Teaching

Urban Ecology & Evolution

A course exploring how life responds to the urban environment.

Urban Ecology & Evolution is taught in English at the Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, bringing together perspectives from ecology, genetics and evolutionary biology to understand how organisms respond to life in cities.

ECTS: Lectures: 3 ECTS | Practicals: 6 ECTS | Full course: 9 ECTS

Course Leader: Prof. dr hab. Marta Szulkin, Anthropocene Biology Lab

What will we explore?

Cities are extraordinary environments for studying ecology and evolution. During the course, we explore urban biology across a wide range of organisms — from bacteria to vertebrates — and examine the ecological and evolutionary processes shaping life in urban environments.

Practical sessions take these ideas further, introducing students to approaches for quantifying the urban environment, synthesising scientific evidence and developing research projects in urban ecology and evolution.

The course draws on our handbook, Urban Evolutionary Biology, edited by Marta Szulkin, Jason Munshi-South and Anne Charmantier (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Next edition: Summer semester 2026–2027

Urban Ecology & Evolution will return in the summer semester of the 2026–2027 academic year. The teaching format and schedule for this edition are currently being developed. Further details, including course dates and registration information, will be announced soon.

Teaching across disciplines

Beyond our core teaching in biology, we occasionally engage in interdisciplinary teaching projects that bring the study of the Anthropocene into conversation with other fields. We have collaborated with Artes Liberales at the University of Warsaw and the Faculty of Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (ASP), creating opportunities for students and researchers from biology, the humanities and design to approach shared questions from different perspectives.

These encounters allow us to think beyond disciplinary boundaries — exploring not only how we understand environmental change, but also how different forms of knowledge and creativity can contribute to our responses to it.

Schools & outreach

We are also happy to bring our science beyond the university. Members of the Anthropocene Biology Lab can engage with schools through talks, lectures and nature walks, introducing students to urban ecology, evolution and the wildlife living alongside us. Whether indoors or out in the field, we aim to make science accessible, engaging and rooted in direct observation of the natural world.

For enquiries about activities with schools, please contact Ignacy Stadnicki (i.stadnicki@student.uw.edu.pl).