MSc Global Plant Health

Key details

MSC GLOBAL PLANT HEALTH

Start Year

2023

Attendance

Full Time

Award

Degree of Master of Science

Duration (years)

Plant diseases have shaped human history. Controlling plant diseases is therefore important in the effort to realise a sustainable future for everyone and everything on this planet.

This MSc, delivered by The Sainsbury Laboratory, will equip you to tackle this pressing problem. Diseases of plants cause significant crop losses worldwide. This is made worse by the frequent emergence of new diseases. The impact goes well beyond the quantity and quality of food. We need to manage existing diseases as effectively as possible and respond rapidly to new outbreaks.

Many of the most effective solutions require a thorough understanding of the science underlying the interactions between plants and microbes, together with effective leadership and management. You will gain the high-level knowledge, insight and skills that will be sought after by all organisations involved in global plant health.

About

This one-year MSc in Global Plant Health provides the strongest possible grounding for a career devoted to minimising crop losses to help feed the world and protect the environment. By enrolling for this MSc, you will understand what makes plant pathogens virulent, the basis of plant immunity, how the next discoveries are made through experimental and computational approaches, what makes global response strategies successful and how to lead such a response. Rooted in scientific research excellence, this course develops the skills most sought after by employers. These include complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, coordination with others, and judgment and decision making.

This course is run by The Sain sbury Laboratory. It is an independent research institute that leads the world in molecular plant-microbe interactions. Its research covers a wide range of global diseases of crops. Its celebrated Group Leaders will share their vast experience with you. This course is associated with The School of Biological Sciences at UEA, with contributions from across the Norwich Research Park, including the John Innes Centre. You will therefore study in one of the world’s leading campuses in plant and microbial science.

A key and innovative element of the course is a 5-month research project of relevance to a global plant disease outbreak. This will provide invaluable experience for the next stage in your career by gaining familiarity with how to handle the main elements of the response to an emerging plant pathogen – from diagnosis, understanding virulence mechanisms and developing novel control strategies, through to project management.

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The Sainsbury Laboratory at Norwich Research Park

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Students of 2021/22 on MSc Global Plant Health course

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Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the courses listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the regular review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. Changes may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will inform students.

Assessment for Year 1

We’ll assess your learning in a combination of ways appropriate to each module and their learning objectives. You’ll be assessed based on coursework that includes laboratory reports, assignments, focused literature reviews, short essays, presentations and problem-based learning activities. For each module, you’ll have the chance to test your skills with up to two practice or “formative” assignments. That assignment might be a coursework essay or data analysis. Your final module, which comprises a third of the overall assessment marks, will be assessed by coursework, a project report and a presentation in the period after Easter.

Feedback

You’ll get feedback on your practice assignments from your tutors. The purpose of the feedback is to help you improve your work before your final formal or “summative” assignment and we encourage you to discuss your feedback with your tutors.

For practice assignments, we always aim to give you feedback within 10 working days of hand-in. For formal assignments we aim to give feedback within 20 working days of hand-in.

Structure

This one-year course is a mixture of five taught modules and a 5-month research project. These compulsory elements are exclusive to this course. Attendance at weekly seminars at The Sainsbury Laboratory forms part of modules throughout the year.

The first module introduces global plant health. You’ll learn about major crops and their pathogens, and the diagnosis of disease. You’ll also understand the strengths and weaknesses of traditional and modern crop improvement methods in relation to plant pathology.

The molecular plant-microbe interactions and plant health module covers our current understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenesis. This ranges how plants recognise pathogens, how plants acquire immunity and how the pathogens develop ways of overcoming immunity. It is this fundamental scientific understanding that is vital in the development of innovative and robust ways to control plant disease.

The experimental approaches to understand and combat disease module details the practical aspects of how diagnoses and new discoveries are made. This covers experimental design concepts of a wide range of methods and approaches in plant health with hands-on experience in core protocols.

The module on data science and informatics for plant disease research details bioinformatic and computational approaches to understand and tackle plant health. You’ll learn how numerous breakthrough discoveries are rooted in the expanding range of genomic resources now available.

The module on leadership, project management and global disease response strategies explains how the science can be used to make a difference on the ground. This covers the range of disease control measures to choose from, through to how diverse agencies around the world work to together to control outbreaks successfully. This includes models of management and leadership, project lifecycles, communication, teamwork, risk management, and conflict resolution, through to working within legal, policy and resource constraints.

All of the taught modules come together in the final interdisciplinary, scenario-based research project. Each plant disease outbreak requires a team of individuals with different skills to work together to come up with solutions to realise their potential. You will gain valuable research experience during your project to get first-hand experience of what constitutes a successful response. This includes computational studies, developing hypotheses, and devising a response strategy for an optimal outcome. Each student will have the opportunity to focus on their chosen specialism, produce a report and present a seminar summarising their achievements.

Teaching and Learning

Our teaching team is led by world-renowned Group Leaders at The Sainsbury Laboratory, supported by our Associate Group Leaders based in other Norwich Bioscience Institutes, Senior Scientists, Laboratory Managers, Postdoctoral Scientists, Postgraduate Research Students and international guest lecturers from organisations involved in supporting global plant health.

