Underwater photo taken of a fish swimming amongst algae. / Photo sous marine d'un poisson parmi des algues.

Master courses in Marine Science

Covering about 71% of the Earth's surface and encompassing 90% of the biosphere, the oceans are an essential component of the dynamics of the Earth system. This is reflected in the essential role they play in regulating major biogeochemical cycles and climate. Furthermore, the oceans contribute significantly to the economic prosperity, social well-being and quality of life of many human societies. However, with more than 60% of the world's population living near a coastline, a figure that is constantly increasing, marine environments are facing a growing number of threats such as climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, the introduction of exotic species or the over-exploitation of resources.

Please note that many of these courses take place in one of Sorbonne University's three marine stations, and not in Paris: in Roscoff, Banyuls-sur-Mer or Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Master courses in Marine Science

1st year Master courses (M1) taught in English

These courses are accessible to 4th year undergraduate exchange students provided they have the necessary prerequisites.

Semester 2

Banyuls-sur-Mer marine station

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Environment characterization, Water column, Sediment, Quantification, Experimental design, Quality control.


Prerequisites

BSc. Biology or Earth or Environmental Sciences 


Contact

François Lantoine (francois.lantoine@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Laurence Méjanelle (laurence.mejanelle@sorbonne-universite.fr)

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Mediterranean diversity, Plankton, Meiofauna, Macrofauna, Marine diversity.


Prerequisites

BSc. Biology or Earth or Environmental Sciences 


Contact

Jadwiga Orignac (jadwiga.orignac@sorbonne-universite.fr)
François Lantoine (francois.lantoine@sorbonne-universite.fr)

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Pelagic and benthic ecology, Pratical work, Data analysis, Methodology, Modelling, Microbial ecology.


Prerequisites

BSc. Biology or Earth or Environmental Sciences 


Contact

Jadwiga Orignac (jadwiga.orignac@sorbonne-universite.fr)
François Lantoine (francois.lantoine@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd year Master courses (M2) taught in English

Semester 1

Paris

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Ongoing and past global changes, Biodiversity loss, Sea ice, Carbon, macro and micronutrients cycles, Polar marine resources and fisheries, Bioregionalization.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Damien Cardinal (damien.cardinal@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Philippe Koubbi (philippe.koubbi@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Banyuls-sur-Mer marine station

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Environmental Impact Assessment, Anthropic Disturbances, Modeling, Decision Statistics, Baseline.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Audrey Pruski (audrey.pruski@sorbonne-universite.fr)
François Lantoine (francois.lantoine@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Time series acquisition, Statistical trends, Models, Prediction, Frequency domain, Space and time variability.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Audrey Pruski (audrey.pruski@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Nadine Le Bris (nadine.le_bris@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Pelagic and benthic community assembly, Abiotic constraints, Biological interactions, Spatio-temporal variability, Succession changes in
communities, Interaction modelling.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Jadwiga Orignac (jadwiga.orignac@sorbonne-universite.fr)
François Lantoine (francois.lantoine@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Functional ecology, Bentho-pelagic coupling, Organisms-sediment interactions, Biogeochemistry, Ecosystem engineer species.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Audrey Pruski (audrey.pruski@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Jadwiga Orignac (jadwiga.orignac@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Roscoff marine station

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Species diversity, Genetic diversity, Functional diversity, Diversity-ecosystem functioning relationship, Anthropogenic disturbances.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Eric Thiebaut (eric.thiebaut@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Marine pollutions, Imposex, Eutrophications, Bio-indicators, Marine Protected Areas (MPA), Good environmental status.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Ann Andersen (ann.andersen@sorbonne-universite.fr) 
Pascal Riera (pascal.riera@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Villefranche-sur-Mer marine station

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Instrumentation, Cruise planning, Methods, Observing systems.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Laure Mousseau (laure.mousseau@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Jean-Olivier Irisson (jean-olivier.irisson@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Data processing, Data analysis, Spatial interpolation, Data flow.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Jean-Olivier Irisson (jean-olivier.irisson@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Stéphane Gasparini (stephane.gasparini@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd year Master - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

Quantitative ecology, Modelling, Interaction environment/biology, biology/biology.


Prerequisites

Master 1 Marine Sciences / Ecology


Contact

Fabien Lombard (fabien.lombard@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Lars Stemmann (lars.stemmann@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Summer schools

Students need to apply online. Visit the programme website for more information.

Location: Banyuls-sur-Mer


1st and 2nd year Master - Summer School - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

  1. Mediterranean biodiversity
  2. Coralligenous
  3. Posidonia meadows
  4. Determination of marine fauna
  5. Lagoon environnment.

Prerequisites

Basics in Biology, Ecology and Taxonomy


Contact

Jadwiga Orignac (jadwiga.orignac@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Sophie Sanchez-Brosseau (sophie.sanchez-brosseau@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Location: Roscoff


1st and 2nd year Master - Summer School - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

  1. Marine benthic fauna 
  2. Functional anatomy of invertebrates
  3. Biology of marine organisms
  4. Fauna identification
  5. Phylogeny and taxonomy

Prerequisites

Basics in Biology


Contact

Ann Andersen (ann.andersen@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Location: Roscoff


1st and 2nd year Master - Summer School - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

  1. Marine biodiversity
  2. Biology of marine algae
  3. Identification skills
  4. Field work
  5. Phylogeny and taxonomy

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge in biology is needed to attend the course. An upgrade of the prerequisites will be proposed to the students approximately one week before the start of the course. It consists of a formative quiz, which allows the review of a number of basic notions of biology.


Contact

Nathalie Simon (nathalie.simon@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Christophe Destombe (christophe.destombe@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Location: Villefranche-sur-mer


1st and 2nd year Master - Summer School - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

This class focuses on statistical techniques used to analyse multivariate data and time series in oceanography or, more generally, in environmental sciences. We teach how to choose and associate appropriate statistical methods, the theoretical basis of these different methods and their practical implementation through the use of specialised software and programming, using R.
The topics covered are: distance measures relevant in ecology (Euclidean, Bray-Curtis, etc.), ordination methods in reduced space (ACP, AFC, MDS), unsupervised grouping methods (hierarchical, k- means), multiple regression methods (linear model, RDA, CCA), supervised classification methods (LDA, classification trees, RandomForest, etc.), multivariate time series analyzes (description, event detection, decomposition , etc.).


Prerequisites

This class deals with multivariate analyses and assumes prior knowledge of classical inferential statistics
(notion of variance, ANOVA, simple regression).


Contact

Jean-Olivier Irisson (jean-olivier.irisson@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Stéphane Gasparini (stephane.gasparini@sorbonne-universite.fr)