PhD/MPhil Evolutionary Biology

Programme description

Our PhD/MPhil Evolutionary Biology programme enables you to undertake a research project at the cutting-edge of the field using different experimental, field, molecular, genomics, epigenomics and bioinformatics technologies that will improve understanding of Evolutionary Biology.

Evolution is the key to understanding many fundamental questions in the life sciences. To comprehend the diversity of life on earth, it is essential to know the evolutionary link between organisms and the processes by which new traits originate and are maintained.

In the biomedical sciences, comparisons of model organisms to humans, emergence of antibiotic resistance, or the identification of pathogen strains from molecular information all involve evolutionary processes. Therefore, evolution is of central importance to most areas of the life sciences.

Research in evolutionary biology covers a wide range of questions about evolutionary patterns and processes in microbes, plants and animals. Particular faculty strengths are evolutionary genetics and genomics, epigenomics, phyologenetics, behavioural ecology and evolutionary developmental biology.

The breadth of research topics is reflected in a diversity of state of the art techniques used, such as genome sequencing, epigenomics and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, but also field, bioinformatics and transcriptomics research, mathematical modelling.

Teaching and learning

PhD/MPhil programmes are based on individual research projects that last three to four years (PhD) or one year (MPhil), working with a specific Primary Supervisor and Co-Supervisor(s).

Applicants are specifically matched with a Primary Supervisor and individual project based on their research interests and background.

Career opportunities

Your postgraduate research degree will open up a range of career opportunities after you graduate.