Biodiversity

60 - 90.

Faculty of Biology

50

The aim of the Masters in Human Biology is to offer graduates from the experimental sciences and humanities, as well as teachers and professionals from various government sectors, a quality program that enables them to further their understanding of human biodiversity for research or professional practice, and to see how this knowledge might be applied in training and elsewhere in society. The Masters undertakes to keep students informed about the latest developments in the field and to give them the skills for integrating the biological and cultural mechanisms which generate human biodiversity and for understanding the wealth of their manifestations. These can then be used to identify the major problems in our society and to develop solutions in these specific areas of the field.

The course is designed for graduates or those who have completed 180 credits of an undergraduate program, which must include the common core subjects from a degree in fields allied to the experimental, health and/or human sciences. In the case of students holding other qualifications, students from other European countries and students with an unofficial Spanish degree (university endorsed), admission will be granted according to how closely their studies match the above-mentioned degrees. A masters committee will specifically evaluate the adequacy of a student's previous studies to the skills required for undertaking the Masters in Human Biology and will make any recommendations regarding the need to register for cross-disciplinary foundation courses.

All credits and merits gained from previous training courses will be considered for recognition, including: first degree, courses studied, number of ECTS credits, hours of campus-based and distance training, syllabus, institution and faculty members, academic level of courses, degree of relation to the Masters in Human Biology and adequacy of subjects. Preference will be given to students in the experimental sciences and humanities, or with experience in professional backgrounds related to physical anthropology, biological anthropology, human biology as well as in areas related to studies in human evolution, ethology and primatology, including prehistory and archaeology. Similarly, credit will be given to students who have taken optional courses in their undergraduate degree program related to biological or physical anthropology, human evolution, evolutionary medicine and prehistory.

1) To acquire a broad knowledge and understanding of Physical Anthropology focusing on the origin, maintenance and implications of the present-day biological diversity of our species, to identify problems, find original solutions and to apply them in a research context and in the professional ambit of the biological and biomedical sciences, in forensic anthropology and human evolution.

2) To have a broad multidisciplinary approach to human biodiversity in order to be able to apply this knowledge to a variety of social environments and to new research contexts related to human biodiversity.

3) To have a sound technical and methodological basis for undertaking research work in the field of physical anthropology and for completing a doctoral thesis.

4) To be able to integrate knowledge concerning present-day human diversity with both the current and future ethical and social issues involved in its study, and to be able to undertake critical appraisals of these findings, above all with regard to the training of professionals working in government and teaching.

5) To demonstrate the acquisition of the skills needed for on-going education and autonomous study and the ability to communicate clearly the knowledge, conclusions, evaluations and implications of the specialist field to society in general and specialized audiences in particular.

General skills: to understand the evolutionary dimension of human diversity today, and the biological diversity of Hominids and their morphological evolution in time and space, to understand the evolutionary mechanisms of the origin and diversification of the genus Australopithecus and Homo and modern humans, to understand the mechanisms giving rise to biological diversity in our species, the adaptive significance and the mechanisms that maintain this diversity, to understand the dynamics of human populations and their present biological and social implications, to be able to quantify the biological diversity of our species and to carry out prospective reports on the consequences of the migratory phenomena in present-day societies, to be able to detect problems associated with population changes and to design alternatives, to be able to draw evolutionary inferences based on present human diversity and to design epidemiological studies, to know how to evaluate the effect of new environments on the health of human populations, to be able to interact with and assess government institutions working in social, political-population and public health matters, to be able to handle human samples and to carry out molecular and chromosomal analyses for disease diagnostic and prevention, to manage museum samples and retrieve data from files and records.