Students participating in a lecture

Program and courses Clinical Neuropsychology

You will investigate the neurological and neuropsychological characteristics of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders and brain conditions in the pediatric population. You will also study the normal and pathological age-related changes in cognition, behavior and brain. Throughout the program, the emphasis lies on the biological origins and the brain mechanisms underlying disorders such as epilepsy, autism, ADHD, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and more.

Program structure

This one-year Master's track consists of 60 credits (ECTS):

  • 4 core courses (24 ECTS)
  • Internship (18 ECTS)
  • Master’s thesis (18 ECTS)

The program starts at the end of August.

The content of the program is divided into two themes: clinical and fundamental.

  • In the clinical part of the program, you will study disorders connected to brain and behavior, such as developmental disorders, degenerative disorders, and cerebrovascular accidents.
  • In the fundamental part of the program, you will study cognition by doing behavioral research, psychophysiological research, EEG/ERP scanning, fMRI, and hyperscanning to know more about sensory integration, mother-child interaction, executive processing, neurofeedback, and aging.

Program content

Block 1: August - October
  • Developmental Neuropsychology
    Study pediatric neuropsychology from pregnancy to adolescence. You will focus on neurodevelopmental disorders in relation to normal brain development and their impact on cognitive, emotional, behavioral, academic, social and family functioning. You will learn about topics such as language disorders, intellectual disabilities and giftedness, ADHD and autism, and epilepsy.
  • Assessment for Clinical Neuropsychology
    Learn how to perform a complete neuropsychological assessment from a scientist-practitioner perspective. You will be taught how to develop an anamnesis and gain insights into the use of different instruments to assess attention, memory, language, processing speed, visuoperceptual skills, and executive functions. Finally, you will learn how to interpret and integrate your assessment results, formulate a conclusion, and give advice for treatment. 
    • Optional: diagnostic certificate NIP (BAPD) 
  • Internship
  • Master's thesis
Block 2: October - January
  • Neuropsychology of Aging 
    Study normal and pathological age-related changes in cognition, behavior, and the brain and thereby learn to differentiate between normal age-related changes and neurodegenerative disorders. You will focus on topics such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and Cerebrovascular diseases. 
  • Assessment for Clinical Neuropsychology
    Learn how to perform a complete neuropsychological assessment from a scientist-practitioner perspective. You will be taught how to develop an anamnesis and gain insights into the use of different instruments to assess attention, memory, language, processing speed, visuoperceptual skills, and executive functions. Finally, you will learn how to interpret and integrate your assessment results, formulate a conclusion, and give advice for treatment. 
    • Optional: diagnostic certificate NIP (BAPD) 
  • Internship
  • Master's thesis
Block 3: January - March
  • Neuropsychological Rehabilitation

    Learn how to design an intervention plan from a scientist-practitioner perspective. The course will start with a discussion of the principles of evidence-based treatments, and the biological mechanisms that underly recovery after acquired brain injury. You will be taught how to set goals and decide which steps are necessary when designing a rehabilitation plan. Finally, you will explore current, evidence-based rehabilitation treatments and the impact they have on clinical and emotional functioning.

  • Internship
  • Master's thesis
Block 4: April- July
  • Internship
  • Master's thesis
Internship
  • The internship is mandatory and consists of 18 ECTS, which is equivalent to about 504 hours of internship. There is room for flexibility. Some students start the internship in September and others in February, and some students do their internship three days per week while others do it four days per week.  
  • You will get a basic understanding of the practical work of a clinical neuropsychologist.
  • You will learn to apply ethical and normative standards in your work and interaction with colleagues and clients.

Internship possibilities

You can either do an external internship in a health care organization or an internal internship at Tilburg University. There is no capacity limit for the external or internal internships. After admission, all students with an internship or willing to enroll in the internal internship will be accepted.

External Internship

Your internship takes place in health care organizations. For example, in rehabilitation services dealing with patients with acquired brain damage, or care organizations helping people with autism, or elderly homes that help people with dementia. In sum, you will work for an institution that cares for patients with neuropsychological disorders and complaints.

Finding a place for your internship is your responsibility, and it is important to start looking for an internship early, i.e. before the Master's program begins. We advise you to start looking for a suitable internship before the program starts, preferably in the months of February, March and April.

To support you during your search, we highly recommend utilizing the following resources: 

  • The e-module Internships in the Master Clinical Neuropsychology. In this e-module, you will find important information about the internships and many tips for finding an internship on time. For example, you will find the conditions the internship position must meet and tips on writing a CV and a cover letter.

Go to the e-module Internships -  Master Clinical Neuropsychology

  • Online Q&A sessions about the internship in the Master Clinical Neuropsychology. In these sessions, you will have the opportunity to ask any remaining questions you may have about securing an internship position after completing the e-module. The dates of the Q&A sessions will be announced in the spring of 2025.
  • We also have a Canvas internship support page with more information and many examples of suitable internship positions, including vacancies. The information to enroll on this Canvas page is in the e-module. 

