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For students

ABC in Biodiversity : 4EU+ complementary joint courses


The 4EU+ project “ABC in Biodiversity” which is coordinated by the University of Warsaw in cooperation of Sorbonne University and Charles University launches three online/field courses for BA or MA students in summer semester 2021/2022. This modular transdisciplinary educational path in biodiversity aims to support you in navigating through contemporary biodiversity crisis. The courses provide an opportunity to deepen understanding, broaden perspective and gain participatory experience.



STAGE 1

Introductory blended (online and field) course February-May 2022


Course 1. Biodiversity around-the-corner

This interdisciplinary introductory course to biodiversity combines approaches of two academic fields: biology and geography, and provides both, theoretical and methodological background (B1), and opportunity to use this knowledge in practice while exploring one’s everyday environment (B2). In B1, we use online materials and follow with online discussions with experts from both natural and social sciences. In B2, students engage in local biodiversity monitoring and use participatory methodologies. You build a common open-access geospatial database on selected organisms, analyse acquired data and discuss them in seminars, thus learn how biodiversity is understood, measured and studied, take different perspectives, and train methodologies of different disciplines.

  • ECTS: 4 (60 hrs)

  • Where and when? Online meetings on Fridays on selected dates and self-organized field work “around the corner”,

  • 32 spots still available: 8 for UW students, 6 for SU students, 18 for CU students


Read the full description of the course


STAGE 2

Two practical follow-up optional field courses May/June 2022


These intensive field courses are provided as context-based projects where students use their knowledge and apply methodologies learnt before. You engage in the entire research process – asking questions, study design, fieldwork, results analysis and sharing – and in a cross-disciplinary dialogue. Students choose a problem to solve, demanding surpassing a single discipline perspective.


Course 2. Biodiversity in cultural landscapes: Mazury

Five and a half-day field course. You will place diversity of organisms in the spatial context of cultural landscape mosaics, social perception and local demographics. Lakes will be the focus ecosystems, studied along existing environmental and cultural gradients.

  • ECTS: 3 (45 hrs),

  • Where? Hydrobiological Field Station in Pilchy, Mazury, Poland.

  • When? From 22 to 27 May 2022

  • 14 spots still available: 2 for UW students, 6 for SU students, 6 for CU students

Priority is given to students who complete “Biodiversity around-the-corner”.


Read the full description of the course


Course 3. Biodiversity and Ecotoxicology in Mediterranean Ecosystems

10-day field course will take place at the end of May / in the beginning of June, 2022, at the Observatoire Océanologique in Banyuls sur Mer, France. You will place the diversity of organisms in the spatial context of the physical environment, pollution levels included.


Read the course description


  • ECTS: 6

  • Where: Observatoire Océanologique in Banyuls sur Mer, France.

  • When: From 23 May to 3 June 2022

  • Target group: BA, MA students (important: MA students are given priority!)

  • 12 students can participate (4 from each university)

Registration period for this course: 1 – 28 February


How to register

  1. Send an email to the course coordinators:

    - Sophie Sanchez-Brosseau,

    - Laurence Besseau,

  2. Admissions will be examined on the basis of a short motivation letter and a CV.

Travel costs, from Paris/Prague/Warsaw, depending on which is your home university, and accommodation are covered by 4EU+ funds.


Priority is given to students who complete “Biodiversity around-the-corner”, MA students, and students who have some background in biology.


Registration procedure

For Sorbonne students

Course 1 and 2: Please register for courses via the registration system at your home university. For more information please contact:

  • Marianne Cohen: , Faculty of Humanities

  • David Siaussat , Faculty of Science


Course 3: in order to register for the course Biodiversity and Ecotoxicology in Mediterranean Ecosystems, contact the coordinators:

  • Sophie Sanchez-Brosseau,

  • Laurence Besseau,

Registration period for this course : 1-28 February.


For Charles University students

Course 1 and 2: in order to register for courses you should follow the online enrolment system of the University of Warsaw: https://irk.uw.edu.pl/en-gb/home/. To register for the selected courses, please follow the enrollment guide.


For more information please contact UW team: or the coordinators at Charles University:

  • Adam Petrusek:

  • David Hořák:


Course 3: in order to register for the course Biodiversity and Ecotoxicology in Mediterranean Ecosystems, contact the coordinators:

  • Sophie Sanchez-Brosseau,

  • Laurence Besseau,

Registration period for this course : 1-28 February.


For University of Warsaw students

Please register for courses via your USOS account. You can find more information about the courses here:

Course 1. Biodiversity around-the-corner

Course 2. Biodiversity in cultural landscapes: Mazury

Course 3: in order to register for the course Biodiversity and Ecotoxicology in Mediterranean Ecosystems, contact the coordinators:

  • Sophie Sanchez-Brosseau,

  • Laurence Besseau,

Registration period for this course : 1-28 February.


For more information please contact:

  • dr Barbara Pietrzak ( ) at the Faculty of Biology or

  • dr Marta Derek ( ) at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies.