Innovative research is at the heart of the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES). Our inception in 1968 as Canada’s first faculty of environmental studies launched a new kind of scholarship committed to interdisciplinary research with practical applications.

Faculty interests

FES comprises of researchers from a wide array of disciplines: community indigenous arts, cultural studies, ecological economics, environmental education, food and agriculture, social forestry, human ecology, geography, environmental engineering, medical anthropology, marine biology, oceanography, political science, physics, sociology, urban planning, zoology, among others.

Faculty publications

FES distinguishes itself through the range and depth of faculty members’ publications. In addition to writing and editing scholarly books, our faculty members regularly publish articles in prestigious national and international refereed journals.

Faculty projects

FES research projects continue to follow a groundbreaking path. From environmental crisis to environmental practice, from local planning to international development, from native issues to gender issues on health and environmental science – indeed from almost anywhere on the spectrum of environmental thought to almost any topic on environmental policy – you will find research in FES.

Student research

Student research exemplifies the interdisciplinary nature of FES. Student projects consist of theses, papers, portfolios, or major projects. The best way to appreciate the endless possibilities for student research in FES is to examine some of these works.

BES Senior Honours Work (titles)
MES Major Papers and Theses (titles)
PhD Dissertations (titles)
PhD student research (profiles)
Student Research Papers
FES Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Series (full text)

FES lays groundwork for Sustainable Energy Initiative

FES Professors Mark Winfield and José Etcheverry lead new initiative that solidifies FES as the preeminent place in Ontario for research and education on renewable energy.

SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) on Global Suburbanism

Roger Keil, professor at the Faculty of Environmental Studies and director of the City Institute at York University, is one of the York recipients of the SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) to examine in close lens global suburbanism. He is working with 44 researchers at 29 universities and 16 partners in 12 countries to better understand the challenges that suburbanization poses in a globalizing world. FES professors, Ute Lehrer, Liette Gilbert and Stefan Kipfer are co-researchers in the initiative. Based on the experience of Canadian suburbanization, but ranging from North America’s wealthy gated communities to Europe’s high-rise-dominated suburbs, the exploding outskirts of Indian and Chinese cities to the slums and squatter settlements of Africa and Latin America, this project is the first to systematically take stock of worldwide suburban developments while analyzing their governance models, land use, infrastructure and suburban everyday life.

Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Sustainability and Culture

Catriona Sandilands was awarded a CRC in Sustainability and Culture in 2003 that was renewed in 2009 for another five years. Essentially, the research aims to develop an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability and culture – investigating relations between environmental literature and environmental politics. The project emphasizes writing as an analytic realm and research tool to explore environmental cultures and conflicts – probing humanities contribution to sustainability and role of literary activity in promoting and extending the environmental public sphere. In the long term, an international research network will be established to extend cutting-edge work in environmental cultural studies.

Las Nubes Project for Neotropical Conservation and Research

Las Nubes – which means "the clouds" – is a Costa Rican rainforest donated to FES in 1998 by Dr. Woody Fisher. To help protect the rainforest, FES worked with Costa Rica’s Tropical Science Centre to create the Dr. Woody Fisher Fund for Neotropical Conservation, which supports research at Las Nubes and the surrounding region in areas such as tropical deforestation, sustainable development and biodiversity. FES researchers also worked with the Tropical Science Centre and CoopeAgri, a farmers’ cooperative, to promote ecologically sound coffee production and processing. The result: Las Nubes Coffee. This coffee, which is certified sustainable and fair trade, is sold by organizations at York and is available across Canada through Timothy's World Coffee. For every pound of Las Nubes Coffee sold Timothy’s contributes $1 to the Fisher Fund. Martin Bunch is currently the Acting Director of the Las Nubes Project.

York research centres and institutes

York is home to 28 research centres and institutes. FES faculty members are associated with the following research centres and institutes:

• Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS)
• Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC)
• City Institute at York University (CITY)
• Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS)
• York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR)
• York Institute for Health Research (YIHR)

Research services for faculty and students

Funding opportunities
Funding databases
HR for researchers
Research accounting
Research computing
Research forms
Research ethics
Research impact
Research procurement
York research support

Research updates and archives

2013
FES Research Update - May
FES Research Update - April
FES Research Update - March
FES Research Update - February
FES Research Update - January

2012
FES Research Update - October
FES Research Update - September
FES Research Update - May
FES Research Update - January

2011
FES Research Update - December
FES Research Update - November
FES Research Update - October
FES Research Update - May
FES Research Update - April
FES Research Update - March
FES Research Update - February
FES Research Update - January

2010
FES Research Update - November
FES Research Update - October
FES Research Update - September
FES Research Update - May
FES Research Update - April
FES Research Update - March
FES Research Update - February
FES Research Update - January

Visiting Scholars

FES offers a limited number of visiting scholar opportunities for predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers.  These positions are intended to support advanced and interdisciplinary research and writing on any environmental topics.  Visiting scholars are welcome to participate in the supportive, interdisciplinary community of scholars at FES and York, and will have opportunities to present their research.  There is no stipend attached to visiting scholar positions so applicants must be self-funded.  Visiting scholars are not entitled to any individual supervision.