Biology includes a wide range of related disciplines that encompass the study of life from the molecular level, through cells, tissues and organisms, to populations and ecosystems. Biology is not only of intrinsic interest but has applications in areas from health and medicine to the management of agriculture and biodiversity.

Biology is the fascinating study of life. It is a rapidly changing field with the discovery of exciting new technologies that change the way we think about the world and all life that exists within it. A biologist of the future will need to be able to apply the knowledge they learn to new technologies and issues they come across; this Major contains compulsory courses that will develop these skills. The first year courses establish fundamental knowledge about many of the areas of biology, including evolution, ecology, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry in bacteria, plants and animals. Later year courses extend this knowledge into specialised areas of biology of your choice and develop an understanding of how we do biology and how it impacts on society and the world.

Learning Goals:

Students completing the Biology major will be able to:

1. Apply their conceptual knowledge of biological principles and processes including evolution and diversity of organisms, inheritance, storage and utilisation of information and the structure and function of molecules, cells and biological systems, to a range of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary contexts.
2. Integrate and extend basic biological concepts in areas of biology such as ecology, evolution, genetics, microbiology and immunology, neuroscience and physiology and plant biology.
3. Explain how biology is an evidence-based discipline involving observation, experimentation and hypothesis testing and how it relates to other scientific disciplines.
4. Design experiments, and analyse and interpret experimental results using appropriate quantitative methods.
5. Critically assess biological information and apply it to theoretical, experimental and professional contexts.
6. Employ their collaborative and independent educational experiences of laboratory, field, project and course work in other contexts.
7. Clearly communicate biological processes and principles to both science literate and non-science literate audiences.
8. Recognise how biology contributes to resolving ethical, social and environmental issues and the expectations this places on their professional practice.