMA, FDA or WHO, will look for our high-level graduates. The same is true for civil society organizations, such as NGOs, working in this field. Finally, our graduates will have acquired useful competencies for further academic studies, i.e. Ph.D., thereby deepening the drug discovery field while propagating the sustainability viewpoint in pharmaceutical research and education.