Environment & Health

The School of the Environment’s Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Health (CSEH) provides graduate students enrolled in a master’s or PhD program the opportunity to explore the transdisciplinary relationship between environment and human health. With an emphasis on understanding the complex and varied ways in which human health and the environment are interconnected and the need for interdisciplinary approaches to address them, the CSEH is unique and attracts students from all three campuses at the University of Toronto (UofT). This specialization may be of interest to students who are concerned with ethical, pedagogical, and policy approaches to understanding and addressing environment and health issues.

The “environment” is broadly conceived in the CSEH to include all those spaces where people live, work and play, and the interactions between them, that have potential human health implications. As part of this, the importance of socio-cultural, economic and political factors in modulating environmental exposures and health outcomes, especially among vulnerable populations, are recognized. A range of topics are addressed in the specialization, including the human health impacts of air and water quality, contaminated lands, changing patterns in the distribution of vector-borne diseases, climate change and environmental exposures in vulnerable populations (e.g. children, Indigenous populations, those in low income countries, elderly). The CSEH provides students in the health sciences with a broad environmental perspective, while providing opportunities for environmental studies students to understand the health implications of environmental quality. This approach is crucial, as environment and health issues cannot fully be understood and addressed solely within the confines of traditional, disciplinary-based schools of thought.

The objectives of the CSEH are as follows:

  • To introduce students to the world of graduate‐level interdisciplinary research in environment and health;
  • To enhance student learning in the home unit, by providing opportunities to interact with students and faculty from other units who are also interested in the intersection between environment and health; 
  • To develop students’ skills in communicating about environment and health issues across disciplinary boundaries.

Graduate students admitted to a participating graduate degree program in a degree-granting unit, also called the home department or home unit, can apply to the CSEH and pursue coursework and research in areas related to environment and health. The School of the Environment currently has graduate students from across the disciplinary spectrum.

Upon completion of the CSEH requirements, students are expected to achieve the following learning outcomes: 

  • Students will understand and apply both disciplinary and interdisciplinary analysis to environment and health issues;
  • Students will have similar introductory understanding of one or more other aspects of environment and health issues from the required elective course;
  • Students will have further developed the ability to understand and analyze factors involved with resolution of environment and health problems; and
  • Doctoral students will be able to effectively communicate the results of their research findings to a broad interdisciplinary audience in an oral presentation.

Upon successful completion of the degree requirements of the participating home department and the CSEH, students will receive the notation “Completed Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Health” on their transcript.

Below you will find an up-to-date list of CSEH requirements by each participating degree program for master’s students in the coursework and thesis options, as well as doctoral degree students. If your unit has a partnership with Environmental Studies, there is a pathway for you to complete the collaborative specialization requirements. Contact us if you have questions/concerns about completion. 

Graduate students from home departments not listed below can apply to enroll and pursue our CSEH under a special ad hoc agreement. For more details on this matter, please contact the Graduate Administrator at the School of the Environment.

Admission Requirements
 

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

  • Prospective students who are planning to enrol in the CSEH are strongly encouraged to submit the Collaborative Specialization Enrolment Form, found on the How to Apply page after receiving their letter of acceptance or at the start of their program of study. Students are able to join the CSEH beyond the start of their degree, provided they are 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 that expected for the master’s degree program requirements of the home department. These are normally counted as electives toward the degree program requirements of the student’s home unit. Typically, students complete a minimum of 1.0 full-course equivalent (FCE) and conduct research on an environment and health topic. Note that master's students who are not enrolled in a research-stream degree must complete 30% of their coursework within their collaborative specialization. 

Please note that requirements for participating programs vary slightly. Therefore, students are encouraged to check the SGS Calendar entry for their respective home department programs. The CSEH specific requirements can also be found above in the Participating Degree Programs section.

 

Admission Requirements

 

  • To enrol in the CSEH offered by the School of the Environment students 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 unit can be found on the School of Graduate Studies’ website as well as on the respective websites of participating degree-granting units.
     

  • Prospective students who are planning to enrol in the CSEH are strongly encouraged to submit the Collaborative Specialization Enrolment Form, found on the How to Apply page after receiving their letter of acceptance or at the start of their program of study. Students are able to join the CSEH beyond the start of their degree, provided they are 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 home unit. These are normally counted as electives toward the degree program requirements of the student’s home unit. Typically, students complete up to 1.0 full-course equivalent (FCE) and conduct research on an environment and health topic.

Requirements in some participating programs vary slightly. Therefore, students are encouraged to check the SGS Calendar entry for their respective home department programs. The CSEH specific requirements can also be found above in the Participating Degree Programs section.

  • Complete the mandatory core course ENV 4001H (0.5 FCE), unless already completed at the master’s level (if this is the case, an alternative elective is required).
     
  • Complete one elective course (0.5 FCE) from the School’s list of approved courses. Students from programs with limited elective spots are encouraged to select a cross-listed elective course.
     
  • Give an oral presentation of their doctoral research as part of the School of Environment's Research Day, which is held once per year in the Spring.
     
  • Complete a thesis on a theme in environment and health. It is recommended that the thesis committee membership will include a supervisor (from the student’s home unit who is a member of the core faculty of the Collaborative Specialization and a member of the graduate faculty in the School of the Environment) and at least one other member from a collaborating unit. If the student’s primary thesis supervisor does not hold a graduate faculty membership (GFM) at the School of the Environment, the School’s Director will initiate the process of assigning a GFM to the primary supervisor.
     
  • A copy of the final thesis must be submitted to the School of the Environment prior to graduation.