Online mycology courses for the UK, taught live

What an online mycology course can teach you

Mycology is the study of fungi: mushrooms, moulds, yeasts, lichens and the networks of mycelium that live in soil and wood. In the UK it touches daily life more than most people expect, from bread, beer, Stilton and Quorn to ancient woodland, honey fungus in the garden and dry rot in old houses.

A good online course gives you a solid base in fungal biology and classification and then lets you specialise: identification and foraging, mushroom growing, fermentation, soil and forest ecology, biotechnology or mycelium materials. Live classes mean you can ask questions, discuss your own finds and learn from other students across Britain and beyond.

How Fungaris programmes work

Fungaris is organised into 12 schools, from mushroom cultivation and culinary mycology to fungal ecology, biotechnology, medical mycology and mycelium design. Every programme follows the same structure:

• Courses have 6 modules and run over 3 months. They are the easiest way to start or to add one specific skill.
• Diplomas have 8 modules and go deeper into a professional area.
• Masters have 12 modules and combine several areas into a complete specialisation.

Classes are taught live by working professionals in small groups. Between sessions you use the virtual campus, with recordings, readings and exercises. Each programme ends with a final project based on a case of your own, and you receive a Fungaris certificate on completion.

Choosing your first programme

The best starting point depends on what you want to do with fungi:

• Understand fungi in general: a foundations course gives you the biology, the main groups and the vocabulary for everything else.
• Forage and cook wild mushrooms: start with mycology for foragers and wild mushroom identification, including the dangerous lookalikes found in British woods, such as the death cap and the funeral bell.
• Grow mushrooms: an introduction to cultivation covers substrates, hygiene, fruiting and harvest, whether in a spare room or a small farm unit.
• Work with soil, woodland or farms: fungal ecology and mycorrhizal courses connect fungi with soil health and land management.
• Food, materials and industry: fermentation, biotechnology and mycelium design programmes show how fungi become products.

If you are unsure, begin with a short course; many students later continue with a diploma in the same school.

Online learning and fieldwork in Britain

Some skills cannot be learned from a screen alone. Recognising a mushroom safely depends on smell, texture, habitat and experience built over many seasons. Our identification courses teach a method and the features to check, and encourage you to practise outdoors, keep notes and photographs and join forays run by the British Mycological Society or a local fungus group.

One rule applies to every course: never eat a wild mushroom that has only been identified online, in a class or with an app. Have your finds checked in person by an experienced local expert. Respect UK rules too: picking for your own use is generally allowed, but commercial picking needs permission and some sites, such as the New Forest and Epping Forest, do not allow picking at all.

Certificates and recognition

Fungaris certificates are issued by Fungaris. They document the programme, the modules and the final project you completed. They are not UK regulated qualifications or university degrees, and accreditations are assessed according to the training completed and the rules of each country. Many UK learners use them to show continuing professional development, to support a career change or simply to deepen a passion for fungi.