Biological Sciences | Students | The University of Aberdeen

Reading lists for individual courses will be available through MyAberdeen later in the summer. In the meantime, you can brush up your study skills and learn more about the University at our award-winning Toolkit website.

Some specific suggestions for readings are as follows:

Level 2

(For BI2020 Ecology) Schilthuizen, M (2008) The Loom of Life: Unravelling Ecosystems. Springer-Verlap, Berlin
(For BI2017 Genes and Evolution) Carey N (2012) The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance.

Level 3

(Animal Behaviour, Behavioural Biology) Budiansky, B (1999) The Convenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domestication. Yale University Press.
(Zoology, Biology, Biological Sciences, Ecology, Conservation Biology) Coyne, J (2010) Why Evolution is True. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (For ZO3011 Animal Evolution and Biodiversity)
(Marine Biology) Kaiser, M.J., et al. (2011) Marine Ecology: processes, systems, and impacts. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (For ZO3306 Marine Ecology and Ecosystems)
(Environmental Science) Blume, H.P. et al. (2016). Soil Science. Berlin: Springer Verlag. (For EV3001 Global Soil Geography)
(Plant and Soil Science) Gregory, P.J. and Nortcliff, S. 2013. Soil Conditions and Plant Growth. Wiley-Blackwell, 472 pp. SBN: 1405197706 (Pl3009 Soils for Food Security)

Level 4

Your project supervisor can provide you with suggestions.

Assessment

In the School of Biological Sciences, the majority of assessments will be through coursework including online tests. A few courses will have an end of course on campus exam.

Practicals, fieldwork and placements

Many courses include practicals in either laboratories or computer classrooms and some also include day field trips. There will be opportunities to take residential field courses throughout your degree.

Guidance on choice of laboratory coat and safety glasses

Please note that all new Science Teaching Hub students should possess a clean, white, Howie laboratory coat to use in laboratory classes.

This should be a ‘Howie’ style laboratory coat – elasticated cuffs, fastening all the way up to the neck with popper fastenings. Press stud fastenings are integral for Howie style coats to enable the coat to be removed quickly should contamination occur. Fabric · Polyester Cotton approximately [65%:35%]. Coats made from this fabric are light weight [195g/coat] and easily laundered.
Older lab coats that are open at the collar or those with button fastenings are not suitable and should be avoided.

If a practical has a special exemption where a laboratory coat is not required, students will be informed. However, you should always assume you need your lab coat for practicals and bring it with you. If you do not bring a laboratory coat, you will not be admitted to a laboratory class.

Students must also bring their own safety glasses.

For Safety Glasses, there are many options available online. They should have side shields. The examples below all have a suitable safety rating (EN 166) and If you wear spectacles, you should look for styles of safety glasses that will fit over them.

You will be responsible for cleaning and maintaining your own laboratory coat and safety glasses throughout the term.

New students can pick up a lab coast and safety glasses pack at the start of term at the Science Teaching Hub. Alternatively, you can purchase a lab coat on campus from Bear Essentials in the Student Union Building.

Postgraduate Taught

Academic Induction

During Welcome Week the School of Biological Sciences will have academic inductions for all new Postgraduate students. More information will be shared on these pages.

Key Contacts

Dr Vasilis Louca
SBS PGT Coordinator and MSc Environmental Science (Jan Start) Programme Coordinator
Email: v.louca@abdn.ac.uk

Biological Sciences Admin Team
Email: sbsteaching@abdn.ac.uk

MSc Applied Marine and Fisheries Ecology

Programme Coordinator: Dr Phil Smith - philip.smith@abdn.ac.uk

MSc Ecology and Conservation

Programme Coordinator: Dr Sarah Woodin - s.woodin@abdn.ac.uk

MSc Environmental Management

Programme Coordinator: Dr Vasilis Louca - v.louca@abdn.ac.uk

MSc Environmental Pollution and Remediation

Programme Coordinator: Dr Vasilis Louca - v.louca@abdn.ac.uk
Programme Tutor: Dr Lenka Mbadugha lenka.mbadugha@abdn.ac.uk

MSc/MRes Environmental Science

Programme Coordinator: Dr Vasilis Louca - v.louca@abdn.ac.uk

MSc Marine Conservation

Programme Coordinator: Dr Phil Smith - philip.smith@abdn.ac.uk

MSc/MRes Soil Science

Programme Coordinator: Dr Vasilis Louca - v.louca@abdn.ac.uk
Programme Tutor: Prof Paul Hallett paul.hallet@abdn.ac.uk

Reading Lists

If you would like to do some background reading/study before starting your MSc (this is not compulsory) you may find the following recommendations helpful; feel free to browse all categories, whichever MSc you are doing. Many texts will be free to access online once you have your University of Aberdeen login. Log in to the University library search system, RIMO, to find them.

