Build, develop and argue your ideas

Synthesis is the leitmotiv of our didactic concept. With us, you should learn to deal with complex questions and build strong and rigourous answers. Our goal is to help you envisage how your favorite discipline can be combined with the methods we use in Evolutionary Biology. At the time of internet profusion, we believe it is essential that you learn to organize coherently the excess of information. This happens best when you drive this process with your own questions.  We will thus help you build your own knowledge and we assist you with a framework of research activities, methods, theories or molecular-functional approaches. We do not provide  a rigid lecturing program and avoid imposing you pre-digested knowledge. The more questions you ask yourself, the best we can support you in your development and the most successful you can develop. If you enjoy being intellectually active at all times, you will benefit greatly from our courses. In our modules, you will learn to define and achieve your own goals, and thereby push away cognitive hurdles. We believe the lesson you will learn can be subsequently applied in all aspect of your curriculum. 

Vertiefungsmodul Biowissenschaften (1st Block, WinS) 

Ökologische genetik und Anpassung der Pflanzen

(Kurtz and de Meaux lab)  

In this module, you are initiated to various methods in ecological genetics.

You learn basics of quantitative genetics, study the response to selection in nature, and investigate the environmental cause of allelic frequency changes. 

We start out from your views and questions on the origin and evolutionary dynamics of biodiversity and seek to empower them with an array of methods to solve such questions. 

We begin the course with a brief evaluation of your knowledge and autonomous thinking. At the end of the course, we evaluate how much you improved your ability to think by yourself, formulate hypotheses and place findings in the broad context of environmental and population change. 

Fortgeschrittene Modul Evolutionary Genetics (1stBlock, SumS)

(Acquisti and de Meaux lab) 

This module is examining the footprints of natural selection on the genetics of environmentally relevant traits. You are initiated to the methods of population genetics and molecular evolution. Simulation tools are being used to investigate the evolution of complex trait in population settings thought to be ecologically realistic. 

Forschungsmodule

We offer research training to all students interested in the investigation of the genetic basis of plant adapation. With us you can learn hands-on quantitative genetics, molecular genetics, ecological genetics, population genetics or genomics. You can learn to design field assay, to compile and analyze complex datasets, and conduct cross-disciplinary research.