Programme overview

The study programme in a nutshell

Approximately 10% of the 13,000 psychologists in the Netherlands who are members of the Dutch Association of Psychologists (NIP) are forensic psychologists. Meanwhile, forensic psychologists are by far the most influential forensic experts (www.nrgd.nl).

This master's programme will teach you how to become a forensic psychologist in practice or as a scientific researcher. You can alternatively choose to prepare for a career as a legal psychologist. Bear in mind that forensic psychologists study criminal irresponsibility, while legal psychologists study the strength of (criminal) evidence. These two fields are related yet distinct.

The curriculum consists of 4 core courses relevant to forensic and legal psychology, a research internship, and a forensic practical internship or a moot court. The four core courses are:

1. Psychology of evidence
2. Forensic mental health and criminal behaviour
3. Assessing risk and treatment outcome
4. Forensic neuroscience

These courses pay close attention to psychological influences on crime and functional, neuroscientific concepts of misconduct and crime. In addition to these core courses, and depending on your choices regarding internships, you may choose to take various elective courses.

In the second semester, students who wish to pursue a career in forensic (neuro)psychology complete a practical and research internship. Students who wish to specialise in legal psychology complete a research internship and an elaborate moot court assignment in which they practice doing legal psychological research and writing legal psychological reports. Depending on personal interest, research thesis topics can be chosen, such as deceptive behaviour in psychopathy, neuroscience of antisocial behaviour, or the validity of eyewitness testimony.

To graduate, all students need to write a master's thesis based on an empirical research study. Practical internships (to gain clinical experience) are not obligatory and are hard to find for students in the specialization Forensic & Legal Psychology who do not speak Dutch. It is possible to do a practical internship abroad (instead of in the Netherlands). Note that students are responsible for finding a suitable place for an internship.

Please click on one of the courses in the programme overview below to see the course description. The curricula are subject to change. No rights may be derived from this information (including the information via the links).