Direct Track Courses and Study Regulations

ELSC Direct Ph.D. program provides students with a comprehensive and interdisciplinary background in the different subdisciplines of neuroscience, with emphasis on computational neuroscience.

During the first two to three semesters, the students focus on their course work, but from the third semester onwards, students spend most of their time doing research in one (or two in case of joint supervision) of Hebrew University laboratories.

In order to register as a doctoral student (Stage A), each student is required to take the qualification exam. Fellowships from the third year are contingent upon students’ transition to Stage A.

Courses:
The courses that students are required to take are divided into supplemental, required and elective courses.

Supplemental courses:

These are undergraduate-level courses in biology (76944), cognition (76989) and math (76966 and 76967) that are intended for students that lack the relevant background. The Supplemental math courses are online courses, supplemented by a teaching assistant. Students can take them (one of them or both) either during the summer break prior to the first year (recommended) or during the first semester. Most students will be required to take at least one supplemental course, and the specific required courses are determined by the teaching committee, depending on the student’s specific background.

Supplemental courses must be completed by the end of the first semester and with a pass grade of 80 in each course.

Required courses:
these courses constitute the backbone of the course work. They are divided into four disciplines + general courses. Students must take courses from all disciplines, but there is some flexibility within each discipline regarding which of the courses one needs to take:

Physiology: choose two out of the following three:

76900 – From Molecules to Circuits (3 cp)

76901 – Systems Neuroscience (3 cp)

76903 – Neuroscience of Behavior (2 cp)

Methods: choose two out of the following three:

76905 – Research Techniques in Neurobiology (4 cp)

76993 – Human Neuroscience Methods (4 cp)

76995 – Data Analysis in Brain and Cognition Sciences (4 cp)

Computational: Choose three out of the following four:

76931 – Dynamical Systems and the Neuron (2 cp)

76908 – Dynamics of Computation in the Brain (4 cp)

76909 – Neural Learning (4 cp)

76915 – Information and Coding in the Brain (4 cp)

Cognition:

76913 – Advance Cognitive Processes (3 cp)

General courses:

76913 – Tutorial Course: Selective Topics in Neural Computation (2 cp)

76980 – M.Sc. Seminar in Brain Sciences (2 cp). The M.Sc. Seminar is a mandatory course which will take place in the second week of the fifth semester.

76920 – Colloquium in Brain Sciences (0 cp, compulsory in the first two years)

Required courses must be completed by the end of the second year.

Elective courses:
Students can choose from a large number of courses as detailed in the Shnaton. The total number of credit points required is 50, of which up to 4 points from the supplemental courses and only one course may be taken with a pass/fail grade.

Students whose research will include animal experiments are required to take the elective course Ethical Handling of Laboratory Animals (94810; 1 elective cp).

Students who start the program with a master’s degree do not need to attain a total of 50 credit points. They are only required to take only the Compulsory Courses and the Supplementary Compulsory courses.

ELSC minor track students, who will be accepted to the PhD program, will receive academic credit for the mandatory courses he/she already took, and will need to attain only 42 credit points.

Advisor
Students are not restricted to ELSC labs. Rather, they can join any Hebrew University lab that studies brain, cognition or computation. If you are unsure, discuss it with the head of the program. Students are not required to work in a lab before joining the program, but it is highly advisable that they find a lab before the beginning of the second year. Students must have found their adviser by the beginning of the second semester of the second year.

Students who successfully completed the first year of the direct track program and found a lab in ELSC can continue their studies for an M.Sc. degree.

In the second year of studies, they will be required to:

• Complete two courses in each topic.
• Complete the M.Sc. Seminar.
• Complete 32credit points.
• Write a research thesis.

Please note that ELSC scholarships for M.Sc. students will be reduced by 50%.

The M.Sc. thesis is expected to be roughly equivalent to a paper in a scientific journal. The thesis defense is an oral presentation of the work before a committee and the M.Sc. adviser.