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Programme of Adaptive Organisms

The Master’s specialisation in Adaptive Organisms is taught at the Faculty of Science. It has a course load of 120 EC* (two years). The first year of this specialisation contains five compulsory courses in the first quartile. You can compose the rest of the programme with specialisation and free electives, internships, literature thesis and optionally a field course in Switzerland or Ireland.

  • Compulsory courses (15 EC)
  • Specialisation elective (3 EC)
  • Philosophy elective (3 EC)
  • Science electives (9 EC)
  • Free electives (6 EC)
  • Two internships (2 x 36 EC)
  • Literature thesis 1 (6 EC)
  • Literature thesis 2 / fieldwork (6 EC)

Compulsory courses

As a first Master’s course in the curriculum, you’ll become acquainted with the research as carried in the Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR) at Radboud University. This programme is supplemented with excursions to institutes and organisations for you to get clear impressions of future career options.

This series of lectures focuses on organismal physiology. The central theme is how animals – including humans – have adapted to realise a dynamic interaction and to cope with continuously changing environmental conditions.

In this course, you’ll become familiar with the main biogeochemical cycles on earth, and the diversity of micro-organisms that are driving these element cycles.

The main theme of this course is how plants adapt to various forms of chemical and physical stress. In the lectures, both physiological and molecular aspects will be discussed. Moreover, the course includes discussions of recent research papers, guest lectures by specialists in the field and an excursion to a plant biotech company.

Quantitative Conservation Biology is about the current state-of-the-art of species- and system-based conservation. This includes analysing data on species abundance, and modelling the potential roles of pressure factors and the efficacy of management options.

Specialisation electives


You can choose your specialisation elective from a list of selected courses. Examples are:

Science electives

Sciences electives are courses of your interest within the field of natural sciences. These courses need to be approved by the Examination Board.

Free electives

A free elective can be any course taught at Radboud University, another Dutch university or abroad as long as it’s taught at Master’s level. Your free electives should be approved by the Examination Board.

Philosophy Elective

A list of philosophy electives from which you may choose is provided.

(International) internships

During your internships, you’ll be responsible for your own experiments, under the supervision of one of our top researchers at the Institute for Water and Wetlands Research (IWWR). Most students choose to perform their first internship at Radboud University and their second internship at a governmental organisation, an NGO, a company or abroad. We have, for example, arranged internships at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, UWA in Australia, and theSmithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Also, it is possible to apply for a grant to perform an internship at the Max Planck Gesellschaft, one of the world's most renowned research institutes. For suggestions, you can contact one of the professors below or you can confer with our teaching staff or the .

At Radboud University, relevant departments include:

See for a description of these departments.

* European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)

The workload of an academic year is equivalent to 60 European credits (EC), where 1 EC point is 28 hours of study.