Biology

As a Biology student, you'll choose one of the following specialisations. With electives and internships, you can fit the programme exactly to your specific interests.

• Adaptive Organisms
  How do plants adapt in areas with regular flooding or drought? And what are the consequences of an increase of water acidity for a fish or a micro-organism? In the Adaptive Organisms specialisation, you’ll become an expert in stress adaptation of individual organisms.
  
  
• Communities and Ecosystems
  An ecosystem is a complex equilibrium consisting of numerous plants, animals and micro-organisms, influenced by soil and water characteristics, weather conditions and human intervention. In this specialisation you’ll get insight in the relations between different communities and how they react to environmental stress, such as drought, nutrient shortage or eutrophication.
  
  
• Microbiology
  This specialisation deals with the interface between fundamental biological and medical sciences. It focuses on molecular, medical and environmental microbiology to improve our health and environment and provides in-depth insight into present-day microbial research in general and clinical microbiology.
  
  
• Water and Environment
  In this specialisation you’ll be trained to become an environmental expert, analysing the human impact on nature. This might require a change of perspective: whereas biologists are used to argue from a specific organism or ecosystem, we in this programme with a stressor, such as the emission of carbon dioxide or toxic agricultural pesticides. You’ll learn to unravel the effects of such stressors on all size scales, from cells to ecosystems.
  
  
• Double Degree programme in Transnational Ecosystem-based Water Management
  What is the best way to handle invasive species in a river ecosystem? And how do you protect a city like New Orleans from floods? In this double degree programme, together with the University of Duisburg-Essen (in Germany), you’ll learn how to tackle these kinds of problems on the basis of ecological, hydrological and social-economic aspects.
  
  
• Science in Society
  This specialisation will equip you with the tools and skills to become a professional intermediary between science and society. You’ll learn to analyse (governmental) science communication and connect scientific knowledge with divergent perspectives and interests of various stakeholders.
  
  
• Science, Management and Innovation
  This specialisation will teach you what is happening in the world of business and public administration, how innovation is managed in company strategies, how government designs policy and how that interacts with societal challenges.