The curriculum includes courses organized in 2 semesters and an additional 3month practical implementation project during summertime; i.e. a total duration of 12 months corresponding to 75 ECTS.
1st Semester
Α1. Principles of scientific research [2 ECTS]
Goal: To introduce to the concepts, the principles, and the philosophy of research methodology, especially focused on the medical science research.
Contents: Definition, aim and motives of scientific research. Philosophy of scientific research. Types of research. Definition, aim and principles of translational research. Translational research spectrum. Research mentality and reality.
Α2. Search and critical appraisal of the literature [4 ECTS]
Goal: To develop skills for search and critical appraisal of the scientific literature using contemporary digital repositories.
Contents: Definition of scientific literature. Need for review of the literature. Evidence and literature resources and databases. Search strategy and query formulation Digital tools for literature search.
A3. Research design [7 ECTS]
Goal: To analyze the research methodology, showing the characteristics of each research type in health sciences, and to practice in research protocol design.
Contents: Research mindset, research question and research hypothesis. Resources, definition, and formulation of the research question. Demarcation and evaluation of the research question. Formulation of the research hypothesis. Research hypothesis testing. Philosophy of the research approach. Basic research (laboratory). Clinical research (types and design). Qualitative research – survey. Applied research. Systematic literature review.
A4. Methods for data collection and statistical analysis [7 ECTS]
Goal: To describe the methodology and the tools for the collection and processing of scientific data and to develop expertise in the implementation of scientific data collection and processing techniques.
Contents: Sampling, bias. Laboratory measurements (error, resolution, repeatability, sensitivity, specificity). Questionnaire. Interview. Observation. Hypothesis testing. Variation analysis. Non-parametric statistics. Odds and relative risk. Dependency – relationship. Linear and logistic regression. Presentation of results. Statistical analysis software.
A5. Communication of research findings [4 ECTS]
Goal: To present the means and methodology of communicating scientific research findings and to offer scientific communication practice.
Contents: Writing a research paper. Writing a thesis. Scientific speech and oral presentation. Scientific poster, graphical abstract. Communicating scientific results for educational purposes, micro-teaching. Communicating scientific results for the general public. Evaluation of research, publication, speech, action, research communication.
A6. Research ethics [3 ECTS]
Goal: To introduce to ethics issues, to describe and raise awareness of research ethics philosophy and to present practical issues and means of ensuring ethics in medical research.
Contents: Research ethics. Approval of a research protocol. Intellectual property. Plagiarism, tools, and procedures to check plagiarism. Personal and scientific data privacy and protection. Data property rights, open data and relevant repositories and technological standards. Open and sustainable research.
A7. Academic skills [3 ECTS]
Goal: To develop the necessary skills for efficient integration into an academic or professional research environment.
Contents: Researcher’s psychology. Behavior and collaboration in research setting and digital tools of cooperation. Personal life and work balance. Writing a scientific CV, conventional and digital, related digital tools and settings. Interview for a researcher’s job position. Inclusion issues in a research setting.
2nd Semester
Β1. Principles of innovation and entrepreneurship [2 ECTS]
Goal: To introduce the concepts, the principles, and the philosophy of innovation and entrepreneurship, focusing on innovation in the health sciences.
Contents: Introduction to innovation and entrepreneurship. Innovation scopes and axes. Stages and scales of the maturity of the research result and innovation. The company (enterprise), business skills, businessman’s personality. Enterpreneuship and financial growth, small and medium-sized enterprises. Innovation and entrepreneurship in globalization, national and international innovation networks. Recognition of business opportunities and construction (preparation) of business plans and economic and technical studies. Basic financial indicators for the evaluation of investment and financial business sustainability.
Β2. Funding for research and innovation[4 ECTS]
Goal: To introduce to skills for the pursuit and the accomplishment of research funding.
Contents: Funding sources for scientific research. The anatomy of the call for competitive grants. Drafting the grant proposal. Cooperation in an inter-disciplinary group and consortium. Management of a funded project.
Β3. Project management [7 ECTS]
Goal: To present the methodology of project management, based on contemporary management and administration methodologies.
Contents: Project and project management definition, terminology, international standards of project management. Methodology of project management. Feasibility study, project charter and management plan. Project life cycle. Work packages. Time management, project timetable, critical path. Project team. Cost management, resource planning and procurement. Implementation, observation, project audit, quality assurance. Human resource management.
Β4. Health technology quality assurance and assessment [7 ECTS]
Goal: To present the principles, the methodology and the techniques for quality assurance in research and innovation in the health sciences. To introduce assessment procedures to health technologies.
Contents: Product range in health. Measuring health and quality of life. Measuring user’s satisfaction. Certification systems and procedures. Organizations and procedures for the approval and certification of health products. Technology range in the health science’s field. Technological standards. Requirements’ analysis (personnel, patients, researchers, management). Problem modelling and preparation of the solution. Comparative assessment and evaluation of the products, tenders preparation.
Β5. Knowledge management and patenting [4 ECTS]
Goal: To present issues about intellectual property and knowledge management in research and innovation.
Contents: Intellectual property rights, industrial property. Trademark. Patents and licenses. Legal framework for intellectual property in international, European, and national level. Industrial property agency, patent repositories, patenting application. Open innovation and entrepreneurship.
Β6. Green innovation and sustainable growth [3 ECTS]
Goal: To introduce and discuss the meaning and philosophy of green and sustainable research and innovation.
Contents: Environmental and social factors in health research and innovation. Green innovation. Sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship. The role of the enterprise in green and sustainable growth. Corporate responsibility.
Β7. Innovation organization and presentation skills [3 ECTS]
Goal: To develop necessary skills for the effective management of innovation projects.
Contents: Efficient project manager’s skills. Failure management. Change management. Accountability. Development of a new product/service chart. Design of a new business endeavor.
Summertime
Γ. Άσκηση πρακτικής εφαρμογής
Goal: To integrate knowledge obtained from the courses above, through intense practical learning activities in the real context of research and innovation in health sciences.
Contents: Supervised practical learning activity as follows: Systematic review design. Creation of a graphical summary of a research article. Preparing of an oral presentation in a scientific Congress. Development of an oral presentation of scientific results to the general public. Market analysis. Grant proposal development. New product/service development.