NOVA University Network

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The Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network (NOVA)
NOVA is a university cooperation aimed at supporting the understanding of major global challenges in a Nordic context. Together we provide high quality PhD-level courses in subjects related to agricultural, forestry and veterinary sciences, and support PhD and post-graduate veterinarian specialisation students and NOVA’s scientists in building international scientific networks.

NOVA provides the opportunity for teachers to organise high quality PhD courses in collaboration with colleagues at other NOVA universities and with participants from NOVA universities and other international universities/organisations.

Participation in courses is free of charge for students from NOVA member universities. Travel and accommodation, however, is usually not covered.
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Attend a course

All courses listed on this webpage are classified as NOVA courses by the hosting institution. That implies that all PhD and post-graduate veterinarian specialisation students registered at NOVA and BOVA member institutions may attend these courses free of charge. Registration procedures may vary between courses but are always outlined in the course descriptions.

Cropping Systems Diversification

Organised by: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Course level: Postgraduate level / Doctoral or equivalent third cycle (EQF level 8)

ECTS: 5
Venue: Alnarp, Sweden

Course term: 15 April - 15 June 2025

Maximum number of participants: 20

Course description:

This course is designed to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of cropping systems diversification. Through lectures, discussions, and applied exercises, students will deepen their knowledge of crop diversification and explore its relevance to their own research projects. The course provides a robust foundation for understanding the agronomic and ecological dimensions of crop diversification, while also examining economic, technological, and social perspectives. Students will engage with a variety of scientific methods to assess the impacts and outcomes of crop diversification, enhancing their analytical skills. Additionally, the course emphasizes the development of students’ writing and reflective skills, supporting them in effectively articulating and evaluating their insights.

Application deadline: 31 March 2025; applications by email to
 
raj.chongtham@slu.se (one page describing your current PhD/Post doc project, in which year of the PhD you are and your experience/knowledge in crop diversification.)

More details about the course are available here.

Sustainability transitions: theories, methodologies and practices in rural environments 2025

Organised by: University of Helsinky - Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry

Course level: Postgraduate level / Doctoral or equivalent third cycle (EQF level 8)

ECTS: 5
Venue: Viikki Campus, University of Helsinki, Finland

Course term: 5 May - 9 June 2025

Online participation period: 12 May - 9 June 2025 (There will not be teaching every day during the online part of the course. This time will be used for individual work assignments.)

Maximum number of participants: 30

Sustainability transitions is a multifaceted field of studies. While rural sustainability policies often focus on practical, scalable solutions and economic viability, the scientific discourse emphasizes, e.g., ecological integrity, social equity, and the complexity of rural systems. This multiplicity and the open-ended multidisciplinary ethos of sustainability transitions both present challenges for understanding complexities and intersectionalities, and encourage novel combinations, models, and theoretical approaches.

Balancing such multiplicity of perspectives may lead to more effective and inclusive personal strategies for studying rural sustainability transitions. Being familiar not only with a group of sustainability transition theories but also ontological and methodological assumptions of different views provide the students means with which to carry out coherent research and understand possibilities and also potential pitfalls of multidisciplinary research.

Course concept

The course provides a focused view on rural sustainability transformation policies and practices, as well as theoretical, methodological, and empirical research insights on sustainability transitions. The course comprises individual work assignments, an intensive week in-person in Helsinki with an excursion, and a joint online seminar. Personal work focuses on theoretical and methodological knowledge and research skills, while group work emphasizes dialogues, mutual learning and interdisciplinarity.

Application period: 07 January - 31 March, 2025; APPLICATION FORM

More details about the course are accessible at this website.

Landscape Governance - in an era of Nature-based Solutions

Organised by: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Course level: Postgraduate level / Doctoral or equivalent third cycle (EQF level 8)

Course form: Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP)

ECTS: 5
Venue: Alnarp (Sweden) and Copenhagen (Denmark)

Course term: 5 - 23 May 2025 (on site); 5-9 + 12 May (online)

Maximum number of participants: 15

Course description:

The course provides an in-depth exploration of landscape governance, with a focus on the emerging role of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in transformative change within the context of climate change, biodiversity loss and sustainable development.
The course is designed for PhD students from diverse disciplines and offers hands-on experiences, critical insights, and valuable opportunities to contribute to the discourse of landscape governance through theoretical and methodological research, with the intention of reducing the gap between theory and practice.
 
In this course we will critically discuss Landscape Governance approaches and their relation to NbS from conceptual, organizational and participatory perspectives. These discussions are designed to help students explore how these themes relate to their own research.

