Honours

Bachelor of Biomedicine (Degree with Honours)

  • CRICOS code: 073113J

The experience

Overview

Discover enrichment programs and the student experience from current and graduate Honours students.

Honours Alumni Mentor Program

As an Honours student, you will have an opportunity to join in the year-long mentor program, which connects you with our alumni and your peers. You will not only receive ongoing support from your mentors and peer mentees, but also learn more about the research options available after your Honours year. The program will enrich your experience and assist you in making a more informed decision about the next stage of your studies.

Helena Peng - Mentee

Helena Peng - Mentee

I like how I've made a connection with someone that has done the Honours program, and seeing where they are now, and the processes they went through to get there. My mentor is a PhD candidate, and this is a potential pathway that I am interested in, so it is very insightful. I also like how I've been connected to other Honours students in my group from different specialties. Honours can be very isolating, so it is valuable for me to have other Honours students I can talk to about difficulties or challenges that I might be facing, and hear about theirs too.

Georgia Eleftheriou - Mentor (current PhD candidate, completed Honours in 2020)

Honours Student Conference

As an Honours student, you will be invited to attend the annual Honours student conference. It is a student led and run event providing a great opportunity for you to showcase your research, celebrate achievements, connect with your peers and receive awards for your excellent work.

The inaugural virtual conference was successfully held in 2021. It consisted of four main sessions – student talks, careers panel discussion with alumni, three-minute thesis competition and a poster presentation session. It attracted almost 200 registrations and received fantastic feedback from the students.

“The MDHS Honours conference was a great way to see what students from other streams were doing so it’s definitely a good idea to keep that. Ideally having it in-person would be best, although I understand you can’t do that this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.”

“It was a great and fun experience overall and I got to meet other students in the other departments!”

2022 Student Conference

Alumni Testimonials

Jacqueline KURRUPU
Bachelor of Biomedicine (Degree with Honours) graduate

Honours has extended my knowledge on the causal relationships involved in disease as I learnt about the intersection between social interaction and illness. It's taken the integrative thinking skills I learned in Biomedicine and expanded it to considering how social factors impact on human health and, in turn, how health can benefit from certain social factors. I believe this knowledge is important when working within the health sector. Honours has also taught me additional skills such as office etiquette, how to work in a team with supervisors, how to manage your own project and it's developed my writing and people skills.

George STUYT
PhD student, Bachelor of Biomedicine (Degree with Honours) graduate

MDHS Hons George Stuyt MDHS Hons George Stuyt

What I like most about the Honours was the sheer amount of practical learning. My undergraduate had a relatively small amount of practical work, so the opportunity to learn and apply technical skills like two-photon imaging and surgery was hectic and rewarding. Furthermore, the first time I successfully live-imaged neurons in a functioning brain, where I clapped my hands and saw them light up, was something truly magical.

I’m currently doing a PhD - MDHS at the Florey, at the same lab that I did my Honours year in.  My advice for future and current Honours students is learn to make mistakes. A coursework environment rejects mistakes, but research is as much about the unexpected as the planned.

Melissa YOUNES
Doctor of Medicine student, Bachelor of Biomedicine (Degree with Honours) graduate

Honours was very attractive for many reasons. The first was the complete freedom to research in any field of my choosing. It gave me the best opportunity to research at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre about breast cancer under an amazing and supportive supervisor - Dr. Kara Britt! The second was the sense of empowerment it advocated for – I got to be a leader over my own project, work in a lab, think like a scientist, and write a thesis. I was never the most confident person in my undergrad labs, but honours promised me a supportive and unique lab experience - and it did not disappoint!

My advice for future and current Honours students is to not be scared or overwhelmed to enrol in honours. You often hear from other students that honours is hard and difficult. Honours does require hard work and dedication, but it is also one of the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences in my opinion. Let go of your insecurities and explore the world of research.