UC Home > Departments > College of Science > Biological Sciences  

Overview: Research in the School of Biological Sciences

The School of Biological Sciences is a very active and vibrant research environment, and we earn over $3 million of external grant income per annum.

UC operates five field stations across the South Island that allow our students and researchers excellent access to a wide range of environments from marine to alpine. (See the Field Facilities Centre website for details). The School also conducts research around the globe with active projects in places as diverse as Antarctica, Tonga, Kenya, Panama and Nigeria.

As our research underpins our teaching, we present our research interests in the same streams as our undergraduate teaching. And as there is overlap and collaboration between different areas of biology, many of our staff are listed in multiple streams.

We welcome contact from potential students, collaborators and anyone interested in our research, so feel free to contact any member of staff directly. View full staff listing.

Biological Sciences research in UC SPARK website

Detailed information about the research of individuals, research groups, projects and disciplines.

Three broad discipline areas cover biological research at UC

Biotechnology The application of biological understanding to provide products that benefit society and support sustainable economic development. (See the Biotechnology website)

Biodiversity Defining, sustaining and rehabilitating the diversity of life contained in New Zealand’s natural and managed ecosystems.

Biosecurity/Biosafety Protecting our native biota from threats imposed by invasive organisms; understanding the potential impacts of genetic technologies on our environment.

Research streams

• Animal Behaviour
  Sexual selection to cognition and communication systems to parental care
• Animal Physiology
  Physical and chemical processes that occur within animals
• Biochemistry
  Free Radical Biochemistry, Biomolecular Interactions
• Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics
  How cells work and what they are composed of, and the structure and function of genes
• Ecology
  Freshwater, Marine, Terrestrial
• Evolutionary Biology
  Gene Ecology, Population and Conservation Genetics, Evolutionary Ecology
• Microbiology
  Algal Taxonomy, Mycology, Soil Microbiology, Virology
• Plant Physiology and Biotechnology
  Physical and chemical processes within plants, and the application of biological understanding