Master in Biodiversity Conservation

An interdisciplinary program

The Master in Biodiversity Conservation is an interdisciplinary program that responds to the major environmental and societal challenge of understanding the causes and halting the global erosion of biodiversity. Courses are balanced between plant, animal, and ecosystem conservation biology and the human dimensions of conservation such as anthropology, economics, law and psychology. Students will undertake fieldwork, receive hands-on training in scientific methods, and acquire transversal skills at the interface between the science and practice of biodiversity conservation.

Objectives

Graduates of the Master in Biodiversity Conservation will be able to understand the diversity of living organisms and the ecological complexes (from ecosystems to the biosphere) of which they are a part, to analyse and problematise the relationships between humans and non-humans (plants, animals, and other groups) in order to grasp the mechanisms driving change in space and time, to analyse existing conservation policies and programmes, and to develop and propose strategies to address specific problems.

Programme structure

The master takes place over 3 semesters (for 90 ECTS) and is structured as follows:

• a 45 ECTS compulsory core curriculum (5 modules/blocks);
• a 15 ECTS preparatory phase for the master’s thesis;
• a 30 ECTS master's thesis

The core curriculum runs for the entire first year (semesters 1 and 2) and includes 45 ECTS of compulsory courses organized in 5 modules/blocks:

• refresher courses in the form of directed readings (3 ECTS);
• transversal skills and scientific methods (6 ECTS);
• an integrative module of conservation sciences in theory and in the field (9 ECTS);
• human and social dimensions of conservation (anthropology, economics, law, psychology) (12 ECTS);
• conservation biology (15 ECTS).

In addition, the programme includes 15 ECTS for the preparatory phase of the master's thesis, composed of internships, bibliographic work and/or elective courses. In this way, students will be able to specialise according to their interests.

The 30 ECTS master's thesis will focus on the analysis of actual conservation problems, from both research and professional perspectives. The thesis may be directed by any faculty member involved in the Master in Biodiversity Conservation. The choice of thesis director will determine the final title (Master of Science (MSc) or a Master of Art (MA)), depending on the discipline in which it is based. To encourage interdisciplinary supervision, a teacher from a different disciplinary field than the supervisor may follow the thesis project as a referee.

Professional perspectives

The contacts established during their internships and master's thesis will make them directly employable in governmental agencies, NGOs and private companies active in environmental policymaking and project conception and management. In addition, the master’s degree will qualify them for continued studies at the doctoral level if they wish to continue in fundamental and/or applied research.