Your complete guide to a PhD in Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences

Everything you need to know about studying a PhD in Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences

What is Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences?

Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences is a discipline dedicated to understanding our planet and our relationship with it. As a student in this you will explore the processes, interactions, and human influences shaping our natural environment, from the earth beneath our feet to the atmosphere above.

Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences Specialisations

A discipline that studies something as huge as our planet naturally comes with a large number of specialisations. Some of the most popular are:

  • Climatology: Study of climates and their impact.
  • Geology: Delving deep into the earth's solid materials.
  • Oceanography: Exploring the world's oceans and their ecosystems.
  • Environmental Policy and Management: Bridging the gap between science and actionable policies.
  • Conservation Biology: The science of protecting biodiversity.

For those who want to develop specific expertise, pursuing a Master's in Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences is a typical route. Often, the most common specialisation in Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences leans towards Climate Change, given this topic is of huge interest nowadays.

What will you learn during an Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences programme?

Here's a quick glance at what you'll learn:

  • You'll gain insights into the natural processes shaping our planet.
  • Understand the human impact on these processes.
  • Learn to use scientific tools and techniques, from GIS systems to fieldwork equipment.
  • Develop the ability to critically assess environmental data and research.
  • Understand the interdisciplinary nature of environmental challenges and their solutions.

Courses often encountered include:

  • Ecosystem Dynamics: Understanding the interplay of living organisms and their environment.
  • Natural Resource Management: Strategies to use and protect our resources sustainably.
  • Environmental Ethics: Delving into the moral dimensions of our environmental decisions.
  • Geospatial Analysis: Harnessing technology to map and analyse the earth's surface.
  • Atmospheric Sciences: Examining the dynamics of our planet's blanket.

Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences is a good degree option for those who are curious to understand our planet and invest in protecting the environment.

Skills required for a degree in Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences

Aspiring students should have a keen interest in nature and the environment, coupled with analytical and problem-solving skills. Curiosity, fieldwork resilience, and strong communication are also crucial Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences degree requirements.

What can you do with an Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences degree?

A degree in this field unlocks numerous career doors:

  • Environmental Consultant: Advising on environmental best practices.
  • Climate Scientist: Studying global climate patterns and changes.
  • Geospatial Analyst: Using tools to interpret earth data.
  • Conservation Officer: Ensuring the protection of natural habitats.
  • Environmental Educator: Teaching future generations about our planet.

The jobs you can get with an Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences degree are plenty and incredibly meaningful. Thanks to the ever-increasing need for environmental experts in our changing world, this degree is worth it.

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View all PhDs in Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences. Keep in mind you can also study an online PhDs in Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences.

Interesting programmes for you

How Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences Subject Ranking Lists Are Created

Interested in which universities offer the best Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences?

Take a look at the university rankings listing the best universities where you can study Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences according to World University Rankings for Geology, Environmental, Earth & Marine Sciences from Times Higher Education, QS World University Rankings by Subject from TopUniversities, Best Global Universities for Environment/Ecology offered by U.S. News, and ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects: Earth Sciences.

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Best Universities for Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences on PhDPortal