Application deadline: 01 April 2025; applications by email; see instructions:

To apply, each student need to submit the following (to thomas.randrup@slu.se):

  • The candidate's name and contact information.
  • PhD start date, title of the research project, name of supervisor(s), and home institution.
  • A statement of interest with motivation for participating in this course.
  • A one page description of their PhD project, emphasizing the relation to landscape governance & management.
More details about the course are available here. 

Disease resistance in crop plants and forest trees 2025

Organised by: University of Helsinky - Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry

Course level: Postgraduate level / Doctoral or equivalent third cycle (EQF level 8)

ECTS: 5
Venue: Tvärminne Zoological Station, Finland (23-28 June, 2025)

Online (15th April -10th June)

Online participation period: 15 April - 10 June, 2025

Maximum number of participants: 30

Plants, including forest trees, are exposed to pathogens at every stage in their life cycle. To survive, they have been forced to develop strategies and evolved diverse mechanisms to resist pathogen attacks, as well as ways to minimize the damage if their defences should fail. They are continually faced with environmental challenges but are unable to respond by physically escaping the attack, and consequently, they rely on biochemical, genetic, molecular and structural defences to resist predators and parasites.

Application period: 20 January - 11 April, 2025; APPLICATION FORM

More details about the course are accessible at this website. 

Biological Consequences of Selection

Organised by: Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Course level: Postgraduate level / Doctoral or equivalent third cycle (EQF level 8)

Course form: Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP)

ECTS: 5
Venue: Hafjell Øyer, Norway

Course term: 18 - 22 August 2025 (on site); online from 01 June 2025

Maximum number of participants: 20

Course description:

This course explores the consequences of domestication and selective breeding. Students will critically evaluate the ethical implications of animal breeding and examine how domestication and selection has shaped various traits, including performance, behavior, functional attributes, and maternal ability. The course also covers the fundamentals of animal growth, genetic scaling, resource allocation, and feed efficiency, emphasizing the interaction between genetics and environment. Through group discussions and collaborative reflection, students will integrate key concepts and analyze real-world dilemmas in animal breeding and selection. The course fosters a multidisciplinary approach, encouraging students to engage in critical thinking and present informed perspectives on complex challenges in the field.

Application deadline: 01 May 2025; APPLICATION FORM for PhD STUDENTS

More details about the course are available here. 

Mixed-Effect Models for Forest Applications with Examples in R

Organised by: Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Course level: Postgraduate level / Doctoral or equivalent third cycle (EQF level 8)

This course is offered in collaboration with BOVA.

ECTS: 3
Venue: NMBU, Ås, Norway

Course term: 19 - 23 May 2025 (in person only)

Maximum number of participants: 30

Course description:

Mixed-effect modelling is important for modelling based on data with various kinds of grouped structures. Examples include data from clustered sample plots in forest inventories, longitudinal data where observations have been made on the same objects at repeated occasions, and hierarchical data structures where, e.g., trees on plots are the study objects. Similar data structures are also common in other disciplines than forest inventory. The effect of groups can be modelled either fixed or random. 

The core of expected learning outcomes is which effect to choose in the modelling approach. This course provides an introduction to the mixed-effect modelling theory starting with a theory on modelling with categorical variables through generalized linear mixed-effect modelling when non-gaussian assumptions are employed. The course gives examples of practical usage and intuition on to how the modelling methods are applied.

Application deadline: 14 April 2025; APPLICATION FORM for PhD STUDENTS will be available soon.

More details about the course are available here. 

Plant breeding for extreme environments

Organised by: Agricultural University of Iceland

Course level: Postgraduate level / Doctoral or equivalent third cycle (EQF level 8)

ECTS: 5
Venue: Skálholt, Biskupstungur, Iceland

Course term: 05 - 10 October 2025

Online participation period: 16 September 2025

Maximum number of participants: 20

Agriculture must meet large challenges in the coming decades. Crops must be adapted to severe challenges caused by climate change and calls from society for sustainable agricultural practices. With increased temperatures and changing weather patterns, crops must adapt to new conditions, in some cases extreme conditions such as water shortages, water lodging, high temperatures and wind. In other cases, crops must be adapted to new environments, for example arctic agriculture. New methods in plant breeding, including genomic and molecular genetic techniques are essential tools to address these challenges. This course will give doctoral students a broad insight to essential plant breeding techniques to face current and future challenges.

