About

The School of Biological Sciences delivers world-class research and teaching across a broad range of fundamental disciplines in biology.

With a stunning range of terrestrial and marine subtropical habitats and their native biodiversity on our doorstep, our subtropical location offers countless opportunities for discovery. 

Our research spans the scales of biological organisation, from molecules and cells to organisms, species, communities and populations.

Many of our study opportunities feature field trips to some of the world’s most pristine and unique environments, as well as UQ’s world-renowned research stations on Heron Island and in Moreton Bay.

Research-intensive community

Our research-intensive community comprises more than 100 academic and postdoctoral research staff, and some 200 HDR students.

Many of our academics are world leaders in their fields, with four highly-cited researchers and four members of the Australian Academy of Science in our ranks. We develop and maintain high-quality researchers and projects through competitive and non-competitive grants from diverse government, non-governmental and philanthropic sources.

Excellence and enterprise

Our reputation for research excellence and enterprise is reflected in UQ’s consistent high scores in international rankings.

According to the latest Center for World University Rankings by Subject, we’re global leaders in:

• biodiversity conservation (ranked #1)
• marine and freshwater biology (ranked #3)
• ecology (ranked #6)
• environmental sciences (ranked #6).

The quality of our research was also reaffirmed in the latest Excellence in Research for Australia assessment (ERA), which is a comprehensive quality evaluation of all research produced in Australian universities against national and international benchmarks.

Our research underpins UQ's well above world standard (5) ERA ranking in the areas of environmental sciences, ecological applications, environmental science and management, biological sciences, ecology, evolutionary biology, microbiology, plant biology and zoology, and above world standard (4) ranking in genetics.

Innovative teaching, integrated learning

We provide our students with opportunities to develop marketable skills in quantitative, applied and laboratory biology through our integrated approach to teaching. In doing so, we bring together fieldwork, industry experience, quantitative skill development and hands-on research training.

Our diverse programs and courses include the highly competitive Masters of Conservation Biology/Science degrees and the popular Study Abroad and Incoming Exchange-approved courses in Australian terrestrial and marine science.

Our graduates leave us equipped with the skills, knowledge and experience to work in a range of fields as varied as biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation to the control of disease vectors and sustained food security.