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Universities Location U.S. News & World Report Ranking (2018)
University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, United States 1
Wageningen University and Research Wageningen, Netherlands 2
Stanford University Stanford, United States 3
ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Switzerland 4
Harvard University Cambridge, United States 5
Duke University Durham, United States 6
University of California, Davis Davis, United States 7
University of Oxford Oxford, United Kingdom 8
University of Queensland Saint Lucia, Australia 8
University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada 10
Imperial College London London, United Kingdom 11
Yale University New Haven, United States 12
University of Minnesota Twin Cities Minneapolis, United States 13
University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, United States 14
James Cook University Townsville, Australia 15
University of Washington Seattle, United States 15
Stockholm University Stockholm, Sweden 17
University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark 18
University of Wisconsin Madison Madison, United States 19
University of Cambridge Cambridge, United Kingdom 20
Princeton University Princeton, United States 21
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala, Sweden 22
Aarhus University Aarhus, Denmark 23
University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, United States 24
The University of Exeter Exeter, United Kingdom 25
University of Montpellier Montpellier, France 26
Columbia University New York City, United States 27
University of Florida Gainesville, United States 28
University of Maryland College Park, United States 28
Michigan State University East Lansing, United States 30
Cornell University Ithaca, United States 31
Lund University Lund, Sweden 32
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Los Angeles, United States 33
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, United States 34
Australian National University Canberra, Australia 35
Oregon State University Corvallis, United States 36
McGill University Montréal, Canada 37
The University of Arizona Tucson, United States 38
University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland 39
The University of Western Australia Perth, Australia 40
Utrecht University Utrecht, Netherlands 41
University of Leeds Leeds, United Kingdom 42
University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia 43
Peking University Beijing, China 44
University of Zurich Zürich, Switzerland 44
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands 44
Melbourne Business School Melbourne, Australia 47
Colorado State University Fort Collins, United States 48
Sorbonne University Paris, France 49
University of Göttingen Göttingen, Germany 49
Arizona State University Tempe, United States 51
University of Bern Bern, Switzerland 52
University of California, San Diego San Diego, United States 53
University of Toronto Pickering, Canada 54
The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, United Kingdom 55
University of East Anglia Norwich, United Kingdom 56
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, United States 56
Université Grenoble Alpes Grenoble, France 58
University of California, Irvine (UCI) Irvine, United States 59
University of Texas at Austin Austin, United States 60
Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden 61
University of Sheffield Sheffield, United Kingdom 62
University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain 63
Tsinghua University Beijing, China 64
University of Reading Reading, United Kingdom 65
Pennsylvania State University State College, United States 66
Lancaster University Lancaster, United Kingdom 67
UCL London, United Kingdom 68
University of Vienna Vienna, Austria 68
Ghent University Ledeberg, Belgium 70
University of Oslo Oslo, Norway 71
University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, United Kingdom 72
National University of Singapore Singapore, Singapore 73
University of Sao Paulo São Paulo, Brazil 74
University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada 75
University of Gothenburg Göteborg, Sweden 75
Boston University Boston, United States 77
Macquarie University Sydney, Australia 77
University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, United States 79
University of Antwerp Antwerpen, Belgium 80
The University of Montana Missoula, United States 81
University of Bristol Bristol, United Kingdom 82
Beijing Normal University Beijing, China 83
University of Sydney Sydney, Australia 84
Rutgers University New Brunswick, United States 85
Umea University Umeå, Sweden 85
University of Georgia Athens, United States 85
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Urbana, United States 88
The Ohio State University Upper Arlington, United States 89
University of Tasmania Hobart, Australia 89
Western Sydney University Paramatta, Australia 91
University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, United States 92
University of Adelaide Adelaide, Australia 93
Autonomous University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain 94
University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany 94
North Carolina State University Raleigh, United States 96
University of Basel Basel, Switzerland 96
Nanjing University Nanjing, China 98
University of Plymouth Plymouth, United Kingdom 99
University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands 100
University of Chicago Chicago, United States 100
National Autonomous University of Mexico Coyoacán, Mexico 102
University of Guelph Guelph, Canada 102
University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, United States 104
University of Lisbon Lisbon, Portugal 105
Monash University Clayton, Australia 106
University of Southampton Southampton, United Kingdom 106
AgroParisTech - Institut des Sciences et Industries du Vivant et de l'Environnement Paris, France 108
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) Delft, Netherlands 109
Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, United States 110
Technical University of Munich München, Germany 110
The University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan 110
University of Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa 113
University of York York, United Kingdom 114
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Cambridge, United States 115
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland 116
University of Quebec in Montreal Montréal, Canada 117
University of Connecticut Storrs, United States 118
Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China 118
University of Birmingham Birmingham, United Kingdom 121
University of Tennessee Knoxville Knoxville, United States 122
Technical University of Denmark (DTU) Copenhagen, Denmark 123
Griffith University Nathan, Australia 124
Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch, South Africa 125
University of Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland 125
University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand 127
University of Groningen Groningen, Netherlands 128
Brown University Providence, United States 130
Université Montpellier 3 Paul Valéry Montpellier, France 130
University of Bergen Bergen, Norway 130
University of Porto Porto, Portugal 133
University of California, Riverside Riverside, United States 134
Humboldt University Berlin Berlin, Germany 135
University of Girona Girona, Spain 135
Texas A&M University College Station, United States 137
Simon Fraser University Burnaby, Canada 138
Stony Brook University Stony Brook, United States 138
Aix-Marseille University Marseille, France 140
Kyoto University Kyoto, Japan 141
University of Tartu Tartu, Estonia 142
Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) Ås, Norway 143
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Trondheim, Norway 144
The University of Manchester Manchester, United Kingdom 145
University of Potsdam Potsdam, Germany 145
Charles University Prague, Czech Republic 147
University of Auckland Auckland, New Zealand 147
The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR) 149
Dalhousie University Halifax, Canada 150
Florida State University Tallahassee, United States 151
Hokkaido University Sapporo, Japan 152
University of Bayreuth Bayreuth, Germany 152
Purdue University West Lafayette, United States 154
The University of Vermont Burlington, United States 154
University of Bonn Bonn, Germany 156
Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, United States 157
Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, United States 158
University of Tübingen Tübingen, Germany 159
Goethe University Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main, Germany 159
National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan 161
Radboud University Nijmegen - Summer School Nijmegen, Netherlands 161
Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia 163
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, United States 164
UIT the Arctic University of Norway Tromsø, Norway 165
Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich München, Germany 166
University of New Hampshire Durham, United States 167
KU Leuven Brussels, Belgium 168
University of Rennes Rennes, France 169
University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Canada 169
University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, United States 171
University at Albany Albany, United States 172
Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, China 173
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Thuwal, Saudi Arabia 174
University of St Andrews St Andrews, United Kingdom 174
Iowa State University Ames, United States 176
Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, United States 176
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna Vienna, Austria 176
University of Kansas Lawrence, United States 179
University of Montreal Montréal, Canada 180
Laval University Québec, Canada 181
University of Virginia Charlottesville, United States 182
Bangor University Bangor, United Kingdom 183
University of Kiel Kiel, Germany 183
University of Technology Sydney Sydney, Australia 185
The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, United States 186
Montana State University Bozeman, United States 187
UNICAMP - University of Campinas Campinas, Brazil 187
University of Paris Sud Orsay, France 187
Universidade de Aveiro Aveiro, Portugal 190
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, United States 190
King Abdulaziz University Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 192
Florida International University Miami, United States 193
Nankai University Tianjin, China 195
University of Calgary Calgary, Canada 196
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Karlsruhe, Germany 197
University of Waterloo Waterloo, Canada 197
Fudan University Shanghai, China 199
Washington State University Pullman, United States 200
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Specialisations within the field of Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences

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