Program Requirements

Completion of a total of 2.0 full-course equivalents (FCE). See 'Coursework - Requirements & Selections' for more details.

Demonstration of a PhD candidacy by passing an oral defence of proposed research.

Completion of a thesis or a series of papers on an original piece of research in environmental science. 

Completion of a total of 3.0 full-course equivalents (FCE). See 'Coursework - Requirements & Selections' for more details. 

Demonstration of PhD candidacy by passing an oral defence of proposed research.

Completion of a thesis or a series of papers on an original piece of research in environmental science.

• The degree program has been designed so that it can be completed within four years for students who have completed a related master’s degree.
• Students transferring from the master’s program are expected to complete the Ph.D. program within five years from the start of enrolment in the M.Sc. program.
• Direct-entry students from a bachelor’s program are expected to complete the Ph.D. program within five years.

All PhD students must take a minimum of 2.0 full-course equivalents (FCE) which includes the following:

1. EES 2200H Advanced Seminar in Environmental Science 0.5 FCE to be taken in year 1. This core course is a mandatory 0.5 FCE.
2. 1.5 FCE from DPES graduate course offerings (see Course List section). Course availability changes year to year. Please consult with your supervisor for course suitability and with Graduate Admin for course availability. The courses are chosen so as to provide the student with the supplemental knowledge and or analytical skills important to finding the answers to their chosen research questions.
3. PhD students may apply to take UofT PhD-level courses offered by cognate units that can be considered as part of (0.5 FCE) the 1.5 FCE degree requirement; however, all courses for PhD degree credit must be approved by the Graduate Chair. In some cases, additional courses may be required if a student's preparedness is assessed as being insufficient.

All Direct-entry PhD students must take a minimum of 3.0 full-course equivalents (FCE) which includes the following:

1. EES 2200H Advanced Seminar in Environmental Science 0.5 FCE to be taken in year 1. This core course is a mandatory 0.5 FCE.
2. 2.5 FCE from an approved course list in the graduate program or from courses listed in cognate disciplines. The courses are chosen so as to provide the student with the supplemental knowledge and or analytical skills important to finding the answers to their chosen research questions. Courses selected must be approved by the student's supervisor and the Graduate Chair. In some cases, additional courses may be required if a student's preparedness is assessed as being insufficient.
3. PhD students may apply to take UofT PhD-level courses offered by cognate units that can be considered  as part of (1.0 FCE) the 2.5 FCE degree requirement; however, all courses for PhD degree credit must be approved by the Supervisor and the Graduate Chair. In some cases, additional courses may be required if a student's preparedness is assessed as being insufficient.

Any student requesting permission to take a graduate course offered by another graduate department at the University of Toronto must complete an SGS Request to Add a Course form and submit it to the Graduate Administrator for approval of the Graduate Chair of Physical and Environmental Sciences before submitting to the unit offering the course.

The student’s research supervisor is responsible for recommending the composition of the student’s supervisory committee. This committee should consist of the supervisor (and co-supervisor if any) plus two other members, or more in some circumstances. Two members should be drawn from the faculty appointed to the DPES-PhD program. Other members from different departments may serve on the committee if they have expertise of importance to the student’s project. Students must fill out the PhD Supervisory Committee Approval Form and submit to the Graduate Administrator.

The supervisory committee should meet for the first time prior to August 31 of the year following enrollment. Thereafter, the supervisory committee should meet at least once per academic year by the end of August.

At the first supervisory committee meeting the student should provide background information on their research interests and an outline of their proposed research. The committee will review a draft proposal and provide advice on how to improve it. The committee will also review the student’s skills and course selections. A PhD Supervisory Committee Meeting Report should be completed and submitted to the Graduate Administrator (along with the Annual Progress Report detailed below).

A final supervisory committee meeting should be held approximately three months before the final thesis exam to ensure the student is adequately prepared and that thesis is nearing completion.

In the winter term of the first year, students are required to present a mock research proposal seminar as part of the mandatory  EES2200 class. During this presentation, faculty and students will provide constructive comments that can be discussed with the supervisory committee. Students should aim to have a draft research proposal submitted to their supervisory committees by the end of the winter term. Once the proposal is submitted, the Supervisory Committee will meet to review draft proposal and provide advice on how to improve it. The full research proposal should be prepared for the fall so that the proposal appraisal and defence can take place within 16 months on first registration.

All PhD candidates are examined on the progress of their PhD program at a Proposal Appraisal ideally held in the second year of studies. The examination consists of a 20 minute presentation given by the student on the proposed thesis work followed by a question period of approximately one and a half to two hours. The emphasis of the exam is on the theory and proposed approach, rather than on progress to date. For additional information along with a suggested outline, please see the PhD Proposal Appraisal Committee Member Approval Form, the PhD Proposal Appraisal Report and the PhD Proposal Appraisal Instructions.  

