Frequently Asked Questions

Students who have completed university studies (degree or bachelor's degree), especially in Physics, Mathematics, Engineering or Computer Science, and who are interested in pursuing a scientific research career.

In addition to the university degree, students should have a basic knowledge of physics, mathematics and programming. In addition, knowledge of English (equivalent to B2) is required. The Master's academic committee will review the background of each applicant and, in case it finds it necessary, will require students to complete "complementary" courses in those areas where there might be a lack of the necessary background. These can be found in the "complements" section of the courses page here.

Yes, you will be allowed to follow the Master, provided you fulfill the minimum requirements stated above. Moreover, you will have the possibility to complete up to 120 ECTS in master courses in order to fulfill a total of 300 ECTS (including bachelor and master), which is required to join a European Doctoral School.

The objective of the master is to learn the fundamentals of experimental particle physics and physics of the cosmos, providing students with the required background to pursue doctoral (and pos-doctoral) studies in these areas.

The faculty includes experts from centers of the Spanish Higher Council for Scientific Research, CSIC, including several from the Institute of Physics of Cantabria, and professors and researchers from the University of Cantabria, particularly from the Faculty of Sciences. There are also seminars imparted by national and international experts from research centers around the world. The faculty of this Master is described here.

Students will have acces to the laboratory and computing infrastructures available at IFCA. They will also have the oportunity to be part of international research teams in the context of the different projects carried out by the participating institutions.

It is an Official Master (approved by the ANECA and the Council of Universities) of 60 ECTS credits (with the option of doing more), and can be done in an intensive course (approximately 20 hours per week, from October to September, holidays excluded). The classes are mostly in the morning, from 10h to 14h, and from Monday to Thursday. A few seminars (about one per month) are scheduled on Friday morning, and some laboratory practices might be scheduled in the afternoon. The last three months are meant to be dedicated mainly to the research project. If you need to know the exact details, you can contact us (the schedule will be published as soon as the pre-registration process ends).

Being an OFFICIAL Master it has a public fee, which in this case is 35 euros / ECTS credit, so the approximate total cost is 2,100 euros. In addition to the different options of scholarships depending on your academic record, there are scholarships covering the registration fee sponsored specifically for this master. Information about scholarships can be found here.

The master is supported by institutes of the Spanish national research council, and includes expert researchers in different areas of specialization. It has been designed as a first step towards pursuing a career in scientific research, and with the hope that students will find it attractive enough to consider enrolling in Ph.D. programs and continue their formation in the fields of experimental particle physics or physics of the cosmos.

There are two main specialties: experimental particle physics and physics of the cosmos. Within each specialty there are several optional courses and a large variety of research project topics. You can get some idea of this by looking both at the list of optional courses here and at the list of past and present "TFM" ("Trabajo de Fin de Máster" or research projects) here.

The short answer is yes. Classes can be imparted in either Spanish or English, as long as every single student is fluent in Spanish. However, the master is open to international students and usually does have several international students. Spanish is NOT required in this Master, but English at the level of B2 is required. Classes will be imparted in English and all the material, slides and bibliograhy can be followed in English. Most TFMs are also written in English. Also, several international speakers, most notably those who impart specialized seminars, are non Spanish speakers.

Attendance to classes is mandatory and key to guarantee an adequate progress in the master. To help those who are unable to physically attend all sessions, there will be the option of attendance through a professional remote participation system. In addition, all the material of the courses will be available in an online platform. Most classes are imparted at the Multimedia Room of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Cantabria in Santander (Spain). Frontier Research seminars, a few classes and some practices might also be imparted at the Instituto de Física de Cantabria in Santander.