The research we do at the School is inherently transdisciplinary. Our approach is to build diverse networks of knowledge and expertise – both within and beyond the university – to identify urgent research questions and support the collaborative work of addressing them.
Research Clusters
How do we assess, interpret, and address the drivers and outcomes of ecological and climatic change, and why are these changes happening? Scholars in this cluster consider questions of climate change science, governance, policy, and communication, of ecological activity and adaptation, of biodiversity and conservation, and of social change leading to and emerging from environmental change and ecological protection—and consider how these trajectories might be altered.
How do environmental systems and change shape individual and collective health, physical and mental well-being, and opportunities for a multitude of species to thrive? This cluster encompasses work on biophysical, psycho-social, and community health, on eco-anxiety and psychological resilience, on designing spaces for well-being, and on the nature and effects of contaminants and pollutants—and asks what is needed for multiple lives to thrive on a changing planet.
How do systems of extraction, production, and consumption intersect with social, ecological, and biophysical systems? In this cluster, scholars consider the material foundations of culture and society, including the politics and consequences of energy generation and transitions across fossil fuel and renewable energy systems, along with questions of food security and sovereignty, land use change, the commodification of the environment, livelihoods, energy use patterns and efficiency, and social and economic arrangements of exchange—and envision what systems might enable more just and inclusive societies and economies.
How are human-developed spaces and objects—from buildings and household materials to neighbourhoods and infrastructure—affecting, and shaped by, the environment, and with what consequences for people and the planet? This cluster involves scholars who work on road dust and chemicals in tires and mattresses, on lighting in homes and workplaces, on the downstream and downwind consequences of industrial activity, and on the social connections and innovation in neighbourhoods that arise in response to inequalities in environmental conditions—and asks questions about how we design built environments that support and promote environmental and social sustainability and human well-being.
How do we understand “the environment” and human relationships with the rest of the world? From the relationships between Indigenous and Western science to faith-based value systems to questions of ontological agency in sustainability, and hope and despair in times of change, scholars in this cluster examine how different knowledge systems, beliefs, and understandings of the world shape our ecological and social relationships—and imagine how expanding or sharing across worldviews might illuminate pathways to more sustainable futures.
Collaborative Research Networks
Community of Practice (CoP) brings UT faculty and doctoral students together from different programs, faculties and campuses to discuss and critically analyze the what and the how of teaching sustainability. Comparing and critiquing the development of pedagogy, course curriculum, program design and co-curricular learning opportunities will help to identify promising practices towards transformative and intersectional approaches to sustainability teaching across the university.
By working collaboratively, this CoP offers faculty members opportunities to explore transformative pedagogies to engage their students in cognitive, affective, and embodied forms of learning. Key to this is centering Indigenous worldviews and ‘Land as first teacher’ in sustainability teaching; when combined with transdisciplinary, equity-focused, and place-based education, transformative pedagogy provides learning that is relational, community-engaged, justice-forward, and action-oriented.
The 2024 - 2025 Organizing Team includes Michael Classens, Hilary Inwood, Sarah Urquhart.
The Earth Commission synthesizes and assesses the latest science to define the Safe and Just Boundaries within which people and nature can thrive. Since 2019, nearly 100 scientists from over 35 countries have contributed to the Commission’s work. Miriam Diamond serves as an Earth Commissioner. The Commission is hosted by Future Earth—the world’s largest network of sustainability scientists - and a member of the Global Commons Alliance, a growing coalition of scientists, philanthropists, civil society groups, businesses, and innovators, enabling collective action to safeguard the global commons.
The Environmental Governance Lab (EGL), co-directed by Teresa Kramarz, Matthew Hoffmann, and Steven Bernstein, is a home for research, a node in global networks on environmental governance and transformative policy, and a platform for knowledge exchange with practitioners, policy makers, and the public. The EGL is housed at the Department of Political Science and the School of the Environment. It is also a Research Centre of Earth System Governance Project — a global research alliance that is the largest social science research network in the area of governance and global environmental change.
The Institute for Environment, Culture and Society (IECS), at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), The Institute for Environment, Culture and Society (IECS), at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), supports research on the environment and climate change in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The Institute is interdisciplinary in scope, bringing together researchers from across the University of Toronto to address the social, cultural, historical, and political dimensions of environmental change. While based at UTSC, it aspires to be a tri-campus initiative, involving researchers and students from all three campuses in collaborative research. Imre Szeman is Director of the IECS and Professor of Human Geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
The Oxford-Toronto International Doctoral Cluster The Oxford-Toronto International Research Cluster in the Environmental Humanities and Climate Justice is a research partnership comprised of graduate students, emerging scholars, and faculty from both institutions, with the shared goal of fostering scholarly community and knowledge exchange. Their interdisciplinary research seeks to understand and explain the cultural, social, and historical contexts of environmental change and crisis. It attends to the histories and practices that have traditionally divorced culture from nature, and queries how environmental issues are imbricated with multiple cultural and creative settings. The University of Toronto Lead is Sherry Lee.
The Toronto Climate Observatory (TCO), co-directed by Robert Soden and Steve Easterbrook, is an interdisciplinary initiative hosted at the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment. Their mission is to support the Greater Toronto Area understand, mitigate, and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Through partnerships with scholars, civil society, and communities they are working to develop place-based, plural, and just climate information systems. TCO draws inspiration and methods from climate modeling, human centered design, Science and Technology Studies (STS), Indigenous scholarship, oral history, citizen science, and art/science collaboration.
The Technoscience Research Unit (TRU), co-led by M Murphy (Red River Métis) and Kristen Bos (Red River Métis), supports critical and creative justice-oriented research related to science, technology, and environmental studies, with an emphasis on Indigenous, anti-colonial, and feminist approaches. The TRU includes both academic and community researchers and is a welcoming place for Indigenous, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ researchers at all levels. It is home to the Indigenous Environmental Data Justice Lab, that focuses on community-based research about Canada’s Chemical Valley, building tools and creating policy relevant work to support community efforts, including the online Land and Refinery project co-led by Vanessa Gray. The TRU hosts the Indigenous Science, Technology, and Environment Studies Hub which supports researchers across the university’s faculties and campuses and seeks to grown this important field that centers Indigenous methods and values. The TRU is a key participant in the Acceleration Consortium CFREF project, leading the social science lab that focuses on Indigenous and ethical approaches to automated and sustainable substance discovery. Since 2008, the TRU organizes Technoscience Salon, a public forum dedicated to mixing disciplines and practices for bringing together intellectual and political questions about technoscience. The current focus of the Salon seeks to re-imagine what is a chemical. The TRU is part of the international Indigelabs Network.