Prior to each Supervisory Committee meeting, students should submit a progress report of 3- 10 pages length that summarizes their progress in their research, providing background information, proposed experiments/studies, completed experiments/studies and future work, including anticipated timelines as appropriate. The Progress Reports can be accompanied by materials such as draft questionnaires, initial tabulations and analysis results, or draft thesis chapters. (For further details see the SGS Calendar).

If a Supervisory Committee reports that a student’s progress is unsatisfactory in each of the last two consecutive meetings, various sanctions may be recommended, including ineligibility for fellowships or termination of registration. (A student who, through his/her own neglect, fails to have a meeting in a given year will be considered to have received an unsatisfactory progress report from the committee).

Graduate students are required to remain in “good standing” in their programs and they are required to continually make “satisfactory progress” toward the completion of their degree requirements. Good standing refers to the requirement of minimum grade performance (see SGS Calendar) in course work and the successful passage of written and oral examinations, among other degree requirements. Satisfactory progress refers to the speed and the timeliness of progression through degree requirements such as course work, examinations and research milestones.

Failure to maintain good academic standing or satisfactory progress may result in various sanctions, including ineligibility for fellowships or termination of registration.

When writing the thesis, consult the “Producing Your Thesis” section of the SGS website. Historically, the PhD thesis has taken one of two distinct forms. The first is a traditional format that includes separate sections for the Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion. The second is a series of published, submitted or in-preparation articles from the primary literature. Either format can be used, provided that the following requirements are met:

• A general abstract for the entire thesis should be provided at the beginning of the thesis.
• A list of abbreviations and a detailed table of contents are required. This facilitates the job of the reviewer and allows readers to quickly find data/definitions.
• A general introduction to the thesis must be provided. This should include the overall hypotheses/objectives of the study and the motivation for undertaking the investigation.
• Detailed materials and methods must be provided. The purpose of this section is to permit a reader to repeat your experiments. If citing methods of others, insure that the method is correct and state any modifications of it. If your thesis is a series of papers, it may be appropriate to present detailed methods in an Appendix.
• The results section often is divided into sub-sections or chapters, each describing a facet of the research. It is often appropriate to use individual research papers as chapters.
• A general discussion is given at the end of the thesis. This should be a synthesis of the research undertaken and a narrative of how it impacts that of others, and its general signficance. If the format is a series of papers, the general discussion is an absolute necessity, especially when the individual chapters address different aspects of the general topic.
• Appropriate references to the literature must be included. If the format is a series of papers, reference lists may be included in the individual chapters. Alternatively, individual chapter lists should be omitted and a complete reference list placed at the end of the thesis.
• The contribution of any other investigators to the study and/or to the writing of the thesis should be clearly stated at the beginning of the thesis. This is especially important for theses that are a series of multi-authored papers, and each chapter should be prefaced by a statement detailing the contributions of others.
• Tables and figures (plates may be an exception) should be dispersed throughout the text as appropriate for ease of reading. They should NOT be grouped at the end of each chapter.
• A thesis should be viewed as a coherent complete work. It should not frustrate reviewers by having too many things repeated in each chapter (a common complaint) or by the need to search for figures and tables or references that are not rationally placed.

The Physical & Environmental Science PhD program requires that all PhD candidates present their thesis for evaluation to a Departmental Defence Committee Meeting before proceeding to the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) PhD Final Oral Examination.  It is recommended that at least 10 weeks before the FOE, the candidate consult with both their supervisor and the PhD Program Assistant to schedule the Departmental Defence.  The Departmental Defence should be held at least eight weeks prior to the SGS PhD Final Oral Examination.  The Departmental Defence Committee should ideally consist of the thesis supervisory committee plus two other faculty member drawn from the graduate faculty of the PhD program, one of whom can act as the examination chair.  Once the members of the Departmental Defence Committee have been selected, please send the PhD Departmental Defence Committee Member Approval Form and the PhD Departmental Defence Committee Meeting Report to the Graduate Administrator so that the composition can be reviewed and approved by the Graduate Chair.  The Departmental Defence Committee should receive copies of the thesis at least two weeks prior to the Departmental Defence. 

The PhD candidate must have their PhD thesis examined at the Departmental level before proceeding to the more formal Final Oral Examination that is conducted in accordance with the School of Graduate Studies guidelines.

Planning for the final oral examination must begin at least eight weeks before the proposed date(s) of the examination. Note that the two-week closure in December may not be included in this timeline. 