Application period: 01 March - 01 July 2025; APPLICATION FORM

Upcoming courses by the application deadline

31 March 2025

Cropping Systems Diversification

5 ECTS
Organised by: 
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Course term:
15 April - 15 June

Venue:
Alnarp, Sweden

Application deadline:
31 March 2025
See course details below for application

31 March 2025

31 March 2025

Sustainability transitions: theories, methodologies and practices in rural environments 2025

5 ECTS
Organised by: 
University of Helsinky - Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry

Course term:
5 May - 09 June, 2025

Venue:
Viikki Campus,
University of Helsinki

Application period:
07 January - 31 March, 2025
Online application form

Course details

01 April 2025

Landscape Governance - in an era of Nature-based Solutions

5 ECTS

Organised by: 
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Course term:
05 - 23 May 2025

Venue:
Alnarp (Sweden) and Copenhagen (Denmark)

Application deadline:
01 April 2025
See course details below for applications.
Applications by email to thomas.randrup@slu.se.

01 April 2025

11 April 2025

Disease resistance in crop plants and forest trees 2025

5 ECTS
Organised by: 
University of Helsinky - Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry

Online participation term:
15 April - 10 June, 2025

In-person term and venue:
Tvärminne Zoological Station, Finland
23 - 28 June, 2025

Application period:
20 January - 11 April, 2025
Online application form

Course details

14 April 2025

Mixed-Effect Models for Forest Applications with Examples in R

3 ECTS
Organised by: 
Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Course term:
19 - 23 May 2025

Venue:
NMBU, Ås, Norway

Application deadline:
14 April 2025
Online application form will be available soon.

Course details

14 April 2025

01 May 2025

Biological Consequences of Selection

5 ECTS

Organised by: 
Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Course term:
18 - 22 August 2025 (on site)
online from 01 June 2025

Venue:
Hafjell Øyer, Norway

Application deadline:
01 May 2025
Online application form

Course details

01 July 2025

Plant breeding for extreme environments

5 ECTS
Organised by: 
Agricultural University of Iceland

Course term:
05 - 10 October, 2025

Venue:
Skálholt, Biskupstungur
Iceland

Application period:
01 March - 01 July, 2025
APPLICATION FORM
Course details

01 July 2025

Arrange a NOVA Course

All NOVA courses are arranged locally by each member university. Teachers who would like to arrange a NOVA course should consult the local regulations or focal points, please see below. Funds for teacher mobility can be supported through Erasmus+ or Nordplus, if courses do not have budget for incoming teachers. The local NOVA coordinators may advise on how to apply for this.
According to the NOVA agreement, a course shall have the following characteristics:
  • PhD students or specialising post graduate veterinarians from NOVA members are part of the target group.
  • The main teachers should be experts in their fields and at least one of them must be employed by the host university.
  • The host university guarantees the quality of the course by following their internal requirements for PhD-level or post-graduate veterinarian specialisation courses. The course quality can be subject to follow-up from web-based student evaluations using a NOVA template.
  • It is desirable that the course is planned and executed in collaboration between teachers from the host university and other universities, preferably another NOVA member.
  • The pedagogic approach builds upon active participation and engagement by all teachers and students during the course. Commonly, the courses contain a classroom/field/lab module combined with distance education modules, but courses can also be completely online.
  • If the number of seats is limited, visiting students from other NOVA members should be given priority to at least 25% of the seats, if possible.
  • NOVA students do not pay course fees. The hosting university is not obliged to cover expenses for accommodation, food, student travelling and similar expenses.

NOVA members

NOVA the Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network

NOVA Local coordinators

BOVA University Network (BOVA)

NOVA collaborates closely with The Baltic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network, BOVA UN, and encourages course organisers from NOVA to jointly plan courses with colleagues from BOVA universities.

The NOVA Secretariat

The NOVA secretariat is responsible for the administration of NOVA and has secretarial functions for the Board. In 2023-2025, the secretarial functions are held at the Agricultural University of Iceland (LBHI).


NOVA Secretariat:
Lukáš Pospíšil
nova@lbhi.is

The NOVA Student Board

The NOVA Student Board (NSB) is a forum in which students from the NOVA member institutions can work together and carry out discussions.

The Nova Student Board:

 katri.rusanen@uef.fi 

Other Networks

NOVA collaborates closely with The Baltic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network (BOVA) and encourages course organisers from NOVA to jointly plan courses with colleagues from BOVA universities.
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Knowledge in the field of sustainable use of resources, environment, planning and food production.

LBHÍ / AUI

Hvanneyri - 311 Borgarbyggð
Phone 433-5000
lbhi@lbhi.is
Kt. 411204-3590
Electronic invoices
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