Biology

specialisatie Adaptive Organisms

This Master's specialisation offers a challenging research-orientated programme that covers the fundamental processes involved in stress responses of plants, micro-organisms and animals.

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. Next to in-depth courses about molecular physiology, ecophysiology and quantitative biology, you'll spend at least a whole year performing your own experiments. In this way, you'll learn hands-on to work with advanced equipment including electron microscopes and mass spectrometers and you'll develop a critical research mentality.

Knowledge about stress adaptation is crucial for our society. Think of animal well-being, nature conservation, agriculture and biotechnology. Radboud University connects fundamental research to these real life situations, by collaborating with governmental organisations, NGOs and biotech companies. These are also the organisations where most Adaptive Organisms students end up after graduation or after obtaining their PhD, either as a researcher or in a research-related job such as policy officer or consultant.

specialisatie Communities and Ecosystems

This Master's specialisation aims to unravel the ecosystem dynamics in order to contribute to species protection and nature recovery.

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 Master's specialisation you'll get insight in the relations between different communities and how they react to environmental stress. This fundamental knowledge can be applied in nature protection and restoration or in nature-based industrial processes, for example water purification.

With two internships, there's a strong focus on research. Some students choose to perform research at the leading Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR) in Nijmegen, while others rather work at a company, water authority or NGO. How do you want to make your contribution to nature? We'll help you find a topic and internship organisation in your field of interest.

specialisatie Water and Environment

This Master's specialisation lets you dive into ecological issues on all size scales and connecting scientific findings to societal implications or environmental policies.

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, we start 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.

This all-encompassing view is a great advantage at the job market, where there's a great need for environmental experts who can make the connection between science and society. Think of researchers, policy makers, risk analysers or project managers. Because we focus on aquatic ecosystems and wetlands, our graduates have a head-start when it comes to pertaining positions at water boards or within water-related projects.

Interested in obtaining a double Dutch-German degree in this field of science? Please have a look at our double degree Master's in Transnational ecosystem-based Water Management .

specialisatie Microbiology

This Master's specialisation focuses on improving health and environment, and providing in-depth insight into present-day clinical microbiology and microbial research in general.

In this specialisation you will study the interface between fundamental and applied ecology and medical microbiology. As a Master's student you will be part of a Microbiology research department that is at the forefront in the areas of environmental, medical, and molecular microbiology.

Microbiology at Radboud University focuses on the functioning of microorganisms and their potential for improving our health and the environment. Think of applications in energy-efficient societal waste processing or next generation vaccines. As the programme contains more than one year of academic research, you will gain extensive hands-on experience in microbial research.

specialisatie Transnational Ecosystem-based Water Management

This Master's specialisation offers an international programme for future water managers, combining ecology, hydrology and socio-economics.

What is the best way to handle invasive species in a river ecosystem? Or how do you protect a city like New Orleans from floods? In this double degree programme, you'll learn to tackle these kinds of problems on the basis of ecological, hydrological and social-economic aspects. We focus on ecological solutions, which are often more effective than technical adjustments. Think of estuaries with sea grass fields breaking the waves instead of reinforcing dikes, or self-purification of drainage-basins, making dredging unnecessary.

The Master's specialisation in Transnational Ecosystem-based Water Management (TWM) is partly taught at Radboud University and partly at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. This means that you'll profit from the expertise at two universities and become familiar with different cultures and research approaches. And after successful completion of the programme, you'll receive a German and a Dutch diploma. With that broad background, our graduates often find a job as manager or project leader, with an all-encompassing view in national or international water-related projects.

specialisatie Science in Society

specialisatie Science, Management and Innovation

This specialisation will teach you how innovation is managed in company strategies, how government designs policy and how that interacts with societal challenges.

Both the public sector and businesses struggle with the question of how to address sustainability, health, energy and IT security issues. Many of the challenges that society faces are rooted in the natural or computer sciences but have strong links to other disciplines. Solutions require scientists with an additional understanding of the societal aspects of these problems, and the ability to speak the language of and work with all possible stakeholders like scientists, civil servants and politicians.

The Master's specialisation in Science, Management and Innovation will therefore take you out of the lab and place you right in the heart of society. After the first year in which you broaden your knowledge in your scientific field, you'll learn the skills you can use to make a direct contribution to society. This contribution can range from the creation of policies that tackle social issues to project development or market research.

The combination of expertise – science, policy and business – is highly sought after and will prepare you for a dynamic career in business, a job in the public sector or in the a social (research) organisation.

specialisatie Science and Education