Master’s (Doctoral) Program in Global Environmental Studies
The environmental problems we face today are caused by people’s daily lives and business activities, such as global warming, waste problems and the creation of a recycling-oriented society, environmental risks of chemical substances, air and water conservation, and the decline of natural capital and biodiversity. To address these environmental issues, we need to further improve environmental education and ESD (Education for Sustainability) to realize the SDGs (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), transform human activities, and create a society that can realize new economic development (sustainable society) while protecting a healthy and bountiful environment. We need to create a sustainable society that can realize new economic development while preserving a healthy, bountiful environment. To this end, Sophia University has established the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies (Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies), which integrates social and natural sciences to conduct more advanced research and education. The faculty consists of domestic and international experts in diverse fields such as law, economics, policy studies, business administration, sociology, and science and engineering, and part-time lecturers are asked to be leading researchers in environmental studies in Japan today.
In addition to the Japanese language course, the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies offers the International Environmental Studies Course, which can be taken only in English, and accepts many international students from all over the world, including those from the Asian region, Africa, South America, Europe, and the United States. Thus, at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, students can receive a high standard of education and guidance from a global perspective according to their own problems and interests.
Curriculum
Students are free to select courses from a wide range of subjects related to the global environment, from natural sciences to humanities and social sciences, according to their interests, backgrounds, and future career paths. The number of students in each course varies from about 40 to a few, but all courses are taught by experienced instructors who provide friendly guidance.
The curriculum consists of required, elective, and elective courses. In addition, students are required to write a master’s thesis. In preparing the master’s thesis, students are individually guided by a faculty advisor for two years. Some courses may not be offered in certain years.
Granted Degree:
- Master’s Program: MASTER OF ARTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
- Doctoral Program: DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
About the Master’s & Doctoral Programs in Global Environmental Studies
Systematic curriculum, courses offered in a wide range of fields
The high level of our research is supported by numerous publications in international journals and our track record of obtaining competitive research funds. We are advancing cutting-edge research together with our graduate students.
Integration of Theory and Practice
In addition to learning basic theory, the program aims to develop highly practical skills through the use of computers and corporate environmental reports. In addition, as companies increasingly address environmental issues, we offer a number of courses that are linked to actual economic activities and corporate management.
Providing learning opportunities for working adults
We have received many requests from people active in business and local communities who wish to study environmental issues in depth. Therefore, the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies offers some classes on Saturdays and weekday evenings to create an environment in which working people can study while holding down a job.
Journals in which graduate students can also publish
Graduate students of the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies may participate in symposia, seminars, and research meetings organized by the “Sophia Society for Global Environmental Studies” with faculty, alumni, and other researchers, and may publish an excellent master’s thesis in the “Journal of Global Environmental Studies,” a sister publication of the academic journal “Global Environmental Studies”.
Recent Major Research Topics of Alumni
- The Relationship between Environmentally Value-Added Agricultural Products and Regional Revitalization: A Study of Consumers’ Perception Process of Sustainability.
- A Study on Corporate Valuation by Applying Environmental Impact Assessment Indicators: Toward Reconstruction of Environmental Accounting
- Environmental Risks of Substances of Novel Concern: Effects of Polycyclic Musk Fragrances on Freshwater Ecosystems
- Environmental Education on Endangered Species in Zoos: Focusing on Zoo Initiatives
- Current Status and Issues of Risk Communication for Practical Application of CCS in Japan: A Comparative Study of Environmental NGOs in the U.S. and Japan
- Application and Contribution of Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Food and Water Security in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands: Case Study of Central Turkana, Kenya
- Improving customer attitudes and loyalty by product recycling: An empirical study on the Chinese mobile phone industry
- Climate Change and Collapse: An Environmental History Research on the Little Ice Age in the Middle East and North Africa
- How May Japan’s Disposable Housing Culture Limit Progress Toward a Green Transformation of its Urban Residential Housing Sector?
- Research on the Commonality and Regularity of Water related to Music Works
- Estimation of Pollution Loading from Human Dietary; A Case Study of Ramen
- Customer preferences for environmental sustainability in a product’s pre-use phase, use phase, and post-use phase: the case of wrist watches
- The role of traditional knowledge in the conservation of forest medicinal plants: A case study of communities around Matandwe forest reserves in Nsanje, Malawi
Educational Policies
-
Master’s Program
The Master’s Program in Global Environmental Studies aims to foster human resources who have acquired a broad range of expertise and various theories and practical experience, and who are deemed to be capable of contributing to the achievement of a sustainable society. In view of such aims the program sets standards for the skills and knowledge students should acquire before graduation as described below. Those who have fulfilled the requirements and have passed the thesis defense will be awarded a diploma.
