Course summary

Over 70 per cent of the Earth's surface is covered by seawater and all known phyla are believed to have originated in the sea or have marine representatives. The world's oceans influence our weather and climate and provide a large proportion of the resources used by humans. Our Marine Biology degrees span this multidisciplinary field, by linking biology with oceanography to learn how life on Earth affects, and is affected by, marine processes. Areas of marine expertise at Queen's range from the evolution of marine flora and fauna, invasive species, community ecology and climate change to the migration and foraging ecology of marine vertebrates such as basking sharks and sea turtles. We are ideally located for the study of marine biology, with close access to diverse habitats, from estuaries and mudflats to rocky shores and the Atlantic Ocean. The Queen's University Marine Laboratory is our research centre for interdisciplinary marine sciences, located 30 miles from the main campus, in the Strangford Lough Marine Nature Reserve, on a site we share with the Northern Ireland aquarium, Exploris. All students take at least one residential field course each year at the Laboratory, and have the opportunity to pursue an independent research project for their Honours thesis in their final year.