Checklist for the start of your studies
Before the first day of your education, you need to take some important steps.
1.Reply to your offer
If you have been admitted to a course or programme, or been placed on a waiting list, you must reply to your first admissions notification to keep your place. If you don't wish to keep your place, you should decline your offer. In doing so, you free up your place to someone who is on the waiting list. You reply to your offer by logging in to your account at Universityadmissions.se by 20 july 2026.
2.Activate your user account and MFA
As a new student, you need to activate your user account (your UMU-id) approximately two weeks prior to the start of the semester.
With your user account you can:
- register for courses
- access the internet in computer labs and the university's wireless network
- submit assignments and verify your study results
- access your student e-mail
If you are a new student, you will automatically receive a user account when you are admitted, but you will need to activate it for it to function properly. You will not be able to activate it until approximately two weeks prior to the start of the semester.
Exchange student or tuition fee paying student
If you are an exchange student or tuition fee paying student, you will receive an email with instructions on how to activate your account.
Install MFA for a more secure login
To increase security and reduce the risk of unauthorised access to your information or account, students must enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) to log in to various systems, such as Canvas and the Student Web.
I want to activate my user account and install MFA
Help! It´s not working
If you are having problems activating your account or logging in, please contact our Servicedesk. You will find answers to common questions, and can submit enquiries.
3.Course registration
For this course, registration takes place during an introduction meeting on 31/08/2026 at 10 am.
If you are unable to attend the introduction meeting, be sure to notify us beforehand by sending a message to Stéphane Verger before August 31st 2026, so we can register you anyways.
4.Course start
2026-08-31
10:00-12:00
The schedule is preliminary until four weeks before the course starts
All other information
1) The course starts with an introduction meeting. During the introductory lecture we will cover the following topics:
Introduction to the masters program.
Information on structure and content of the course.
Division of students into groups for literature studies and labs.
2) This course is campus-based teaching with primarily lectures given in the first month (most of September), and group exercises and lab practicals in the second month. Please note that part of this course is offered in cooperation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and that some lectures from the SLU campus in Ultuna and Alnarp will be live streamed in our lecture room.
3) Literature discussions, labs, and paper presentations will take place on Umeå University premises. Participation in these events is mandatory, and you need to attend them in person to complete the course and obtain a passing grade for the class. If missed, a replacement assignment will be proposed.
1. Paper discussions: Room KB.J3.01.
- September 21, 2024, from 10:00 to 12:00 (group 1) or 13:00 to 15:00 (group 2).
2. Plant sensing week (including group work and labs): Room KBG4.02.
- October 5-8 from 10:00 to 15:00.
3. Labs: Room KB.G4.04.
- September 29-30 (group 1) or October 1-2 (group 2) from 9:00 to 16:00.
- October 13 (group 1) or 14 (group2), from 10:00 to 16:00.
You should find everything you need regarding the course in the learning platform canvas. You can also discuss things with your instructor and classmates there.
Contact information
If you have any questions about the course, you are welcome to ask us about anything!
Support and help
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