Green Life Sciences programme (formerly Integrative Plant Sciences)

Imagine an outbreak of an unknown plague in southern Spain that threatens the harvest of all the tomato crops. This could have far-reaching effects and is a typical problem a green life scientist might face. What can be done about these disasters? With leaf samples and the latest technological tools, the first goal would be to identify the culprit. The question then becomes: can breeding be steered in such a way as to develop resistant plants for future harvests?

Reasons for studying plant life are abundant. One of the main reasons is to improve and secure the food supply for an increasing world population, as described in the scenario above. Other purposes for this kind of research could be identifying new sources of bioactive compounds and medicines, or to obtain bio-renewable resources for fibers and plastics.

The Green Life Sciences study programme gives you the opportunity to combine training in the theoretical and practical aspects of chemical ecology, ecogenomics, biotechnology, plant breeding, phytopathology, cell biology, biochemistry and population biology. This enables students to develop an integrated view of the functioning of plants.

Why study Green Life Sciences at the University of Amsterdam?

• You are interested in research on how plants function on a genetic, biochemical and cellular level and how this translates to the ecology and evolution of plants.
• You want to learn how plants deal with biotic stress such as higher salt levels in the soil, which is an increasing problem in agriculture.
• You want to investigate how plants deal with biotic stress such as pathogens and insects and how the plants’ immune system functions.
• You want to become an independent researcher by taking part in internships with internationally renowned scientists.
• You have the ambition to get down to the core of a scientific problem and are eager to discuss this at the highest level with your peers.

What you can expect from Green Life Sciences in Amsterdam:

• State of the art facilities with regard to transcriptomics (Microarrays, next generation sequencing), proteomics and metabolomics.
• New greenhouses (a.o. specialized for plant-pathogen interactions) and phytotrons (plant growth chambers).
• Education from top scientists publishing in Science, Nature, Plant Cell and Plant Journal.
• Interactive teaching methods, individual supervision, and contemporary internships.
• The best of both Amsterdam universities within one Master’s programme. The UvA and VU University have combined their expertise in plant sciences to form the focus point for Green Life Sciences. This has resulted in a concentration of plant research unmatched anywhere else in the Netherlands.

Professional specialization within the Master’s programme

In general, Master’s students are trained to become independent researchers. But at the UvA Faculty of Science you can also choose to complete your Master’s programme with a professional specialization, that focuses on other skills than doing research.  

There are three professional specializations available:

• Science Communication (in Dutch)
• Teaching (in Dutch)
• Management, Policy Analysis & Entrepreneurship.