Plant Biology for Sustainable Production

Overview

Have you ever thought about the basis of our food production, and how we are going to produce enough food to feed the world's population, which is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050? How we are going to reduce our use of plastic materials and create a circular bio-based economy where nothing goes to waste? Plants are the answer to many of our pressing societal problems, but in order to make full use of their potential we need a better understanding of how plants work, how they adapt to climate change and what determines how much they can produce.

Overview

• Forest Biotechnology (in Umeå)
• Plant Protection and Breeding for Mitigating Climate Change (in Alnarp)
• Abiotic and Biotic Interactions of Cultivated Plants (in Uppsala)

A fourth possibility is to follow a separate two-year specialisation called Genetic and Molecular Plant Biology given jointly by SLU, Uppsala University and Stockholm University.

Modern biology provides tools so that we can conduct detailed studies of the genetics and physiology of plants. Combined with new technical methods of analysis, production of crops and trees can be studied from molecular level to farm and forest level. This new MSc programme is designed to educate the next generation of plant biologists, enabling them to develop plant-based solutions to complex problems within agriculture and forestry.

Future

The Plant Biology for Sustainable Production programme from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences is aimed at preparing the students for research and all of the specialisations included in the programme are connected to strong res- earch environments, which provides a good basis for future research studies. The degree will also enable the students to work within several green sectors related to modern crop and tree breeding and plant protection.