- Broad expert knowledge in global environmental issues and environmental studies.
- Broad practical knowledge in global environmental issues and environmental studies.
- The ability to propose appropriate research and analysis methods developed by integrating both social science and natural science-based knowledge as well as combining theory and practice. Also, the ability to communicate information to society through logical writing and oral presentation of one’s arguments.
- The competency to precisely structure one’s own papers and clearly roll out the logical arguments in writing papers in order to make the above item 3 possible.
- Global perspectives and responsiveness
Doctoral Program
The Doctoral Program in Global Environmental Studies aims to foster human resources whose research capabilities have been acknowledged to be world-class and who can independently engage in research and development and are deemed to be capable of contributing to the achievement of a sustainable society. With a view to such aims, the program sets standards for the skills and knowledge students should acquire before graduation as described below. Those who have fulfilled the requirements and have passed the thesis defense will be awarded a diploma.
- Broad expert knowledge in global environmental issues and environmental studies, including in-depth expertise in specific fields and issues
- Broad practical knowledge in global environmental issues and environmental studies, including in-depth practical knowledge in specific fields and issues
- The ability to independently conduct research and development based on research abilities characterized by originality developed by integrating both social science and natural science-based knowledge as well as combining theory and practice. Also, the ability to communicate information to society through logical writing and oral presentation of one’s arguments.
- The competency to write academic papers with originality and externally present the papers in order to make the above item 3 possible.
- Global perspectives and responsiveness.
-
Master’s Program
In light of our aim to have students effectively acquire expertise in a broad range of disciplines and a combination of various theories and practice in accordance with the diploma policy, the Master’s Program in Global Environmental Studies constructs its curriculum with courses aligned to the following purposes:
- Offer a well-balanced range of coursework by including courses from all three subject groups, namely Environmental Law, Policy and Social Studies; Environmental Economics and Development Studies; and Environmental Science and Engineering Studies in order to develop a broad but compact curriculum combining humanities and science with a clear vision based on the understanding that global environmental issues and environmental studies always bear aspects of both the natural sciences and the social sciences and humanities.
- Proactively incorporate into coursework and seminars, opportunities where students can become familiar with cutting-edge measures and acquire hands-on knowledge in order to develop a curriculum that enables the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge for appropriate problem identification as well as a good balance of practical knowledge or skills for problem-solving.
- Proactively incorporate into lecture courses and seminars, opportunities where students can learn research and analysis methods and engage in presentations or opinion exchange in order to establish a curriculum that delivers finely-tuned education enabling good diversified communication between faculty and students supported by small-group classes unique to Sophia. Furthermore, schedule a workshop to present thesis outlines at the beginning of the fourth quarter in order to let students acquire thesis writing and oral presentation skills.
- In light of the increasing need for international cooperation in solving global environmental issues, proactively admit international students, develop an English-taught program with a curriculum consisting of lectures and consultations provided solely in English for the purpose of fostering global leaders, and make courses under the Japanese and English programs interchangeably available to students, thus actively providing opportunities for both mutual learning and communication among students of various nationalities. Furthermore, offer night and Saturday lectures to give adequate consideration to facilitate degree completion for working students.
Doctoral Program
In light of our aim to have our students effectively acquire expertise in a broad range of disciplines and a combination of various theories and practice in accordance with the diploma policy, the Doctoral Program in Global Environmental Studies constructs its curriculum with courses aligned to the following purposes:
- Offer a well-balanced range of coursework by including courses from all three subject groups, namely Environmental Law, Policy and Social Studies; Environmental Economics and Development Studies; and Environmental Science and Engineering Studies in order to develop a broad but compact curriculum combining humanities and science with a clear vision based on the understanding that global environmental issues and environmental studies always bear aspects of both the natural sciences and the social sciences and humanities.
- Proactively incorporate into coursework and research guidance, opportunities where students can become familiar with cutting-edge measures and acquire hands-on knowledge in order to develop a curriculum that enables the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge for appropriate problem identification as well as a good balance of practical knowledge or skills for problem-solving.
