Program of study

The goal of the Ph.D. programme in Evolutionary and Environmental Biology is to provide the students with a thorough understanding of the principles of the evolution of living beings, including humans, of their behaviour and of their relationships with the environment. For that end, we empasize a broad knowledge base ranging from the molecular level up to the individual, population and community levels.  The holder of a Ph.D. in Evolutionary and Environmental Biology wll be a highly qualified expert in the analysis and interpretation of biological processes and in the management of natural resources, who will be able to independently plan and conduct empirical research, to develop models and to analyse the data. Research and teaching activities related with the programme will tend to cross the bridge between basic and applied research, exposing the students to a broad range of inputs to stimulate the ability to develop innovative projects. Particular attention is given both to research projects addressing basic, fundamental biological questions, as well as projects with practical implications in areas such as the management of animal and plant populations and of the natural resources in general, with potential developments in industrial and applied research.

The scientific fields in which the faculty members are active include population and conservation genetics,  developmental molecular biology, molecular evolution, biotechnologies, bioinformatics, general and plant physiology, zoology, plant biology, animal and plant ecology, anthropology and statistics. The common theme crossing all these disciplines is the quantitative approach by which