Program Overview

The Biology Department at Queen’s is one of the largest departments on campus with approximately 100 graduate students supervised by 32 faculty with research opportunities in a range of disciplines including Animal Physiology, Cell & Molecular Biology, Ecology, Evolution & Behaviour, and Plant Sciences. Our faculty are world leaders in several research fields, including many Canada and Queen’s Research Chairs and winners of national and international awards for research and teaching excellence. Visit our departmental website and faculty pages to learn more about the programs and achievements of our research teams.

We offer a broad and challenging program in one of the top Biology departments in the country. We have an impressive range of sophisticated infrastructure for cell biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, ecology, and evolutionary research including: a confocal microscopy suite, DNA sequencing services, aquatic research facilities, and a state-of-the art phytotron. Our field station, comprising more than 3200 hectares of woodland, fields and lakes is a short drive away and has excellent research facilities and living quarters

Opportunities

Our students have the opportunity to work in leading edge laboratory facilities, including the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL) and the Queen’s University Biology Station (QUBS). As well, opportunities to collaborate with other departments, including Geology, Psychology, Neuroscience, Biochemistry and Mathematics & Statistics. One-third of our students do field work or research in labs at other universities in Canada or abroad.

Graduate students typically participate in annual regional, national and international conferences. Many labs also engage in field work at sites from as close as our own Biological Research Station (QUBS) to the high arctic, Australia and the Latin American tropics.

Method of Completion

Ph.D.: research thesis and defense (some courses may be required)

Career paths - employment opportunities

Graduates from our program find work in government (Agriculture Canada, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of the Environment, etc.), academia (teaching, research) and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries (research, lab techs, etc.).