Please, contact the internship coordinators via email (internship.CNP@tilburguniversity.edu): 

  • If you have any questions after the Q&A online sessions.
  • As soon as you find an internship position. The internship coordinator must verify that the position meets the Master requirements. 
  • In consultation with the internship coordinators, doing an external internship abroad may be possible.

Internal Internship

During the internal internship, you work in the neuropsychological laboratory at Tilburg University. In this laboratory, biological measurements are constantly collected in a variety of patients across the life span, ranging from infants to elderly, in order to enhance clinical understanding, diagnosis, and treatment. You will acquire knowledge and skills about electrophysiological measurements, and how they can be used in neuropsychological assessments for clinical purposes (like autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, and brain tumors). You will become experienced with assessments and the design of neuropsychological interventions. The program offers tailor-made arrangements, so you can focus on your personal interests.

This internship is suitable for Dutch and international students, but note that the internal internship does not meet the requirements to obtain the LOGO and BAPD certificates.

Master’s thesis

In your second, third and final block, you will write your Master's thesis, guided by a supervisor. You will start by selecting a thesis topic, in consultation with your supervisor. In the first phase of writing your thesis (second block), you will write your research proposal. In the second phase (third and fourth blocks), you will collect the data and write your thesis. 

Examples of thesis subjects

  • Sensory integration in children with autism
  • Resting state EEG connectivity in children with ADHD
  • Impact of maternal behavior and anxiety on mother-infant neural synchrony
  • Stress and working and episodic memory in stroke patients
  • Emotion recognition and executive functioning in multiple sclerosis
  • fMRI on text-based auditory recalibration in people with dyslexia
  • Cognitive performance and coping in patients with somatic symptoms and related disorders
  • Cognitive training in Alzheimer’s dementia 
  • The use of neurofeedback to slow down cognitive decline 
BAPD and LOGO requirements

In order to work as a basic psychologist in the GGZ or Forensic Care after your Master's degree in Psychology and Mental Health (track Clinical Neuropsychology), it is mandatory (as of January 1, 2024) to have a LOGO certificate (or the certificates belonging to the LOGO certificate) in addition to your Master's degree. You will also need this LOGO statement if you want to study to become a GZ psychologist or psychotherapist in the Netherlands.

For the LOGO statement, evidence of prior education (Verklaring Vooropleidingseisen) and diagnostics (BAPD aantekening) is required. It is possible to obtain these statements at the end of the Master's program, but only if you meet the requirements, which are not only based on the courses in this Master's but also on the courses you took during your Bachelor's program. The clinical internship must meet the requirements set for it. This requires an additional time investment of 240 hours in the internship. 

  • As diagnostic evidence, you can use the BAPD or the “Diagnostics statement LOGO” The diagnostics statement LOGO was drawn up by the LOGO Association as an alternative to the BAPD  with regard to obtaining the LOGO statement. Please note: BAPD is considered a stronger qualitative diagnostic seal of approval. 
  • Obtaining the diagnostics statement LOGO is done without the involvement of Tilburg University. There are no theoretical requirements specifically associated with the diagnostic statement LOGO. The practice supervisor of the internship institution declares by means of the diagnostics statement LOGO (Declaration_of_diagnostics.pdf) that at least diagnostics 3 cases were carried out independently and at a sufficient level under his/her supervision.  For more specific guidelines visit "veelgestelde vragen" at vLOGO | Vereniging Landelijk Overleg Geestelijke gezondheidzorg Opleidingsinstellingen

Please note that admission to the Master's program does not mean that you automatically meet the requirements above. Consult the information on this page.

Watch a trial lecture

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions


Please note: programs are subject to change. We advise you to look up the current program in OSIRIS Student at the start of the year.


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Short overview of Clinical Neuropsychology

  • Become an expert on the relationship between the brain and behavior in humans and acquire in-depth knowledge and skills on both the assessment of disorders and interventions aimed at treating them. Learn to conduct independent research in the field of clinical neuropsychology using state-of-the-art neuroscientific methods.
  • Disorders that are addressed include, for example, epilepsy, autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cerebrovascular diseases, and Multiple Sclerosis. The emphasis throughout the program is on the biological origins and the brain mechanisms underlying these disorders.
  • You get the opportunity to put what you learned into practice by doing an external or internal internship.
  • If you pick an external internship in the Netherlands, you may be able to obtain the basic registration of psychodiagnostics (BAPD) and fulfill the criteria for the registration of the association LOGO (Vereniging Landelijk Overleg Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg Opleidingsinstellingen).

Interested in the MSc track Clinical Neuropsychology?

Check your eligibility and the deadlines for application