The BSc Plant Biology programme is aimed at graduates who wish to equip themselves with knowledge and skills in advanced plant biology, crop science, genetics, genomics, cell biology, physiology, ecology, and studies on climate change, in order to pursue future careers in plant biology-based industries, environmental agencies, careers that value their training in scientific thinking and analysis, or postgraduate research. The staff associated with the Plant Biology programme aim to help each student to learn and grow to the best of their ability and to offer students the best possible learning experience in a caring and supportive environment. We aim to provide an educational environment that nurtures and expands students’ curiosity, encourages our students to be active, motivated, and autonomous learners, and to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship. Lectures, tutorials, small group discussions are key elements in the programme’s design and are delivered by internationally recognised experts in the field. Our students are also given the opportunity to develop a business plan as part of our programme in innovation and entrepreneurship, and to also engage in a 3-month research project to gain advanced experimental skills. A wide range of assessment procedures are used to evaluate students understanding of the subject and as an integral part of the learning process. Student learning is assessed by final exam, continuous assessment of oral and written presentations, papers and practical class reports, along with assessment of individual or group projects and the final year research thesis.

1 - demonstrate advanced knowledge of the variety of disciplines encompassed within Plant Biology in its broadest sense, embracing everything from molecular biology/biotechnology, through whole organism biology to ecology, evolution and the environment.
2 - use the acquired knowledge and skill to identify plants in the field, to understand the diversity of plants and their evolution.
3 - critically appraise the role of plants as a vital component of the biosphere and how they are responsible for the environmental conditions essential for all life on earth
4 - demonstrate an advanced understanding of the importance of plants in addressing the major global challenges of climate change and food security
5 - apply their knowledge to formulate hypotheses and test them using appropriate tools
6 - interpret a variety of different datasets generated in Plant Biology research
7 - appreciate the importance of plants to national wealth and have a clear understanding how scientific research can be taken to the marketplace
8 - demonstrate mastery of writing and oral presentation skills resulting in the ability to communicate to a specialist and non-specialist audience, in a clear and unambiguous way, the results of their investigations and/or rationale underlying them.
9 - demonstrate the maturity to continue studying and the ability to critically appraise the scientific literature in a largely autonomous manner
10 - undertake a major laboratory or field study, to formulate hypothesis, plan and execute experiments to test the hypothesis, generate data and compile a final research thesis
11 - master skills in experimental biology including design and analysis of experiments, use of current and advanced research techniques
12 - master skills in advanced teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving

Students who return failing grades in a trimester amounting to 15 credits, or more, will be identified under the UCD Continuation – Academic Progress policy. Students whose rate of progression and performance over two academic years is deemed unacceptable will be referred to the Governing Board to be reviewed for exclusion from the programme.
Students who fail to progress from the stage of the programme they are registered to for more than two academic years (except where a period of Leave of Absence has been granted for one of those years) will also be contacted under the Continuation – Academic Progress Policy.
As Stages 3 and 4 have the most dynamic components of the programme, and the material studied previously may no longer be relevant, a student who has been away from the programme for a significant period should be required to register again to Stage 3. The upper limit for completion of Stages 3 and 4 should be six years if they choose to do 120 credits with 20 in each year.

Students take seven core modules and three options. Students may not choose both STAT20070 and FOR20100. Additional modules can be selected from within the BSc programme or alternatively, students may choose 10 credits from elective modules. If you are interested in doing an Internship as part o f Stage 4, you must indicate your interest now (in Stage 3). See full details www.ucd.ie/science /careers/internships/students/

Students take a minimum of 60 credits from within the BSc degree programme. Students take one core module and eight option modules. The 20 credit research project module is spread over two trimesters with about 10 credits of work expected in Autumn. Students should bear this workload in mind when selecting option modules and balance their workload across both trimesters.

Module ID	Module Title	Trimester	Credits
Stage 3 Core Modules
BIOL30010	Plant Diseases: Biology and Control	Autumn	5
CELB30110	Plant Cell Biology	Autumn	5
GENE30010	Genetics and Recombinant DNA	Autumn	5
BIOL30030	Working with Biological Data	Spring	5
BOTN30050	Diversity of Plant Form & Function	Spring	5
BOTN30130	Plant Biotechnology & Entrepreneurship	Spring	5
BOTN30140	Experimental Plant Physiology	Spring	5
Stage 3 Core Modules
Stage 3 Options - A)MIN3OF: Students must select three options from the list below. Students cannot take both STAT20070 and FOR20100. Students who wish to obtain recognition of the Structured Elective in Statistics and Data Analytics on their degree transcript should register to STAT20070 as an elective.
AESC30110	Diversity in the Rural Landscape	Autumn	5
AESC30220	Soil Science Applications	Autumn	5
BIOL30040	Scientific Writing for Biology	Autumn	5
ENVB30010	Systems Ecology	Autumn	5
FOR20100	Applied Biostatistics	Autumn	5
STAT20070	Data Modelling for Science	Autumn	5
ZOOL30030	Evolutionary Biology	Autumn	5
CELB30090	Advanced Cell Biology	Spring	5
CELB30100	Developmental Biology	Spring	5
CELB30120	Hot Topics in Cell and Molecular Biology	Spring	5
ENVB30100	Ecological and Environmental Microbiology	Spring	5
GENE30020	Genome Structure and Evolution	Spring	5
Stage 3 Options - A)MIN3OF: Students must select three options from the list below. Students cannot take both STAT20070 and FOR20100. Students who wish to obtain recognition of the Structured Elective in Statistics and Data Analytics on their degree transcript should register to STAT20070 as an elective.
Stage 4 Core Modules
BIOL40360	Research Project	2 Trimester duration (Aut-Spr)	20
Stage 4 Core Modules
Stage 4 Options - A)MIN8OF: Students must select eight options from the list below. Please note that students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be registered by the School to the module.
BIOL40560	Biological Imaging	Autumn	5
BOTN40290	Current Dev. Plant Bio. 1	Autumn	5
BOTN40300	Plant Biology Field Course	Autumn	5
CELB40020	Developmental Plant Genetics	Autumn	5
ENVB40040	Environmental Impact Assessment	Autumn	5
ENVB40310	Peatlands and Environmental Change	Autumn	5
ENVB40540	Introduction to Ecological Mapping with open source software (QGIS)	Autumn	5
SCI30080	Professional Placement-Science	Autumn	5
ZOOL40040	Molecular Phylogenetics - Powers and Pitfalls	Autumn	5
BOTN40260	Plant Phenotyping: from Basics to Robotics	Spring	5
BOTN40280	Current Dev. Plant Bio. 2	Spring	5
CELB40030	Programmed Cell Death in Plants	Spring	5
ENVB40290	Ecological Modelling	Spring	5
ENVB40480	Applied Microbial Ecology	Spring	5
ZOOL40280	Biological Invasions	Spring	5
ZOOL40490	Wildlife Habitat Modelling for Ecology and Conservation	Spring	5
Stage 4 Options - A)MIN8OF: Students must select eight options from the list below. Please note that students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be registered by the School to the module.

		Award		GPA
Programme	Module Weightings	Rule Description	Description
BHSCI001	Stage 4 - 70.00% Stage 3 - 30.00%	Standard Honours Award	First Class Honours	3.68	4.20
			Second Class Honours, Grade 1	3.08	3.67
			Second Class Honours, Grade 2	2.48	3.07
			Pass	2.00	2.47