Plant and Fungal Taxonomy, Diversity and Conservation Queen Mary University of London

Overview

MSc Plant and Fungal Taxonomy, Diversity and Conservation at Queen Mary University of London will give you the cross-disciplinary skills and knowledge you need to describe, understand and conserve biodiversity. The course will teach you plant and fungal identification skills, molecular systematics, evolutionary biology, as well as conservation policy, theory and practice.

What you'll study

Skilled scientists in plant and fungal taxonomy are in short supply – and only a small percentage of the planet’s biodiversity has been formally described by science.

You’ll be taught by world-leading experts, internationally recognised for their cutting-edge research in plant and fungal sciences. You’ll learn how to apply new technologies to answer fundamental questions about the diversity of plant and fungal life on Earth, how it evolved and how we can best conserve it.

In this programme you’ll visit conservation projects and experience rare exotic plants during a field trip to Madagascar. You’ll get an introduction to practical field work, including botanical surveys and flowering plant identification and how they can be applied to solving practical problems of conservation management as well as biodiversity research. It will be taught by botanists from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre (KMCC) in Antananarivo and local conservationists and researchers from collaborating institutions. Several site visits to conservation projects and some taught case studies will give an overview of conservation in Madagascar.

Career paths

This course gives you the knowledge and skills to undertake research in the fields of taxonomy, molecular systematics, ecology and evolution, or to engage in more applied conservation work. It’s ideal preparation for a PhD or a career in industry, academia, environmental consultancy or government agencies.

Graduates of this course go on to roles such as:

• PHD Candidate at The James Hutton Institute 
• Botanical Horticulturalist at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 
• Plant Science Content Editor at Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International 
• PHSI Plant Health Import Inspector at Animal and Plant Health Agency

You'll have access to our Careers and Enterprise service who'll be there to help you find the right opportunity for your next step.