Approach from Environmental Geography
Course in Human and Ecological Systems
(Course in Global Environmental Management)
Division of Environmental Science Development
Graduate School of Environmental Science
Hokkaido University
Main Goals of this Approach
The faculty members taking the environmental geographical approach will help students find effective solutions to environmental issues, conserve and protect geoecological diversity, understand geoecological systems in areas that has been developed on geomorphological and geological bases, develop measures to establish a society rich in sustainable ecological system services, and confront environmental challenges associated with resource use. As a result, an interdisciplinary perspective of the relationship between the environment and society is fostered, with an emphasis on mapping spatial and environmental systems.
Field studies
Field areas focused on are: alpine areas in the Alps and Himalaya; transboundary areas such as the Sea of Okhotsk and the Russian Far East; and Hokkaido, from the headwaters to the ocean, in the context of human-ecological systems.
Keywords
Prospective students will benefit by familiarizing with the following keywords: developing countries, Hokkaido, sustainable development, local communities, transboundary environmental conservation, land-ocean ecological interaction, GLOF (glacial lake outburst flood), natural history of terrestrial environmental structure, land use/land cover change, ecotourism, geotourism, national park management, PAs (protected areas), geoecology, geodiversity, GIS, and remote sensing.
Associated members
Faculty
- Teiji WATANABE
- Takayuki SHIRAIWA
- Yuichi S. HAYAKAWA
- Ting WANG
from
Group of Environmental Geography
Section of Integrated Environmental Science
Faculty of Environmental Earth Science
or
Institute of Low Temperature Science
Students
Admission
Please refere to the following pages first.
- Admission Guide, Graduate School of Environmental Science
- Hokkaido University Life Support for International Students
Scholarship
MEXT scholarship
Regarding scholarship, you should have the basic information from the website of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which provides the largest scholarship through each university or Japanese Embassy abroad.
To apply for the MEXT’s scholarship through any university, you need to identify a professor with whom you want to work. Therefore, you first have to contact with a specific professor who can accept you. At that time, you should let us know your research interest in this course.
Otherwise, you may go to the Japanese Embassy to be nominated as a scholarship recipient, which is normally extremely competitive.
In either case above, we need to submit all evidences of communications regarding your research topic. You have to submit English (TOEFL etc.) score sheet as well.
Thus, you need 18-24 months to prepare. The deadline to submit the application is controlled by the ministry, so you have to submit the form during a certain period only. The application deadline is usually at November to December in our school, which may be slightly different from university to university.
For PhD Course Applicants
When you contact your host professor, you should propose the detailed research plan you are going to do in this course.
Education
Lectures related to this course
- Methods of Environmental Analysis I
- Methods of Environmental Analysis II
- Advanced Course in Water Resources
- Mountain Geoecological Resources
- Advanced Course in Geoecological Resources
- Field and Laboratory Work in Integrated Environmental Geography
- Methods of Geoenvironmental 3D Information Measurement (1)/(2) (Hokkaido Summer Institute)
- Environmental Geography Seminar
Seminar
Our regular seminar is held every Wednesday afternoon. Students present Paper Review, Research Proposal, Study Progress, etc. twice a semester. Presentations and discussion are basically given in English.
Thesis and Dissertations
▶︎ list of past master theses and doctoral dissertations
Research
The Graduate School of Environmental Science (GSES) at Hokkaido University is a unique education system that connects environmental science research departments within and outside the university, differing from the traditional fixed professor-student framework. Faculty specializing in environmental geography within the Human-Ecological Systems Course or Global Environmental Management Course conduct research at the Group of Environmental Geography under Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, or Research Institute for Low Temperature Science, while also providing graduate education in GSES. Students in this course follow a structured curriculum for their master’s and doctoral research but may also engage in projects and collaborative research within these affiliated institutes.
Environmental Geography 
