Master (1.5 - 2 år som heltid)

Heltid

Ecology

Do you want to work with biological monitoring, conservation, and ecosystem health? Climate change, habitat loss, and pollution are straining ecosystems worldwide. Ecologists are needed to help understand these issues and come up with solutions. 

This program focuses on the following:

• The world's major global ecological challenges, such as biodiversity loss and climate change
• Mitigation of these effects, for example via restoration ecology
• Sustainable ecosystem management

Ecologists play a key role in understanding how humans impact the environment. This knowledge is a prerequisite for combatting important environmental challenges of our time. It is also vital when working to reverse land and water degradation through restoration measures.  

NMBU has an extensive course catalogue within ecology and related subjects, which is taught by dedicated teachers and researchers who are experts within their field. 

The master's thesis gives you the opportunity to delve into a scientific topic of your choice. We give our students plenty of freedom when it comes to choosing a topic for the thesis. NMBU's ecology students do their fieldwork in many different countries in some of the most spectacular natural landscapes on the planet. Example of previous thesis topics include: 

• Carnivore biology and management
• Forest biology and ecology
• Freshwater ecology
• Freshwater fish management
• Insect ecology
• Plant ecology
• Tropical flora and fauna
• Wildlife conservation and management

Our research

NMBU has long traditions for research within nature and the environment, sustainable use of natural resources, biological and geological processes. Our vision is to be a key player in knowledge production and dissemination, and deliver research of high, international quality and varied and good teaching. Our employees are highly recognized experts in their respective fields, both nationally and internationally.

One research topic is carnivores and animal behaviour. Watch a youtube-video of fox mating behaviour from one of our research projects below:  

Ecologists work in all parts of society where environmental issues are of concern. You will be qualified for tasks related to environmental monitoring, biological conservation, research, and education. Our alumni work for a variety of employers, ranging from public government, NGOs, research institutions, and the university sector. The programme has a strong research emphasis, and can serve as a foundation for PhD studies.

Here are just some examples of the kinds of jobs our graduates have obtained:

• Biological researcher. Many of our alumni continue in this direction, either as PhD candidates or research assistants.
• Previous research projects include carnivore management, entomology, forest biology, fish biology and much more
• Consultant, working with f.ex impact assessments, habitat restoration and species mapping related to encroachment of nature
• Urban natural resource manager
• Fish and wildlife manager (at various levels of government)
• National park manager

You can read some interviews with finished master's students in ecology here.