Brock University has signed an agreement with the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) in Australia that will enable Brock students to pursue a PhD in sustainability at USC.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed March 14 by Brock Professor and Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) member Gary Pickering and the Director of USC’s Sustainability Research Centre Tim Smith, formalizes a long-running research relationship between Brock and USC in the areas of global change, sustainability and resilience.

For several years, USC has offered a transdisciplinary PhD program in sustainability that synthesizes research in the social, economic and behavioural sciences to address environmental and societal concerns.

This new agreement will allow researchers from Brock’s ESRC to supervise students in the sustainability PhD program, and give students the opportunity to study in Australia and Canada.

“The ESRC is tremendously excited to sign this MOU with USC. It will allow for deeper research partnerships between Brock and USC and it will bring doctoral students into the Centre who can contribute to its burgeoning research culture. This is a great step forward in the development of the ESRC,” says ESRC director Tim Heinmiller.

“This MOU builds on existing, high impact research collaborations between the Sustainability Research Centre at USC and the ESRC at Brock. All involved intend this to be a very active MOU, and together help build the capacity in our young researchers and scholars to meet the global challenges in sustainability that we face,” adds Pickering.

To strengthen this new partnership even further, USC has established a new PhD scholarship in Social Dimensions of Global Change. Under the MOU, Brock students can apply for this scholarship, which will cover tuition, living, and travel expenses.

USC is offering one scholarship for this program. The deadline is April 29. For more information click here.

To learn more about the PhD program click here.