Master's Plant Sciences

About this programme

Global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity conservation and the protein transition from animal-based to plant-based diets require plant-based solutions. Therefore, plant scientists require an ability to deal with the dynamics and complexity of plant production at the different organisation levels, from molecules, cells, organisms, populations and communities up to ecosystems. Therefore, the MPS programme is based on a multidisciplinary approach that combines plant biology, plant physiology, (population) genetics, ecology, epidemiology, animal biology, microbiology and soil biology. These combined disciplines are based on supporting disciplines such as statistics and mathematics, data science, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology and environmental physics. \nThe Plant Sciences programme combines impact based on research, with a keen eye for developments in the global academic and professional field in a societal context. During their MSc thesis, students are trained for a career in academic research. In combination with the MSc internship and Academic Consultancy Training or Research Master Cluster, they receive real-life education based on concrete cases to grow as a researcher, technological expert, consultant, business-related R&D professional, policy maker or entrepreneur in the global agricultural sector. \nMPS-A: Specialisation Crop Science \nThe protein transition from animal-based to plant-based diets and the need for biobased products imply that we must produce crops sustainably, not at the expense of biodiversity or global warming, and within planetary boundaries. Simultaneously, the climate and environmental impacts of crop production should be minimised to stabilize yield. This calls for ecophysiological understanding of how plants respond to multiple, fluctuating production and stress conditions as well as the ecological consequences in terms of interactions with the biotic environment. This understanding will lead to insights into how novel sustainable crop production affects yield variability and resource use across agro-ecosystems. Such insights can be used to develop sustainable and resilient production systems under changing agronomic, environmental and ecological conditions. \nThe specialisation Crop Science takes organismal plant physiology as a starting point and focuses on the regulation of key processes such as photosynthesis, phenotypic plasticity, intra- and interspecific plant interactions, and agronomy. Quantitative modelling, simulation and data science methods are used to analyse and understand yield constraints in the development of productive resilient cropping systems. \nMPS-B: Specialisation Greenhouse Horticulture \nProtected horticulture is essential in diverse climate zones to optimize crop grow