Plant Science (MSc, PhD)

Our Plant Science graduate program places your scholarly advancement squarely in your own hands: in consultation with your research supervisor, you will tailor your studies to your particular professional goals and research interests. The collaboration doesn’t end there, though. You have the opportunity — and are encouraged — to develop your research program through an interdisciplinary approach involving other departments and faculty on campus, broadening your knowledge in a way that’s reflected in real-world systems. Another plus? You’re studying in British Columbia, where the diversity of plant agriculture gives you an enormous range of cropping systems to choose from that are most suitable for your thesis research.

UBC offers excellent facilities for your thesis research right here on the UBC campus, in the MacMillan Building, the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm, Totem Field Laboratory, the UBC Wine Research Centre, the Michael Smith Laboratories and the Horticulture Glasshouse. Some Plant Science graduate students also work with our adjunct professors, many of whom are spread throughout the province of British Columbia.

The Plant Science Program offers degrees in fundamental and applied topics related to plant production, plant protection, biotechnology, plant physiology and biochemistry, and plant-environment interactions.

Specific areas of specialization include:

• plant-microbe interaction, bacterial and fungal diseases, plant virology, biological control of pests and diseases, insect physiology, natural insecticides, insect ecology and behaviour, and weed biology, ecology and control;
• seed physiology, plant nutrition, plant growth analysis, plant-plant interaction, biotic and abiotic stressor resistance, and environmental plant physiology;
• vegetable culture, ornamental horticulture, plant breeding, and post-harvest physiology;
• plant biochemistry, tissue culture, genetic engineering, and plant, fungal, and viral molecular genetics;
• rangeland ecology and wildlife habitat studies.

Applicants to UBC graduate programs should have academic backgrounds within the minimum academic requirements listed by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

• LFS Graduate Admissions
• UBC Graduate Admissions

MSc

The MSc program requirements are as follows:

• Completion of the MSc program requires a thesis (12 or 18 credits) plus coursework, for a total of 30 credits.
• With a 12-credit thesis, students can include a maximum of 6 credits of senior undergraduate courses.
• With an 18-credit thesis, students can include a maximum of 3 credits of senior undergraduate courses and a maximum of 3 credits of directed study.

PhD

The PhD program requirements are as follows:

• Appropriate coursework will be selected in consultation with the candidate’s committee.
• All candidates are required to take a comprehensive examination.
• The major requirement for the PhD is completion of a research thesis demonstrating the ability to conduct significant and original scientific research.