Master of Environmental Studies (20 months)
In the MES, students will explore the fundamentals of environmental studies from an interdisciplinary viewpoint drawing primarily from the sciences and social sciences. They will build the knowledge and skills to work with complex socio-ecological relationships and issues using both science-based and place-based approaches. Our students engage with the public, private, Indigenous and not-for-profit sectors to develop socially and environmentally equitable opportunities and to enhance environmental systems and relationships. The program is thesis-based and student express their learning both through traditional methods such as academic publications and conference presentations as well as through community and artistic products such as project reports, implementation and evaluation of community projects, social media and artistic creations.
Our students are encouraged to be active participants and engaged learners through a focus on problem-based learning. Our graduates continue to work with complex issues at the human-environment interface through careers in academia, Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations, government, communities, and the private sector.
Honours Bachelor of Environmental Studies (4 years)
Lakehead University offers an interdisciplinary program in Environmental Studies at our Thunder Bay campus. The program introduces students to current environmental issues, stressing the interrelationships between the physical and built environments and societies. In addition to the scientific elements involved, environmental issues include socio-economic, cultural, and political factors. The HBES degree includes the necessary science, but with an emphasis on approaches for problem-solving, policies, and management.
In combination with a core of Environmental Studies courses and options spanning humanities and sciences, the HBES degree provides the grounding of a traditional geography degree. This covers the spectrum of human and physical geography courses necessary to appreciate the complexity of environmental issues including but not limited to: adaptation to climate change, management for watershed protection, and environmental assessments of major development projects that impact traditional territories of Canada’s First Nations.
The program can be completed concurrently with one or both of the Certificate Program in Geomatics – emphasizing training in GIS and Remote Sensing – and the Bachelor of Education degree program.