Ph.D. Program

Please Note: Securing a faculty supervisor is essential to being successful in receiving an offer of admission to our M.Sc. program. Be sure to reach out to potential supervisors early in the process.

The objective of the Ph.D. program is to provide the supervision, intellectual environment and resources to permit an aspiring scientist to develop and complete a thesis, involving a significant addition to knowledge, on a specific project in Geology or Geophysics, or in a collaborative project involving one or more related disciplines. The scope of these research projects represents an enormous range of interests, from purely 'academic' to strongly 'applied' industrial and environmental topics. Current graduate degrees include:

  • Ph.D. in Geology
  • Ph.D. in Geophysics

Graduate students are encouraged to develop a passing knowledge of fields peripheral to their thesis topics by regular attendance at the weekly departmental colloquia, M.Sc. and Ph.D. defence lectures of fellow students, and through participation in the graduate seminar course and informal brownbag seminars.

Program Requirements

The course requirements can be found here. Courses are designed to supplement and broaden the student's knowledge base, however, a thesis based on original research forms the most important part of both the M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs.

Ph.D. students must pass an oral Qualifying Examination no later than 18 months after starting in the program.

Collaborative Specializations

A Collaborative Specialization is an intra-university graduate field of study that provides an additional multidisciplinary experience for students enrolled in and completing the degree requirements for one of a number of approved Master’s and/or PhD programs. Students meet the admission requirements of, and register in, the participating (or “home”) program but complete, in addition to the degree requirements of that program, the additional requirements specified by the Collaborative Specialization. The degree conferred is that of the home program, and the completion of the Collaborative Specialization is indicated by a transcript notation indicating the additional specialization that has been attained.

Students in our department often choose to pursue one of the following specializations: