Graduate Program

Graduate training in Biological Sciences may also be supervised by several scientists who work in institutions outside the Biological Sciences Department and who may be appointed as Adjunct Professors. Current institutions and research areas include The Freshwater Institute of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans; University of Winnipeg and other universities; Manitoba Provincial Government Wildlife Department, Ducks Unlimited. A node for Manitoba of the National Centre of Excellence-Sustainable Forest Management, has recently been established. Collaborations exist with the Canadian Forestry Service, Alberta Forest Service, Manitoba Model Forest, Cereal Research Centre (AAFC), Canadian Grain Research Lab, Parks Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service, the Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, and various universities in North and South America and Europe.

Although the unification of the Department is effective July 1, 2007, the graduate program and regulations as previously existed for the Departments of Botany and Zoology will initially remain in effect. This will continue until harmonized graduate regulations for the new department are developed and replace the Botany and Zoology regulations. Both departments currently have identical minimum course requirements, very similar degree requirements and ongoing individual researcher programs. Thus, in the interim, we will continue recruiting and registering graduate students into the Botany or Zoology degree programs. This is not viewed as impediment to maintaining our current strong graduate programs within the new department.

Admissions requirements must meet Faculty of Graduate Studies criteria.

Why continue your education as a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba?

The Department of Biological Sciences is a great choice for advanced education toward a Master’s or Doctoral degree because of its first-class research facilities, faculty who are expert in research and education and our close working relationship with government laboratories and field stations. All these assets provide excellent opportunities for graduate students to engage in studies in a very broad range of research topics.

The graduate programs in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba are designed to provide students with the best possible research and academic preparation. Since the Department is large and includes a wide range of academic interests, many research and teaching programs have evolved.  Both M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs are available in diverse research areas ranging from Biosphere-wide issues to Molecular Biology.   In both the M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs, the student is expected to undertake a rigorous program of original research, culminating in the preparation of a thesis containing a significant contribution worthy of publication in first- class international scientific journals.

Laboratory and Field Based Research

Field studies are conducted over a wide geographic area adapted to individual research programs. The central location of the University of Manitoba facilitates work on a variety of prairie, marsh, and woodland habitats and on a wide spectrum of inland lakes and rivers, as well as arctic tundra and marine habitat along the coast of Hudson Bay. The University of Manitoba’s Delta Marsh Field Station, fully equipped with living accommodations and laboratory space, is located 80 km to the northwest of Winnipeg, on the south shore of Lake Manitoba. Additional field studies are conducted from the  Experimental Lakes Area near Kenora, Ontario, in conjunction with the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg. There are also opportunities to do research on Lake Winnipeg from the Coast Guard Vessel "Namao" through the auspices of the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium.

Well-equipped laboratories in individual areas of faculty expertise are available for student research. Special facilities include a large animal holding facility for small terrestrial animals and aquatic organisms, operated by a trained technical staff. A Departmental scanning-transmission electron microscope is available for research use.

Why the University of Manitoba?

The University of Manitoba is the only research-intensive university in the Province, and offers more than 80 department-based programs of graduate studies. Additional interdisciplinary research programs can be designed for students with especially broad interests and experience. Campus life is rich and varied, reflecting these many interests and the collaborative interactions among faculty research programs, and between faculty and external and affiliated institutions, governments, industry and other organizations. And our faculty have interests across the full range of living organisms and the breadth of the disciplines involved in their study. The department of Biological Sciences and the Faculty of Science are strongly committed to supporting graduate students during their study by scholarships and studentships, and many of our graduate students (some 75 at present) receive prestigious national awards. In 2008, a graduate of our Ph.D. program Dr. Lisa Loseto won the Governor General’s gold medal for outstanding graduate research.

Graduates of our programs are equipped to embark on a career in the life science or related field such as environmental science, natural resources management, agriculture or forestry. They are eligible for positions in research, teaching or consulting in an academic, industrial or governmental setting. Recent graduates have gone on to post-doctoral or Ph.D. studies at such universities as Oxford, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio, Penn. State, Stanford, Alberta, Toronto, Waterloo. Former students have held research and administrative positions with governments of Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon; faculty positions at such universities as Alberta, Basrah, Calgary, Florida, Guelph, McGill, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Queen's, Rutgers, Saskatchewan, and Strathclyde; and various other positions with companies involved in consulting, natural resources management and agriculture.

The department of Biological Sciences is also engaged in submissions of a newly integrated program of graduate study which is designed to strengthen further the skills acquired during graduate training, and to broaden the collective experiences of graduate students. We anticipate the integrated program will be available in 2009.

• University of Manitoba Graduate Studies
• On-line application