About Us

Message from Dean

Hiroki TANIKAWA
Dean,
Graduate School of Environmental Studies

The Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Nagoya University offers interdisciplinary postgraduate programs that integrate the natural sciences, engineering, and the humanities and social sciences. The Graduate School is composed of three departments: the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the Department of Environmental Engineering and Architecture, and the Department of Social and Human Environment. Ever since our founding in 2001 as the first graduate school in Japan to bridge the humanities and sciences, we have been advancing “Sustainability Studies” and “Safety and Security Studies” as the two pillars of our education and research.

In the quarter of a century since the establishment of the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, our master’s and doctoral programs have together produced more than 3,000 graduates. Our alumni are generalists with specialized expertise and specialists with cross-disciplinary insight who are actively engaged in various fields around the world.

Every problem we face has a cause, and quite often that cause itself arises from another cause. Complex issues like environmental problems require us to unravel the systemic mechanisms by which one problem creates another. Therefore, we need knowledge and imagination in order to connect events that took place in unseen places or times to the issues we face today.

At the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, we pursue “Sustainability Studies,” a discipline that reflects on history from broad temporal and spatial perspectives to consider what we should do for the future. This provides us with a crucial viewpoint for exploring human sustainability. On the other hand, “Safety and Security Studies” is a discipline dedicated to protecting human survival and enriching our lives and well-being. In this field, it is necessary to consider both local and global perspectives when addressing issues such as urbanization, depopulation, and the health hazards of natural disasters and environmental pollution. These two areas of study are closely interrelated. It is crucial for us to think holistically about both Sustainability Studies, which takes a big-picture view of global environmental issues, and Safety and Security Studies, which focuses on people and local communities.

At the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, our goal is for our students to systematically study both Sustainability Studies and Safety and Security Studies and to grow as generalists with specialized expertise or specialists with cross-disciplinary insight. To that end, we offer a two-year master’s program and a three-year doctoral program. In the master’s program, students develop a multifaceted perspective by taking Subjects for Systematic Understanding that address environmental issues from a viewpoint of integrating humanities and sciences. In addition, each department offers Specialized Subjects, through which students develop the qualities of a specialist. In the doctoral program, students deepen their specialist expertise by taking Common Subjects of the Graduate School, and they engage in discussions with researchers from various fields and cultivate the ability to pursue truth from their own perspectives. As doctoral graduates are increasingly in the spotlight as the engine driving innovation and solving global social challenges, we place great emphasis on education in the doctoral program. To reduce the financial burden of doctoral studies, students can take advantage of a variety of robust support programs funded by the government, the University, and the Graduate School, creating an environment where students can enroll in the doctoral program with peace of mind. For more information, please visit the Nagoya University Doctoral Education Consortium website. If you are in the master’s program, we sincerely hope you will consider continuing your studies in the doctoral program.

At the Nagoya University Graduate School of Environmental Studies, we will continue to develop the next generation of leaders who will forge a sustainable future, and we remain committed to pioneering new frontiers in Environmental Studies.