The impact of urban development on the natural environment and vice versa. Study of the ecology and metabolism of cities and green urban design, using global and local case studies.
Climates over the geological, historical and instrument periods. Theories of climatic change. Monitoring and modelling the climate system. Impacts of change on environmental and socio-economic systems.
Economic, social, political and cultural structures and institutions that shape contemporary socioecological challenges.
Concepts and techniques employed in environmental research; challenges in the areas of climate change, water use, knowledge translation and natural hazards.
Biophysical and human causes of short- and long-term environmental change at various spatial scales, including measurement, interpretation, and policy.
Physical and biological characteristics of the circumpolar Arctic, emphasizing terrestrial environments and the impacts on and by humans, including: glacial history; climatology; biogeography/ecology of arctic tundra; human-environment interactions, settlement and exploration; and current environmental, social and economic problems.