Faculty of Biosciences (Biovit)

About the faculty

Faculty of Biosciences contributes to the shape of future food production through basic as well as applied research on the production and use of plants, livestock and fish.

The faculty consists of the departments Department of Livestock and Aquaculture Science, IHA and Department of Plant Science, IPV.

• Contact the faculty
• Employees at the faculty
• For our students
• For our PhD-students

• Studies at Biovit

  English-language master's program:

  European Master in Animal Breeding and Genetics
  Animal Science
  Geome science
  Agroecology
  Aquaculture
  Plant Sciences 
  Sustainable Food Systems
  Urban agiculture

  PhD programs:

  Biosciences

  If you have any questions, please contact our study advisors: studieveileder-biovit@nmbu.no

• Research

  Research centres and large research projects

  • NMBU Sustainability Arena: GreenSmart
  • NMBU Sustainability Arena: Sustainable food systems
  • Foods of Norway
  • National Center for Urban Agriculture (NCUA)
  • Cigene - Molecular biology lab

  Research project

  In addition to the research centres and the large research projects, we have many research projects

  Research sections and research groups

  Research sections in Animal and Aquacultural Sciences

  • Breeding, Genetics and Food Production Systems
  • Ethology and Animal Welfare
  • Nutrition and Physiology in Monogastric Animals
  • Ruminant Nutrition and Physiology
  • Genome Biology 

  Research sections in Plant Sciences

  • Genetics, evolution and sustainable crop production
  • Plant biology, sustainable food system and integrated plant protection

  Research groups

  (Groups of researchers working together on a research topic)

  • MEMO-group: Microbial Ecology and Meta-Omics
  • Agroecology
• Publications

  Articles in refereed scientific journals

  • Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences (IHA)
  • Department of Plant Sciences (IPV)
• Research infrastructure

  Our laboratories and services:

  • Fruit lab
  • Imaging Centre- Microscopy lab
  • LabTek - chemical analyses
  • Plant Cell Lab
  • Centre for fish trials
  • Meatbolism department
  • Cigene - Molecular biology lab

  NMBU laboratories and services:

  • Center for Feed Technology (ForTek)
  • The Livestock Production Research Center (SHF)
  • Centre for Plant Research in Controlled Climate (SKP)
• Employees

  All employees at the faculty

• Strategic Action Plan 2023–2026

  This strategic action plan is a governing document that lays out how BIOVIT will develop over the next three years. The document forms the basis for what will be prioritised when it comes to BIOVIT’s strategic resources, staffing plan, and what the faculty management will otherwise emphasise in their priorities.

  Our strategic action plan is in accordance with NMBU’s overall strategy and is dedicated to promoting our institution’s competitiveness in terms of research funding, both nationally and internationally. We are at the forefront of sustainable food and bioproduction, genetics and biotechnology, both on land and in water, in line with the priority areas set out by the Norwegian government. The faculty has strong research groups involved in the EU initiatives ‘Farm to Fork’ and ‘A European Green Deal’.

  We are committed to continuing to develop and strengthen these groups, while integrating their expertise into our study programmes in order to provide students with an education that is relevant for the future.

  The faculty has responsibility for two of NMBU’s sustainability arenas: sustainable food systems and green and smart cities. The faculty has also prioritised a special focus on sustainable aquaculture. These arenas promote both internal and external cooperation.
   
  An important initiative for BIOVIT over the next three years is to strengthen expertise and capacity in systems thinking, transdisciplinarity, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and automation. This will enable a deeper integration of research and education at our faculty, with the aim of addressing the complex societal challenges associated with sustainable food systems. This requires wider collaboration with other faculties at NMBU and external expert environments that possess expertise that supplements our own. This does not mean that the traditional subject disciplines are not strong, for, as Associate Professor of Philosophy at Aarhus University Hans Fink says:

  ‘Subject disciplines are under pressure. Today’s demand for limitless expertise threatens to tear down the boundaries between disciplines in order to open the door to the promised land of transdisciplinarisation. However, there is no shortcut behind the subjects, because even though the subject disciplines are artificial borders in a borderless, modern world, we cannot do without them.’

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• How we are organized

  The faculty consists of two departments and the scientific staff is divided into profession groups at departmental level.

  Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences (IHA)

  The department conducts both basic and applied research in the field of livestock and aquaculture. The areas of expertise include genomics, genetics, and breeding, ethology and animal welfare, livestock nutrition and feed. New sustainable feed ingredients and feed production are of central importance. For ruminants, we also have a specific focus on greenhouse gases such as methane and greenhouse gases from livestock farming in general.

  We engage in both basic and applied research. In the future, the department will focus on strengthening basic research aimed at sustainable food systems, as well as interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research collaboration both nationally and internationally.

  Department of Plant Sciences (IPV)

  The department is responsible for education and research on sustainable production of plants for food and feed, as well as plant physiology, genetics, plant breeding, plant protection, ornamentals, agroecology and urban agriculture.

  We combine basic biological knowledge with practical plant production and development of innovative solutions for the future. We focus on basic physiology and genetics, climate adaptation, integrated plant management, biotechnology, image-based phenotyping, sustainability and cross-disciplinary approaches to the food system.  

  The management at the faculty

  • Constituted Dean - Gro Steine
  • Constituted Vice dean research - Simen Rød Sandve
  • Vice dean education - Dag Inge Våge
  • Constituted Head of department at IHA - Peer Berg
  • Head of department at IPV - Marian Schubert
  • Head of administration - Nini Hammergren
    
  • Beside the management group ─ head of the Phd committee - Øystein Holand
• For our bachelor and master students

  On this link you will find information about:

  Internship
  Study plans for students at the Faculty of Biosciences (BIOVIT)
  Theme for degree theses/ Thesis proposals
  Changes in the courses offered at BIOVIT
  Contagion security - requirement for an MRSA test for IHA students after returning from an exchange

• For our PhD-students

  On this link you will find general information about the PhD study

Contact

Phone number: + 47 67 23 26 00
E-mail: post-biovit@nmbu.no
Visiting address: Oluf Thesens vei 6, 1433 Ås

Postal address:
NMBU - Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Faculty of Biosciences
P.O. Box 5003
NO-1432 Ås
Norway