Environment and Health: Doctoral Level

Admission Requirements

  • Students who wish to enrol in the CSEH offered by the School of the Environment must first apply to and be accepted into a doctoral program in a degree-granting unit, also called a home department or home unit. Information about applying to a home department can be found on the School of Graduate Studies website as well as on the respective websites of participating degree-granting units.

  • Prospective students are strongly encouraged to submit copies of the documents indicated on the School of the Environment website by the application deadline established by the degree program admission committee in the home unit. Applicants should contact the home department they are applying to in order to confirm its application deadline. The School of the Environment also allows potential students to enrol in the CSEH beyond the deadline set by their home department, provided that students will be able to complete the CSEH requirements by the time they are ready to graduate from their degree program.

Specialization Requirements

  • The requirements listed below must be completed in combination with the PhD degree program requirements of the student’s respective home department. These are normally counted as electives toward the degree program requirements of the student’s home department. Typically, students complete up to 1.0 full-course equivalent (FCE) and conduct research on an environment and health topic. Please note that requirements in some participating programs vary slightly. Therefore, students are encouraged to check the calendar entries of their respective home department programs. Specific CSEH requirements for each participating degree program are listed on the School of the Environment website under the Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Health.

  • Complete the mandatory core course ENV4001H (0.5 FCE), unless already completed at the master's level.

  • Complete one elective course (0.5 FCE) from the School's list of approved courses. Courses (including Special Topics) that have an environmental focus but are not included in the School’s approved list can be counted as an elective, pending approval from the Graduate Associate Director.

  • Give an oral presentation of their doctoral research as part of the School’s Environment and Health Seminar Series or Research Day, which is held once per year. For the latter, the oral presentation may or may not be done in conjunction with a summary poster, depending on the decided format of the School’s Research Day in any given year.

  • Complete a thesis on a theme in environment and health. Normally, the thesis committee will include a supervisor from the student's home department who holds a graduate faculty membership (GFM) in the School of the Environment. If the student’s primary thesis supervisor does not hold a GFM in the School of the Environment, the School’s Director will either initiate the process of assigning a GFM to the primary supervisor, or review the composition of the thesis committee to ensure it has appropriate expertise. A copy of the final thesis must be submitted to the School of the Environment prior to graduation.

  • Additional courses may be required by the home department and/or by the supervisor or supervisory committee, depending on academic and/or career goals of the student, as well as departmental regulations.

  • A supervisor or supervisory committee may be appointed for each student by the home department and the School of the Environment.

Note: For a complete and most up-to-date list of CSEH requirements by each participating degree program for doctoral students, please visit the School of the Environment website and click on the home department or degree program.