About Collaborative Specializations

Our Collaborative Specializations in Environmental Studies and Environment and Health offer students enrolled in a graduate degree program elsewhere at the University of Toronto (U of T) the opportunity to specialize and explore an interdisciplinary area that complements their existing degree program.  

Students enrolled in our Collaborative Specializations have access to the following opportunities: 

  • An array of courses with an environmental focus 

  • Hands-on experience through internship and living lab courses 

  • Research experience through environment-focused theses/research papers and the option to present at an annual event 

  • Numerous guest lectures, panels, symposiums, and events 

  • Access to a network of students and faculty from across all three U of T campuses 

  • Awards and scholarships that are internal to School of the Environment graduate students 

  • A collaborative specialization transcript notation and certificate upon completion/convocation. 

About the Collaborative Specialization in Environmental Studies

There exists an immense need both within the University and in the wider society for an interdisciplinary understanding of environmental problems, their causes, and possible solutions. The School of the Environment’s Collaborative Specialization in Environmental Studies (CSES) provides graduate students from across all three U of T campuses the opportunity to expand the focus of their research and study to reflect an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about the environment. The CSES is intended to provide a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary dialogue and learning about complex environmental challenges. These challenges demand a serious commitment to enhancing awareness and imagining possibilities that can serve to construct more sustainable and just futures. 

The main objectives of the CSES are to: 

  • Introduce students to the world of graduate‐level interdisciplinary research in environmental studies; 
  • Enhance student learning in the home unit, by providing opportunities to interact with students and faculty from other units who are also interested in environment; 
  • Develop students’ communication skills on environmental issues across disciplinary boundaries. 

In our rapidly changing world, students will need to develop a working knowledge and understanding of the range of scientific, technological, political, legal, ethical, health and occupational perspectives on environmental issues post‐graduation. The CSES enhances students’ educational experience by virtue of the breadth of the specialization and the opportunity for exposure to multiple approaches in environmental studies. The CSES is designed to provide students and faculty with an intellectually stimulating framework for the development and exchange of ideas. The CSES adds value to students’ educational experience by providing exposure to people, ideas, and methods outside the disciplinary boundary of the home unit. 
About the Collaborative Specialization in Environment and 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 U of T. 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.
Important Notes
  • A Collaborative Specialization is not a direct-entry program. To enrol in one of the Collaborative Specializations offered by the School of the Environment you must be accepted into a master's or doctoral program in another degree granting unit at the University of Toronto (a "home department"). 
  • No additional fees are required for enrolment in the Collaborative Specializations offered by the School of the Environment.