You’ll be taught through a combination of lectures, interactive workshops, online material, and laboratory/computational/project work to support your learning of concepts and practical applications. Contact time will average over eight hours per week with additional research seminars and other optional training activities. Being immersed in The Sainsbury Laboratory research culture will hugely benefit your learning. Almost all of the course can be adapted to online learning if necessary. The availability of laboratory-based activities may be subject to government health advice at the time.

The number of students is limited each year to create a focused group that maximises peer-support. You will have a dedicated Study Space within The Sainsbury Laboratory equipped with individual desks, laptops, Wi-Fi, lockers and space for seminars and workshops. You’ll have a “buddy” assigned to you who is an early career researcher at TSL who will be able to support you before and throughout the course.

Independent study

Much of the coursework will require independent study, allowing you to hone your analytical skills and develop time-management skills to maximise your learning.

You have the opportunity to explore the plant and microbial science of the researchers of not only The Sainsbury Laboratory, but the other institutions of the Norwich Research Park.

A highlight of the course is the interdisciplinary, scenario-based research project. Projects will involve specialisation reflecting one or more of the taught modules.

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Open Days

Assessment for Year 1

Feedback

For practice assignments, we always aim to give you feedback within 10 working days of hand-in. For formal assignments we aim to give feedback within 20 working days of hand-in.

Compulsory Modules

INTRODUCTION TO GLOBAL PLANT HEALTH

Code BIO-7043A

Credits 20

What is plant health and why does it matter? You will learn about modern farming methods and how plant diseases impact on our ability to achieve sustainable food security. You will learn about the range of plant diseases and pests that affect crops around the world, how they infect plants, how to diagnose disease, and how to manage crop losses. You will gain an understanding of how traditional and modern crop improvement methods can reduce crop losses. These methods include conventional plant breeding, transformation, gene editing and synthetic biology. You will learn from the world-class research leaders who developed some of these technologies. You will learn through a mixture of lectures, interactive workshops, online material and self-directed study. You will be taught by world-renowned Group Leaders at The Sainsbury Laboratory, supported by our Associate Group Leaders based in other Norwich Bioscience Institutes, Senior Scientists, Laboratory Managers, Postdoctoral Scientists, Postgraduate Research Students and guest lecturers from organisations involved in supporting global plant health. You will be a member of The Sainsbury Laboratory community. You’ll be assessed through assignments, focused literature reviews, short essays, presentations and problem-based learning activities. You will complete the module with an excellent understanding of the key concepts in plant health biology, the impact on society and how to minimize those impacts.

MOLECULAR PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS AND PLANT HEALTH

Code BIO-7044Y

Credits 40

What are the factors that dictate whether a microbe is beneficial or deleterious to a plant? How can a fundamental understanding of molecular plant-microbe interactions be used to develop innovative and robust ways of controlling plant disease? This module covers our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis. Many of the key discoveries in this discipline were made by researchers at The Sainsbury Laboratory. You will learn about how plants and microbes perceive each other, how pathogens use effectors to promote disease, how plants detect effectors and mount an immune response, how pathogens can modulate the immune response, and how plants integrate a range of defence mechanisms. Importantly, you will learn the molecular basis of how new diseases emerge and what options we have available to generate new resistant crops. You will learn and be assessed in the same way as described for the Introduction to Global Plant Health module. You will complete the module with a thorough understanding of the latest knowledge in molecular plant-microbe interactions and how this understanding can be used to combat plant disease.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES TO UNDERSTAND AND COMBAT DISEASE

Code BIO-7045Y

Credits 20

How are diseases understood and plant health discoveries made in the laboratory? You will learn the practical aspects of how diagnoses and new discoveries are made. You will understand experimental design concepts and gain hands-on experience of experimental procedures. This covers the basics of handing biological materials, plant husbandry, disease scoring, working with sterile techniques, and working safely with pathogens. The module also covers working with DNA and RNA from screening, cloning and transformation through to gene-silencing and CRISPR/Cas9. You will learn about genetics, genotyping, high-throughput sequencing, and gene mapping. You will get experience with microscopy and histology. The module also covers proteomic approaches to detect proteins and their modifications. You will learn about the range of techniques available to detect and quantify macromolecular interactions from co-immunoprecipitation and isothermal calorimetry, through to protein crystallography. You will learn through a mixture of lectures, interactive workshops, laboratory work, online material and self-directed study. You’ll be assessed through assignments, laboratory reports, short essays, presentations and problem-based learning activities. You will complete the module with the ability to engage in research activities associated with understanding and combatting plant disease.

