Master Evolution, Ecology and Systematics

The Master's program Evolution, Ecology and Systematics provides in-depth knowledge of biological systems with a clear focus to current research in organismic and evolutionary biology.

The study is interdisciplinary, so that competencies in ecology, biodiversity (including taxonomic knowledge), evolutionary biology, paleontology, systematics and phylogenetics can be acquired at different organizational levels and for different groups of organisms.

Our mission statement is to provide all students with an individual profiling based on a well-founded basic education. The students complete the five compulsory modules on Basics in Evolutionary Research, Ecology and Diversity, Species Identification, Experimental Design and Analysis of Biological Data, as well as an Excursion. For the required elective modules, we leave a great deal of scope for individual choices from modules of the participating Institutes en for Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Ecology and Evolution and Biodiversity.

Our graduates will be able to carry out research-oriented activities at universities, non-university research institutions, museums, public authorities, associations or the private sector.

Biology has a long tradition in Jena. The city was the workplace of the zoologist Ernst Haeckel, the botanist Matthias Jakob Schleiden and the geneticist and botanist Otto Renner. The infrastructure available to students and scientists in the field of Evolution, Ecology and Systematics is internationally outstanding and includes:

• the renowned zoological collection and exhibitions of the Phyletisches MuseumExterner Link,
• the Botanical Garden,
• the Haussknecht Herbarium (the largest herbarium in Germany),
• the long-term research facility Jena ExperimentExterner Link,
• the Collaborative Research Centre 1076 AquaDiva en
• the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigExterner Link 
• and, of course, a well-stocked libraryExterner Link.