Eight Weeks or Earlier Prior to the Proposed Exam Date(s)

1. Supervisor must submit a list of three potential external appraisers to the Graduate Administrator. The list should be in order of preference. For each name listed, the reason for the choice is presented with specific regard to the subject of the thesis. To fulfill SGS requirements, the external examiner must be a member of the graduate faculty at another university, and must be an Associate or Full Professor (or equivalent) at the home institution. The potential external examiner will be of high academic standing with an established record in research, and demonstrated leadership in the particular research field, which should include successful supervision of graduate students themselves. This does not preclude scientists from industry or government agencies of equivalent professional standing, but special permission must be obtained by the Vice Dean of Graduate Studies in these cases. The first choice is generally approved unless the Associate Dean at SGS deems the first choice unsuitable. To avoid issues with SGS and delays, the supervisor and the student should make sure that there is "arms-length" relationship between the external examiner and the rest of the examination committee. Normally, this will exclude anyone who has been a departmental colleague of the Candidate or Supervisor, has stood in a student-teacher relationship with either of them, or has collaborated on a research project or published with either of them in the past six years.

2. The supervisor and student discuss the potential members of the Examination Committee. Examination Committee consists of 4 (quorum) to 6 voting members. No more than 3 voting members may be drawn from the Candidate's supervisory committee. At least two voting members (including the external examiner) must not have been closely involved in the supervision of the thesis. Those eligible to vote include: the External Appraiser, members of the faculty appointed to the Candidate’s graduate unit, and members of the faculty appointed to other graduate units of the University. The Examination Committee may also include up to two non-voting members. The FOE Chair is assigned by SGS. 

3. Once the Graduate Administrator receives the list of the potential members of the Examination Committee (please use the PhD FOE Planning Form), a request is forwarded to the SGS Associate Dean for pre-approval. Once approved, the Graduate Office may contact the members, including the external appraiser for their availability to determine acceptable dates for the examination. It is not required that the external examiner be present at the examination. Remote FOEs are available upon request. The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) provides a Chair for the exam.

8 week Planning Checklist: Confirm the following are submitted to dpes-phd-program.utsc@utoronto.ca

• Departmental Defence Report - completed and submitted by Chair of Departmental Defence committee
• External Appraiser Request Form
• PhD FOE Planning Form
• Late Appraisal Waiver Form
• Remote Participation Attestation Form

Six Weeks or Earlier Prior to the Exam Date

1. Student submits an electronic copy of the thesis to the Graduate Office. The office will forward the thesis to the external examiner.

2. DPES Graduate Office books the examination with the SGS PhD Office and sends out a final confirmation of the examination date and location to the candidate and members of the examination committee.

3. DPES Graduate Office sends a copy of the thesis to the FOE members.

Two Weeks or Earlier Prior to the Exam Date

1. External Examiner will be expected to submit a written appraisal prior to the Final Oral Examination. The written appraisal must be received by the Graduate Office at least two weeks before the examination date. If the appraisal has not been received one week prior to the exam, the department is asked to reschedule the final oral examination unless the student has signed a waiver.

2. A copy of the external appraisal is forwarded to the candidate, members of the Examination Committee, Graduate Chair and the Ph.D. Office. The student may discuss the appraisal with members of Examination Committee except with the external appraiser. The candidate may have the option to revise the thesis and postpone the examination date at this point.

3. An examination program is forwarded to the candidate and members of the Examination Committee as a final confirmation along with the name of the Examination Chair.

4. Review Voting Procedure (PDF).

Once revisions to the thesis have been completed to the satisfaction of the supervisor, and following confirmation with the DPES Graduate Office, the student must submit an electronic copy and a $20 administrative charge to the School of Graduate Studies. The supervisor should send an email to the PhD Office at SGS, verifying that the thesis is ready for submission. Electronic submission of the thesis became mandatory in autumn 2009. Simple step-by-step instructions on how to prepare, format, convert to PDF, and submit an electronic thesis (ETD) tothe Thesis repository (T-Space) are available on the university’s ETD Web-site:(http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/currentstudents/Pages/Electronic-Thesis-Submission.aspx).

Academic fees for doctoral candidates in the final year of his or her program are pro-rated based on the twelve-month academic year. Incidental fees are charged on a sessional (term) basis. A Fee Schedule is available at Student Accounts.

The month-to-month fee schedule does not apply to reinstated students. Students who have been reinstated will have received a notice from the School of Graduate Studies stating the terms of his or her reinstatement, along with the total amount owing for the reinstatement.

International students may be eligible for a partial refund of their UHIP. Please note that there are deadlines for such refunds, and students should contact the Centre for International Experience to check their eligibility.