Master in Human Nutrition

The MSc in Human Nutrition at the University of Copenhagen is a two-year programme taught in English. It looks at how the body handles energy and nutrients, how nutrition matters at different stages of life, and how diet can prevent and treat disease. You finish able to work on nutrition-related health problems in Denmark or internationally.

What you study

The programme is built from compulsory courses, electives and a thesis. The compulsory courses are:

• Advanced Nutrition Physiology and Metabolism (7.5 ECTS)
• Tools and Techniques in Nutrition Research (7.5 ECTS)
• Integrative Human Metabolism (7.5 ECTS)
• Lifecourse Nutrition and Health (7.5 ECTS)
• Nutrition, Health, Diseases and Evidence (7.5 ECTS)
• Public Health Nutrition: National and International Perspectives (7.5 ECTS)

You take 52.5 ECTS of compulsory courses, 22.5 ECTS of electives and a 45 ECTS thesis. The electives let you shape your own profile alongside the thesis. You can use them for a project in practice in Denmark or abroad, or for study abroad through the Faculty of Science exchange agreements.

The thesis is independent work on a topic you choose, experimental or analytical, based on collected data. Past theses have covered diet and lifestyle after a breast cancer diagnosis (with the Danish Cancer Society), vitamin D (with DTU-FOOD), time-restricted eating and sleep, breastfeeding and cardiometabolic markers in an Ethiopian birth cohort, personalised diet for overweight and obesity, dairy protein and fatty liver disease, whole grain rye and oat intake in schoolchildren, diet quality and sustainability, gut metabolome, and vegan diets and gut microbiota.

How the programme is organised

Teaching uses lectures, seminars and practical and theoretical exercises. You work both independently and in groups. One block each year is nine weeks of study and 15 ECTS. In year one, blocks 1 and 2 are compulsory courses, block 3 has a compulsory course and an elective, and block 4 is an elective. In year two, block 1 has a compulsory course and an elective, and blocks 2 to 4 are the thesis.

A project in practice is an elective option. You need a supervisor who approves the host company and guides you, and you finish with a written project report and an oral examination. Study abroad can be one or two semesters, or a shorter period such as a summer school, and passed courses can be credit transferred.

Who it suits

It suits you if you want to understand nutrition at the level of metabolism and physiology, and then apply it to public health or clinical questions. You should be comfortable with biochemistry, physiology and statistics, and with laboratory work and data. The programme mixes independent work with group work, so you should be ready to take responsibility for your own direction through the electives and thesis.

Admission, language and next steps

You apply through the application portal. The page states that you must be enrolled in or have completed a qualifying bachelor's programme or another relevant Danish or foreign degree that the admission board assesses as meeting the academic requirements. There is no pre-assessment.

Legal right of admission goes to holders of the UCPH bachelor's in Food Science (fødevarer og ernæring) with the Food, Health and Nutrition subject-specific package. That right can be used up to three years after completing the bachelor's. That degree also automatically meets the academic requirements.

Other Danish or international degrees need at least 120 ECTS in natural science, including 7.5 ECTS in biochemistry with laboratory work (equivalent to LKEB10077U Biokemi 1), 7.5 ECTS in physiology (equivalent to NNEB19009U Basal human fysiologi) and 7.5 ECTS in statistics (equivalent to LMAB10069U Statistisk dataanalyse 1). Exercise and Sport Sciences graduates from UCPH need biochemistry and statistics (NNEB15001U Basal statistik i idrætsvidenskab). Graduates of the professional bachelor's in Nutrition and Health with the Health Promotion and Dietetics line from University College Copenhagen, VIA University College, University College Absalon or University College South Denmark need biochemistry, physiology and statistics. English B is required.

Documentation depends on your category. It can include transcripts, course descriptions, a self-assessment form, proof of language proficiency, a CV, a copy of your passport or ID and, where relevant, a receipt for the application deposit. Deadlines are 1 March for Danish applicants and applicants from the EU, EEA and Switzerland, and 15 January for applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland study free of charge; other students pay a fee set by the institution. If there are more qualified applicants than places after legal right applicants are placed, priority goes to total ECTS in natural science courses and then to the grade point average of the qualifying degree.

Master’s applications go straight to University of Copenhagen, not through optagelse.dk, and the institution sets its own deadline. The register shows 15 January 2027 as the next deadline for this programme. Intake, as the register states it: Starts 1 September 2027 (apply by 15 January 2027). Entry requirements and language tests are set by the institution, so start from the official programme page. Our guides cover tuition fees, residence permits and housing.