Master track Care & Cure

Electrical Engineering is about many things that are essential parts of people’s lives. Health care is an application area of electrical engineering which has seen a rapid development over the last decade. The purpose of the Care & Cure track is to teach students to work independently on complex health-care related research and design projects with the ability to rethink existing concepts and develop new ones. In the final phase of the program students will be able to present the results of their work to an international community.

Program setup

    EC
1st year Core courses 15
  Specialization electives 10
  Specialization electives 10
  Free elective courses 20
  Professional development 5
2nd year Internship 15
  Graduation project 45

Core courses

Students of the master track C&C must follow three core courses in the 1st year. More information about the core courses can be found here

Specialization electives

Students of the master track C&C choose two specialization electives from one of the research groups belonging to the C&C master track: EM, IC, PHI or SPS. More information about the specialization electives can be found here

Specialization electives

Students of the master track C&C choose two additional specialization electives from the remaining two research groups belonging to the C&C master track. Choose either one specialization path course from each research group, or choose two specialization path courses from one research group. More information about the specialization electives can be found here

Free electives

Students of the master track C&C choose 20 EC of free elective courses. More information about free elective courses can be found here. See below for the special requirements for the free electives if you want to obtain a Care & cure sub track certificate 

Professional development

Students of the master track C&C follow two professional development courses, worth 5 EC in total. For more information on professional development please visit this webpage

Internship

Students of the master track C&C do an internship of 15 EC. For more information on the internship please visit this webpage. 

Graduation project

Students of the master track C&C do a graduation project of 45 EC in the field of Care & Cure. For more information on the graduation project please visit this webpage

Care & Cure certificate

Students who meet the abovementioned criteria receive the Care & Cure certificate. 

Care & Cure sub track certificate

Within the Care and Cure track there are four sub tracks: Neuro engineering, Oncology, Cardiology and Perinatology (see below). In order to qualify for a certificate in one of the four sub tracks you need to meet the abovementioned criteria and choose three study components (within your free elective courses) from a Care & Cure sub track. The study components for each sub track can be found here. Please note that bachelor courses completed in the bachelor also count towards the sub track certificate.   

  • Neuro engineering 

Neuro-engineering aims to understand, repair, replace, enhance, monitor, or otherwise exploit the properties of neural systems. Within the Electrical Engineering department, one of the research lines focusses on cognitive and neurological problems in epilepsy and sleep medicine, exploits advanced neuroimaging such as fMRI to find related brain network abnormalities, and investigates (electrical) neurostimulation as treatment option. Furthermore, research is performed into real-time seizure detection and prediction using EEG, heart rate (variability) and various other types of physiological data. Also (ultra)low-power electronics are being developed for ambulatory monitoring of brain function, and research is performed into brain-inspired machine learning and pattern recognition. 

  • Oncology 

Oncology focuses on the localization and treatment of cancer. For a successful treatment, timely diagnosis is essential. This requires a combination of applicator hardware design, advanced imaging, and smart integration of relevant information on complementary cancer features (mechanical, hemodynamic, and molecular). Image fusion and registration can then be used to plan and guide minimally invasive targeted treatment, making use of hyperthermia and several forms of tissue ablation. To this end, multidisciplinary knowledge is provided, ranging from imaging, to signal analysis and classification, up to focal (heat) treatments by e.g. electromagnetic fields or ultrasound. 

  • Cardiology 

Cardiology deals with dysfunctions of the cardiovascular system. The heart is an extraordinary electromechanical pump, the assessment of which requires investigating both electrical activation and mechanical performance. Depending on the diagnostic objectives, either long-term ambulatory monitoring or advanced imaging is necessary. Ambitious goals are therefore set, ranging from the realization of noise-robust non-obtrusive (low-power) sensing up to the implementation of accurate, ultrafast dynamic imaging. In combination with blood flow, blood oxygenation is also essential for our cellular metabolism and can be measured by photoplethysmography. Implanted devices to re-establish and maintain a regular cardiac function are also considered. 

  • Perinatology 

Even before pregnancy, research is being carried out to support state-of-the-art assisted reproductive technology by assessment of the uterine condition. Pregnancy is the most dangerous period in a person’s life. Monitoring and early warning is therefore crucial to enable timely intervention and decision making. This can be achieved by advanced multimodal sensing, possibly enabling unobtrusive home monitoring of the fetal condition and uterine activity. Also after birth, early warning is vital and can be achieved by monitoring of brain and cardiorespiratory activity for a complete assessment of the newborn condition. Unobtrusiveness is especially relevant and can be obtained by means of contactless sensors and cameras. Monitoring can then be combined with advanced assistive technology, maintaining the main vital functions and permitting treatment and recovery.