- Proactively incorporate into coursework and research guidance, opportunities where students can learn research and analysis methods and present their research at academic meetings in order to develop a curriculum that delivers finely-tuned education enabling good diversified communication between faculty and students supported by small-group classes unique to Sophia. Furthermore, through the presentation of dissertation outlines and dissertation reviews, enable students to acquire dissertation writing and oral presentation skills and appropriately measure their qualifications to submit a dissertation.
- In light of the increasing need for international cooperation in solving global environmental issues, proactively admit international students, develop an English-taught program with a curriculum consisting of lectures and consultations provided solely in English for the purpose of fostering global leaders, and make courses under the Japanese and English programs interchangeably available to students, thus actively providing opportunities for both mutual learning and communication among students of various nationalities. Furthermore, give adequate consideration to facilitate degree completion for working students.
-
Master’s Program
The Master’s Program in Global Environmental Studies aims to foster human resources with a strong sense of mission toward efficiently and effectively solving various environmental issues, including pressing global warming issues, and those with the intellectual and academic skills to integrate knowledge from the social and natural sciences and connect theory and practice. The Program seeks students with the following qualities:
- Students with a strong interest in environmental issues, which have become increasingly serious and globalized
- Students with basic academic skills in social science, natural science and humanities
- Students who have acquired interdisciplinary academic knowledge and are eager to build on it
- Students who are determined to make a concrete contribution to solving environmental issues through collaboration with others in local, corporate and government contexts
Doctoral Program
The Doctoral Program in Global Environmental Studies seeks human resources with a high sense of ethics toward efficiently and effectively solving environmental issues in accordance with approaches developed in the Master’s program, who will further expand their knowledge of social science and natural science.
- Students with interest in the broad ranges of environmental issues, which have become increasing serious and globalized
- Students with basic academic skills in social science, natural science and humanities, who embrace the ability to apply them
- Students who seek to perform unique research of high standards, present their research at academic meetings, submit papers to academic journals, write an excellent dissertation and acquire a doctoral degree
- Students who are determined to make a concrete contribution to environment-related research and education activities or to actions to solve environmental issues through collaboration with others at domestic and overseas research institutions or in local communities, private companies, government, NPOs and international organizations, after graduation
Faculty Members
Sumiko ANNO Professor
| Research Areas | Environmental health，Spatial Information Science: Applied research on environment and health environment using machine learning |
|---|---|
| Related Articles |
Yoshinori NAKAGAWA Professor
| Research Areas | Social research，Qualitative Research，The study of life stories，Future Design |
|---|---|
| Related Articles |
Guangwei HUANG Professor
| Research Areas | Watershed Science and Management: Integration of flood risk reduction and environmental conservation，long-term policy impact study |
|---|
Anne MCDONALD Professor
| Research Areas | Environmental Policy，Environmental History: Rural Communities and Sustainability Policy，Socio-Environmental Analysis during the Era of European Imperialism |
|---|
Akemi ORI Professor
| Research Areas | Environmental law/ Environmental policy: Considering the nature of laws and regulations and other policy approaches towards the reduction of our environmental impact based on international trends |
|---|---|
| Related Articles |
John Joseph PUTHENKALAM Professor
| Research Areas | Environment and Development: Economic Development and Environmental Protection in Developing Countries |
|---|
Xuepeng QIAN Professor
| Research Areas | Urban Environmental Planning: urban and regional planning，industrial ecology，social system analysis，sustainability science |
|---|
Masachika SUZUKI Professor
| Research Areas | Environmental Business Management: Corporate Environmental Strategy and Management，Environmental and Energy Technology Policies，Clean Energy Innovation and Transfer，Sustainable Consumption and Production，Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Indicators |
|---|---|
| Related Articles |
Yoshinari TANAKA Professor
| Research Areas | Ecology/Environmental Toxicology: Conservation of Biodiversity，Ecological Risk Assessment of Pollutant Chemicals |
|---|---|
| Related Articles |
Takahiro TSUGE Professor
| Research Areas | Environmental Economics: Development of methods for assessing the economic value of the environment and empirical research using those methods. |
|---|---|
| Related Articles |
Haemi PARK Assistant Professor
| Research Areas | Natural Resource management: Terrestrial ecosystem monitoring by satellite imagery |
|---|