Biodiversity and Systematics (BDS)
Academic contacts
Prof. Yamama Naciri Conservatory and Botanical Garden
Dr Mathias Currat Dpt of Genetics & Evolution
The objective of this orientation is to offer a modern and thorough training in the fields of biodiversity, systematics, phylogenetics, and conservation. This orientation is organized jointly by scientists from the Biology section, the Natural History Museum and the Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the city of Geneva. Students participating in this orientation follow theoretical and practical courses in the fields of taxonomy and systematics, phylogenetic inference and macroevolutionary analyses, population genetics and the evolution of biodiversity and its conservation. Numerous elective courses and field placements are also available. Emphasis is placed on personal reflection, well-structured argumentation and the development of critical thinking skills. This orientation offers a wide range of master's projects covering many groups of organisms from bacteria to plants and animals, including humans, and using state-of-the-art approaches in imaging, genetics and genomics, and modeling, to answer evolutionary, ecological, and systematics questions.
The Master's degree in Biology - orientation Biodiversity and Systematics - prepares students for further training in a doctoral school such as the PhD school in Life Sciences of the Faculties of Medicine and Science, but also for a career in a museum or botanical garden, in research centers and public administrations, in NGOs focused on nature and biodiversity protection, scientific journalism, and also for teaching biology in secondary schools.