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Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation MRes

London, Bloomsbury

UCL has joined together with the Natural History Museum and the Institute of Zoology to deliver a pioneering course. This intensive MRes allows you to harness the different research capabilities of these three leading biodiversity research institutions.

UK students International students
Study mode
Full-time
UK tuition fees (2026/27)
£21,500
Overseas tuition fees (2026/27)
£42,700
Duration
1 calendar year
Programme starts
September 2026
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 26 Jun 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 28 Aug 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

Normally, a minimum of an upper second-class UK Bachelor's degree in life sciences, environmental sciences or related subject area, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Applicants with an appropriate professional qualification and relevant work experience may also apply.

The English language level for this course is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

If you are intending to apply for a time-limited visa to complete your UCL studies (e.g. Student visa, Skilled worker visa, PBS dependant visa etc.) you may be required to obtain ATAS clearance. This will be confirmed to you if you obtain an offer of a place. Please note that ATAS processing times can take up to six months, so we recommend you consider these timelines when submitting your application to UCL.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

The Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation MRes gives you an unrivalled opportunity to build your understanding and research skills by working alongside many of the world’s finest biodiversity and conservation research scientists.

At the Natural History Museum, you’ll benefit from their world-leading expertise in taxonomy and phylogenetics. Guided by your research supervisor, you’ll learn to use genetics and evolutionary diversification expertise for more effective preservation of diversity.

Whilst at the Institute of Zoology, you’ll experience first-hand what it’s like to work in a world-leading conservation research facility, with access to extensive zoo collections and field conservation programmes.

For the taught modules, you’ll absorb the perspectives of UCL’s celebrated genetics and biology academics, enjoying guest lectures from famous scientists and expert communicators such as Dr Adam Rutherford.

Who this course is for

The Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation MRes is for graduates seeking a broad foundation for a career based around biodiversity, including conservation biology, with a strong emphasis on both pure and applied research.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

This intensive one-year research master’s is the product of an exciting collaboration between UCL, the Natural History Museum, and the Institute of Zoology. It’s co-designed by leading senior investigators to provide you with as much hands-on research experience as possible in each of these three distinct organisations. 

What you will gain from this course:

  • Benefit from studying within the Faculty of Life Sciences, as part of a community that’s been associated with eleven Nobel Laureates.
  • Develop your expertise in evolutionary biology, genetics, bioinformatics and biogeography.
  • Build your quantitative skill set, learning the methodologies of statistical analysis most used in biological research.
  • Experience conservation field work, with a field trip into the wilderness at the UCL Blakeney Point field station in the first week of the course.
  • Gain hands-on experience of conservation technology such as tracking devices, camera trapping and acoustic monitoring.
  • Become a more effective science communicator and contribute to our live blog, with training through lectures, seminars and workshops from science communication experts from UCL, the BBC and RSPB.
  • Get involved in vital projects and collaborations, such as the EDGE of Existence programme (based at the Zoological Society of London) or the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (based at the Natural History Museum).
  • Leave well equipped to pursue a PhD, having completed two research projects across multiple research environments.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Previous graduates of this course have gone on to enjoy positions at BSG Ecology, Radboud University, Solar Media Ltd, and the Zoological Society of London.*

*Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of graduates in the 2021-22, 2022-23 cohorts.

Employability

The Biodiversity, Evolution & Conservation MRes will provide you with the quantitative tools and research experience to pursue doctoral and postdoctoral study and a career in academia or conservation science.

As a graduate of this programme, you’ll have developed specialist biodiversity expertise, a wealth of varied research experience and highly sought-after quantitative and statistical analysis skills.

You’ll be ideally positioned to either pursue a PhD in this field, or to initiate a research-related career working for a conservation NGO, various government agencies, civil service or companies in the biotech and healthtech industries.

Networking

You’ll have regular opportunities to connect, collaborate and build professional contacts as part of your master’s.

  • Immerse yourself in three different and distinct cultures of biodiversity and conservation research and build professional relationships with your peers and leading senior investigators.
  • Attend networking events and conferences organised by the UCL Division of Biosciences and the Faculty of Life Sciences, and establish connections with a broader range of academics and industry guests.
  • Take part in careers events through UCL Careers, and enhance your CV writing and interview skills.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through lectures, seminars, practical classes, peer learning, and a field course element in Term 1. Terms 2 and 3 are delivered through practical research project supervision.

Assessment is through essays, project reports, presentations and practicals. The research projects are assessed by dissertation, and poster or oral presentation.

When considering contact hours and self-study hours together, each 15 credit module requires 150 learning hours in total and each 60 credit project is therefore expected to require 600 learning hours.

In Term 1, there are typically around 21 hours per week of taught classes. Term 2 onwards is devoted to the Research Projects.

Modules

Taught modules will focus on cutting-edge quantitative tools in ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics, bioinformatics, systematics, palaeobiology, conservation, biogeography and environmental biology. Seminars, journal clubs and the two research projects will provide students with diverse opportunities for experience at UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment and its Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, the Natural History Museum, the Institute of Zoology, and the Zoological Society of London.

You’ll complete two research projects one after the other, working as an embedded researcher within either (or both) the Natural History Museum and the Institute of Zoology.

Compulsory modules








Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MRes in Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation.

Fieldwork

Students undertake a field trip to Blakeney Point, Norfolk. Taking place towards the beginning of Term 1, students are introduced to experimental design.

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences and mental health conditions. This list is not exhaustive. If you're unsure of your eligibility for reasonable adjustments at UCL, please contact Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Reasonable adjustments are implemented on a case-by-case basis. With the student's consent, reasonable adjustments are considered by UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services, and where required, in collaboration with the respective department.

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

For more information about the department and accessibility arrangements for your course, please contact the department.

Visit us

All open days and events

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Ecology and Biodiversity MSc/MRes Q&A (AM)

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Find out about UCL's Ecology and Biodiversity Master's courses by attending our online open event. You'll have the opportunity to meet course leaders, learn about programme structures, content and career pathways, and have your questions answered. This event will cover the following courses: MRes Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation; MSc Biodiversity and Global Change; MSc Ecology, Climate Change and Health; MSc Ecology and Data Science; MSc Ecology and Urban Engineering.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time
Tuition fees (2026/27) £21,500
Tuition fees (2026/27) £42,700

Postgraduate Taught students benefit from a cohort guarantee, meaning that their tuition fees will not increase during the course of the programme, but UCL reserves the right to increase tuition fees to reflect any sums (including levies, taxes, or similar financial charges) that UCL is required to pay any governmental authority in connection with tuition fees.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Where the course is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

Students should have access to a laptop which can run R. We organise and pay for travel, and supply accommodation and food on the field trip. Students are asked to bring warm and waterproof clothing as well as suitable footwear and a sleeping bag. 

Students may be required to travel to the Natural History Museum or the Zoological Society of London for some of their classes and will need to pay for their own travel there. Students undertaking a project at the Natural History Museum, ZSL, or at UCL East, will need to cover their own travel.

For in-person teaching, UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £119.90. This price was published by TfL in 2025. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

  • Why you want to study Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation at graduate level
  • Why you want to study Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation at UCL
  • What particularly attracts you to this course
  • How your academic and professional background meets the demands of this challenging course
  • Where you would like to go professionally with your degree

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this course match what the course will deliver.

Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) must submit their applications as early as possible, as applications will be evaluated and offers made on a rolling basis.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate courses (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2026-2027

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Division of Biosciences
Division of Biosciences

biosciences_pgt_admissions@ucl.ac.uk

UCL is regulated by the Office for Students.