Program Overview

---

Program Overview

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Plant Science is a research-intensive program offered by the Department of Plant Science in the Faculty of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. The program's objective is to equip students with skills in cutting-edge thinking, literature review, and data collection to pursue professional opportunities in academia or industry.

Program Description

The program can be pursued as one of several additional options:

• Bioinformatics option: designed for students looking to study in the interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics, which lies at the intersection of biological/medical sciences and mathematics/computer science/engineering.
• Neotropical Environment option: aimed at students who wish to focus their graduate research on environmental issues relevant to the Neotropics and Latin American countries.

Research Areas

The program focuses on various research areas, including:

• plant production
• plant physiology
• plant development
• plant cell biology
• environmetrics
• genomics
• horticulture
• plant pathology
• plant breeding
• plant interactions
• weed biology
• plant biomechanics
• sustainability
• plant systematics
• proteomics
• structural bioinformatics
• systems biology
• tropical biology
• interdisciplinary research
• environmental issues
• environmental policy

Unique Program Features

• Students benefit from access to research facilities - both field and laboratory - focusing on areas such as plant breeding, crop physiology, crop management, crop quality, plant ecology, the epidemiology and biology of plant diseases, epigenetics, biosystematics, recombinant DNA technology, molecular biology, high-end imaging, mycology, weed biology, tissue culture, plant biochemistry, and bioinformatics.
• The research and experimental facilities include the Horticultural Research Centre, the Emile A. Lods Agronomy Research Centre, various greenhouses and growth cabinets, the McGill University Herbarium, the Macdonald Campus Multi-scale Imaging Facility (MuSIF), a genome editing laboratory, a plant-pest containment laboratory, and a field phenomics platform.
• The Neotropical Environment option includes additional courses and seminars, where part of the program takes place in Panama.
• Graduates pursue careers in various areas such as in academia, working with government agencies, or the private sector.

Admission Requirements

• An eligible Bachelor's degree with a minimum 3.0 GPA out of a possible 4.0 GPA
• English-language proficiency

Application Deadlines

The application deadlines are as follows:

• Intake: Fall, Winter, Summer
• Applications Open:
  • Fall: September 15
  • Winter: February 15
• Application Deadline - International:
  • Fall: January 15
  • Winter: July 15
• Application Deadline - Domestic (Canadian, Permanent Resident of Canada):
  • Fall: May 31
  • Winter: September 1

Available Intakes

The program is available in the following intakes:

• Fall
• Winter
• Summer (not available)