Master of Quantitative Biology

Capitalise on the urgent demand for graduates with programming and analytical skills within biological fields and in emerging job markets, such as personalised medicine, biotechnology and agribusiness.

The 24-unit Master of Quantitative Biology is designed for graduates in an equivalent discipline, or in any field of biology with some university level (or equivalent) mathematics including biostatistics, or a mathematics degree with at least some first and second year university level biology.

The 24-unit program commences in the summer semester with a thorough introduction to two programming languages that are widely used within the biological sciences: Python and R. Using real biological datasets, you'll learn about basic syntax, data import, export and manipulation, control flow, statistical analysis, string manipulation and advanced plotting.

In your final semester, you’ll complete a research proposal and plan, then complete a project under the supervision of a partner from industry or government, or an academic from UQ. This allows you to gain practical experience working with large data sets while enhancing your report writing and project management skills.

Our graduates can expect diverse career options including data-based roles in the corporate, government, conservation, environmental and medical sectors, and in research organisations globally.

Program highlights

• Get ahead of the competition with a unique qualification in Quantitative Biology, the first of its kind in Australia.
• Learn from active researchers who bring quantitative approaches to addressing global challenges in fields as diverse as conservation and human health.
• Take advantage of intensive mode teaching to complete the equivalent of 18-months of study in just 12 months, with approved prior study.