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Evolutionary Biology

Master

In Bath ()

Price on request

Description

  • Type

    Master

  • Duration

    1 Year

The aim of the programme is to provide an insight into a range of research activities, techniques and skills. The programme has four main objectives: To broaden knowledge of the conduct, management, implications and exploitation of research. To enhance the specialist knowledge at Masters level. To provide experience of high-level research in state-of-the-art topics. To provide training in a wide range of research techniques. Suitable for: Students who are thinking about a research career.

About this course

Upper second class honours degree or equivalent.

English requirements:
* IELTS 6.5 (with not less than 6.0 in each of the four components).
* TOEFL 580 (paper-based test) or 237 (computer-based test) with a score of not less than 4 in the TWE or 92 (internet-based test) with not less than 21 in each of the components.

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This centre's achievements

2021

All courses are up to date

The average rating is higher than 3.7

More than 50 reviews in the last 12 months

This centre has featured on Emagister for 14 years

Subjects

  • Biology
  • Conflict
  • Art

Course programme

Overview

Evolutionary Biology is the branch of biology dealing with the origin and descent of species, their genes and genomes. We study experimental evolution in the laboratory, evolution in nature as well as hypothesis testing and modeling using the increasingly large genetic and genomic databases of organisms from bacteria to man.

Programme Structure

The programme is a one year, full-time taught degree. At the core of the programme are two consecutive 20-week laboratory research projects. Each of these will be supervised by different members of Faculty to enhance the range of knowledge of the student. To support these projects there will be a special Research Training Unit, a Literatures Review, Critical Analysis and Research Proposal Unit as well as a choice of four taught modules.

Research Training Unit - Based on the Joint Skills Statement of the Research Councils UK, this training programme covers all the generic skills that we would expect a year one PhD to acquire. These include radiological protection, risk assessments (GMOs, microorganisms, chemicals, radiation, etc.), safety legislation, time management, planning work, obtaining information, academic writing, making effective presentations, poster preparation; demonstrating in laboratories; issues of confidentiality, ethics, attribution, copyright, malpractice and plagiarism; ownership of data and the requirements of the Data Protection Act; intellectual property rights, spinouts and licensing; science policy, funding and evaluation; bibliographic databases; and personal development planning.

Literatures Review, Critical Analysis and Research Proposal Unit - This unit is designed to develop the skills in a student that will enable her or him to become an effective practising researcher. Critical analysis is the ability to constructively assess the strengths and weaknesses of scientific papers, posters and presentations; literature reviews demonstrate the ability of a student to acquire and analyse state-of-the-art knowledge and understanding in any area; the research proposal, at the end of the programme, allows the student to develop a real research proposal suitable for a 3-year PhD programme of study.

Available taught units are:

  • Evolution in deep time
  • Sexual conflict
  • Bioinformatics
  • Microbial evolution - from the laboratory to nature
  • The evolution of genetic systems
  • Molecular evolution and phylogenetics

Students are also required to attend a majority of weekly internal seminars and weekly seminars by external speakers. A tutorial programme accompanies the formal teaching.

Free English language tuition is provided in a course especially designed by bioscientists for non-native English speakers.

Titles of projects that have been offered in recent years include:

  • Conflict and cooperation in animal breeding systems
  • Conservation biology of wetland birds
  • Evolutionary functional genomics
  • Evolutionary genomic approaches to the study of sperm form, function and evolution
  • Fossil gaps in the Tree of Life
  • How “shaky” are published phylogenetic trees?
  • Mathematical modelling/computer simulation in ecology/evolutionary ecology
  • Mechanisms of aging in fruit flies
  • Models or empirical tests of sexual conflict
  • Molecular evolution: evolution of non-coding DNA
  • Pathogen-induced recombination in fruit flies
  • Theoretical and empirical evolutionary quantitative and population genetics
  • What type of characters are most helpful in reconstructing the Tree of Life?

Additional information

Payment options: Home/EU Students: £4400 Overseas Students: £14000 There are several ways to pay: Direct Debit Debit Card Credit Card Cheques & Drafts Bank Transfer Cash We prefer you to use Direct Debit. Self-funding students can pay tuition fees in two instalments. Please note that we reserve the right to refuse this concession to students with bad payment records.
Comments: Previous MRes students have come from Argentina, Austria, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and the UK.
Career opportunities: Students who complete our MRes degree will be well qualified to proceed to a three-year PhD programme. They should have a competitive edge in relation to undergraduate students applying for doctoral studies. They will be able to find posts in industry and government where a working knowledge of the nature and demands of academic research is needed.
Contact person: Dr. Alan Wheals

Evolutionary Biology

Price on request