The PhD program in Environmental Studies provides graduate training in environmental studies, emphasizing advanced social, scientific and/or inter-, multi- or trans-disciplinary research on complex environmental issues and/or approaches to addressing these issues. The program fosters critical consideration of current discourses and concepts relating to environmental concerns and crises, for example, sustainability, sustainable development, environmental health, resilience, just transitions, etc.

Courses

All PhD students are required to successfully complete three graduate courses. The normal course requirements are: ENSC 801 Environmental Studies Methods, and ENSC 802 Global Environmental Problems, to be taken during the first year of studies and one other relevant graduate level course. These course requirements must be fulfilled before the student can submit their approved research proposal and proceed to the Comprehensive Exam.

Students who have already taken ENSC 801 and ENSC 802 during an School of Environmental Studies (SES) Master of Environmental Studies (MES) program at Queen’s will be exempted from taking these courses but must take one elective graduate course selected in consultation with their supervisor. In the event that courses similar to ENSC 801 and/or ENSC 802 have been successfully completed previously at another University within the past 5 years, a student may apply to the SES Graduate Committee for an exemption to ENSC 802 but not ENSC 801. (Work experience is not grounds for exemption.) ENSC 801 includes critical work on the student’s own new thesis project and is also important to build cohort collegiality. Applications for an exemption to ENSC 802 should be submitted no later than November 30 in the term before the ENSC 802 iteration in question. The applicant must have the written support of their supervisor and provide evidence of their past course content, including detailed course syllabi to the Graduate Committee. The student may also request to speak to the committee in person and for their supervisor to be present at that meeting to make their case. The committee’s decision, and the rationale for this decision, will be communicated to the student within 3 working days of that meeting. In the event that an exemption is granted, no substitute course is required. The required third, elective course is not eligible for exemption or substitution from previous studies.

Comprehensive Examination

Ph.D. students will be required to complete a comprehensive examination within 18 months of initial registration. The intent of the written response is to have the student demonstrate their academic skills and capabilities within the field of environmental studies and/or science. This could be achieved through consideration of other disciplinary approaches or fields, other sub-fields within the student’s core area in an essay, or the design of course syllabi, experiments or research proposals in fields beyond the student’s core research. This will challenge the student to contextualize their specific topic of research within the broader interdisciplinary area of environmental studies and/or science.