DATA SCIENCE AND INFORMATICS FOR PLANT DISEASE RESEARCH

Code BIO-7046Y

Credits 20

How can we harness data sets and computation to make breakthroughs in plant health research? This module complements the module on experimental approaches to understand and combat disease. You will learn about the expanding resources associated with genome, transcriptome and structure databases. You will understand how to search and browse these databases, in low and high-throughput manners, how to manage local data sets and develop visualisations thereof in programming languages associated with data science, how to write a reproducible bioinformatics workflow and keep it under version control, how to analyse them and assess the quality of the outcomes. You will learn about genomic and transcriptomic approaches including how genomes are assembled and gene expression is estimated. You will ultimately understand how to use bioinformatic approaches to monitor, diagnose and control disease as well as make fundamental biological discoveries. You will learn through a mixture of lectures, interactive workshops, computational activities, online material and self-directed study. You’ll be assessed through assignments, focused literature reviews, short essays, presentations and problem-based learning activities. You will complete the module with a thorough appreciation of the power of data science in understanding and combatting plant diseases.

LEADERSHIP, PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND GLOBAL DISEASE RESPONSE STRATEGIES

Code BIO-7047B

Credits 20

What are the characteristics of effective leadership? How can science be used to make a difference on the ground? How can diverse agencies around the world work together to control outbreaks? This module will teach you the importance of leadership and project management in realizing a local or global disease response strategy based on robust, evidence-based science. This starts with disease diagnosis, microbial identification through to control measures based on physical, chemical and/or biological measures. Disease management involves risk assessments with an understanding of pressures from globalisation, intensive agriculture and climate change. Interventions require an understanding not only of plants and microbes, but also of environmental and societal factors together with financial, ethical, legal and policy constraints. You will learn about how a response requires the cooperation of many global agencies and stakeholders with clear channels of communication. Effective project management requires tools, models and processes that fit into distinct phases of the project lifecycle. You will learn about factors that impact on the success of a project through case studies. You will ultimately be able to devise and critically appraise response strategies. You will learn and be assessed in the same way as described for the Introduction to Global Plant Health module. You will complete the module with a complete understanding of effective leadership and best practice in responding to manage global plant disease outbreaks.

INTERDISCIPLINARY SCENARIO-BASED RESEARCH PROJECT

Code BIO-7048X

Credits 60

How would you tackle an emerging plant disease outbreak? You will focus on one of the speciality areas of global plant health and work within a research team to get experience of responding to an emerging global plant disease. You will gain experience of integrating science with policy and action under the supervision of one or more Group Leaders at The Sainsbury Laboratory. This will be rooted in molecular plant-microbe interaction research together with literature work and integrated with a robust evidence-based plan of how to respond to a disease outbreak. You will critically assess evidence, risk and all potential responses. You will develop the ability to communicate effectively with a written project report and a presentation. You will learn through a mixture of lab work, group meetings, online material and self-directed study. You’ll be assessed through assignments, focused literature reviews, essays, presentations, and a project report. You will complete the module evidencing your ability to make a significant research contribution to tackling one of the world’s most pressing challenges. Combatting and controlling plant diseases through research comprises a significant element in the global effort to realize a sustainable future for everyone and everything on this planet.

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Open Days

Important Information

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring and review of modules. Where this activity leads to significant change to a programme and modules, the University will endeavour to consult with affected students. The University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. Availability of optional modules may be restricted owing to timetabling, lack of demand, or limited places. Where this is the case, you will be asked to make alternative module choices and you will be supported during this process.

Entry Requirements

Degree classification

Bachelors degree 2.1 or equivalent

Degree subject

Biological Science or equivalent that covers plant and/or microbial sciences.

Additional entry requirements

Entry to this course is on a competitive basis. The Course Directors will assess each application based on the level of knowledge and experience of the following: molecular biology, genetics, molecular interactions, data science such as bioinformatics and statistics, laboratory skills, and independent study.

Applicants are required to submit two references with their application - at least one of these must be related to your most recent academic study.

A full, detailed CV should also be included with the application.

Applicants will be shortlisted for an online interview.

To facilitate time for interviews and production of visas where applicable, the application deadlines for September 2023 entry are:

14 June 2023 - International applicants

30 August 2023 - UK applicants and applicants not requiring a visa.

Students for whom english is a foreign language

We welcome applications from students whose first language is not English. To ensure such students benefit from postgraduate study, we require evidence of proficiency in English. Our usual entry requirements are as follows:

IELTS: 6.5 (minimum of 6.0 in each component)
PTE (Pearson): 67 (minimum of 64 in each component)

Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.

Other tests, including Cambridge English exams and the Trinity Integrated Skills in English are also accepted by the university. The full list of accepted tests can be found here: Accepted English Language Tests

INTO UEA also run pre-sessional courses which can be taken prior to the start of your course. For further information and to see if you qualify please contact intopre-sessional@uea.ac.uk.

Interviews

Applicants will be shortlisted for an online interview.

Intakes

This course is open to UK, EU and International applicants. The annual intake for this course is in September each year.

Clearing and Admissions Live Chat

Study at The Sainsbury Laboratory

Find out more about studying MSc in Global Plant Health at The Sainsbury Laboratory.

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MSc Global Plant Health - Students of 2021/22

Hear from our students on the MSc Global Plant Health course.

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Course Reference Number: 6884158

MSc GLOBAL PLANT HEALTH