The programme runs full-time over 24 months (120 ECTS) and consists of advanced courses (90 ECTS) and a Master Thesis, with a dissertation (30 ECTS).

  • During Semester 1, students will follow different individually tailored combinations of courses integrated in one of the fundamental modules (1-5) in UBx, ULiège or UPPA.
  • During Semester 2, they will follow another individually tailored combination of courses integrated into the advanced specialised modules (6-10) in NTNU, UPO or EHU.
  • During Semester 3 the students must follow the compulsory INCyTA course (6 ECTS) as a part of the Module 10.
  • The MSc Thesis research is undertaken during Semester 4 (30 ECTS) and consists of a 5-6 month research under the supervision of a PhD holder.

Every student will follow a Joint Programme, by combining the different disciplines that can be studied at each of the Partner universities (these are the complementary profiles in which each Partner excels and, as such, recognized internationally):

  • Pollutant Biogeochemistry and Integrative Ecotoxicology in UBx;
  • Water and Wastewater Pollution in UPPA;
  • Marine Ecology and Ecotoxicology in ULiège;
  • Arctic Contamination and Toxicology in NTNU;
  • Applied and Regulatory Ecotoxicology in UPO;
  • Advanced Analytical Chemistry and Translational Ecotoxicology in EHU.

The coursework is arranged in 10 modules:

  • MODULE 1: Biogeochemistry of Environmental Pollutants
  • MODULE 2: Fundamentals in Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
  • MODULE 3: Environmental Analytical Chemistry
  • MODULE 4: Advanced Ecology
  • MODULE 5: Environmental Data Analysis
  • MODULE 6: Advanced Environmental and Analytical Chemistry
  • MODULE 7: Applied Ecology and Ecophysiology
  • MODULE 8: Advanced and Applied Ecotoxicology
  • MODULE 9: Environmental Risk Assessment and Management
  • MODULE 10: Researcher’s Career

Throughout the coursework, students can make a selection between alternative mobility pathways; choosing one of these pathways is not a requirement and they will not appear as specialisation in the Joint Diploma and EDS. Through any of the pathways, the students have the opportunity to travel, from chemistry and molecular biology to ecological and management issues and from short-term responses of living systems to chemicals to their long-term; thus achieving a translational science background. All the students follow advanced courses in UPV/EHU in Semester 3, with a relevant, but not compulsory, imprint in the field of advanced environmental risk assessment and skills for a researcher’s career in ECT.