Statistics

A good introductory book is Quinn GP, Keough MJ (2002) Experimental design and data analysis for biologists.
There are also useful free introductory statistics MOOCs available online.
Familiarise yourself with R software. You could use excellent material produced by our SBS statisticians https://alexd106.github.io/intro2R/index.html or other freely available material eg: https://cran.r-project.org/doc/contrib/Verzani-SimpleR.pdf , https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-intro.pdf

Marine topics

Levinton J (2017) Marine Biology: Function, Biodiversity, Ecology. A good introductory text.
Kaiser MJ, Attrill MJ, Jennings S (2020) Marine Ecology: Processes, Systems and Impacts. This is a newly revised overview; the 2011 edition is also still OK.
Probert PK (2017) Marine Conservation

Environmental/soil topics

Duarte, A.C., Cachada, A., Rocha-Santos, T.A.P. (Eds.), 2017. Soil Pollution: From Monitoring to Remediation. Academic Press.
Blume, H.-P., Brümmer, G. W., Fleige, H., Horn, R., Kandeler, E., Kögel-Knabner, I., et al. (2016). Scheffer/Schachtschabel Soil Science. Berlin: Springer Verlag

General ecology/conservation

Begon, Townsend and Harper (2006) Ecology: From individuals to ecosystems. Blackwell (other editions with slightly different titles and order of authors are also fine). A good introductory text.
Crawley, Michael J (1997) Plant Ecology. Blackwell Science
"Popular" reading about current ecology, conservation and rewilding issues in the UK: Tree, Isabella (2019) Rewilding: The return of nature to a British farm. MacDonald, Benedict (2020) Rebirding: Rewilding Britain and its birds.

Assessment

Our PGT assessments are mainly coursework, such as reports, presentations, essays, research proposals etc. There are some online tests within courses, but no formal exams.

Practicals and fieldwork

Many courses include practicals in either laboratories or computer classrooms and some also include day field trips. Some MScs have a residential field course in the Spring vacation 2024.

For laboratory practicals you will need your own lab coat and safety glasses. Your lab coat should be ‘Howie’ style, with elasticated cuffs and popper fastening all the way up to the neck. Safety glasses should have side shields, a suitable safety rating (EN 166), and if you wear spectacles you should get safety glasses that will fit over them. You can purchase online, and lab coats are available from Bear Essentials in the Student Union Building.

Fieldwork takes place at all times of year, so you will need warm, waterproof clothing (jacket and trousers) and sturdy, waterproof footwear, preferably walking boots.

Postgraduate Research

As well as being a Postgraduate Research Student in the School of Biological Sciences you are also part of a wider PGR community through the Postgraduate Research School

Orientation

We are looking forward to welcoming you to campus to start your research journey with us. As a Postgraduate Research student you will have the opportunity to attend a University wide induction in addition to your school induction.

The University of Aberdeen Orientation programme has been designed to take you through all of the essential information you will need for your student life. You can get started now by working through the interactive modules.

There are a series of modules that you can work through before you arrive. Once you have registered you can access the remaining modules and complete your mandatory training programme through your bespoke PGR training platform on our virtual learning environment.

There will be a school welcome event for Postgraduate Research students. This will provide an opportunity to meet Postgraduate coordinators and PhD supervisors. There will also be time to answer any questions you may have. Further details regarding the welcome event will follow in due course.

Audit Master‘s Courses

As a PGR student you may have the opportunity to audit Master‘s courses to augment your research training. Please discuss this with your supervisor and check out the postgraduate taught pages above.

The PGR School also offers a comprehensive training programme to support your research journey.

Timelines and Milestones

The PGR School training and development programme offers academic, professional, and personal development through a number of training workshops, resources and opportunities, all intended to support the PGR community at the University of Aberdeen.

Find out more here.