MEME (Erasmus Mundus Master)

The Erasmus Mundus Master Program in Evolutionary Biology (MEME) is a two-year research oriented master program for talented and motivated students who are interested in understanding evolution in all its facets. This multidisciplinary program addresses the driving forces of evolution at all levels of organismal organization (from cells and individuals to populations and ecosystems), and it allows students to study all kinds of organisms (microorganisms, plants, animals) in a diversity of habitats (marine as well as terrestrial).

The focus of the MEME program is not only on how evolution shaped life on our planet in the past, but also on how understanding the principles underlying evolution can provide new insights and help to cope with present-day challenges in a variety of fields, including ecology, epidemiology, physiology, immunology, genetics/genomics, bioinformatics, economics and the social sciences. The MEME program will have a broad focus contentswise, as it aims to educate students with respect to all facets of evolution.

Participating universities

Four European universities (University of Groningen, Netherlands; Uppsala University, Sweden; Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Germany; University of Montpellier 2, France) have joined forces with Harvard University (USA) as an associated partner. MEME offers students the opportunity to compose an individual study program in evolutionary biology by combining elements from the complementary programs that are already established at the participating universities. Students spend at least a semester at several partner universities, and they will be awarded double degrees for this.

Erasmus Mundus

Erasmus Mundus Masters are funded by the European Union. Together with 18 other Master programs, MEME has in 2009 been selected as a new Erasmus Mundus Master program that will be funded for five years (with possible extension of another 5 years). The competition was fierce; only about 20% of the proposals for new Erasmus Mundus Masters have been awarded funding.

Erasmus Mundus aims to enhance the quality of higher education in Europe, and to promote dialogue and understanding between people and cultures through cooperation with third-world countries. In addition, it contributes to the development of human resources and the international cooperation capacity of higher education institutions in non-European countries by increasing mobility between the European Union and these countries. MEME falls under ‘Action 1’ of Erasmus Mundus; joint programs of outstanding quality at masters and doctoral levels including scholarships/fellowships to participate in these programs.

For more information about MEME, please visit www.evobio.eu

If you have any questions, contact Irma Knevel (I.C.Knevel AT rug.nl)