Geography McGill University

Overview

Thematic areas of study include:

• Political, Urban, Economic, and Health Geography;

• Environment and Development;

• Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing;

• Land Surface Processes, Ecosystem Biogeochemistry, and Ecohydrology;

• Earth System Science and Global Change;

• Sustainability Science and Environmental Management.

Geography houses McGill University's Hitschfield Geographic Information Centre, maintains the McGill Arctic Research Station (Axel Heiburg Island, Nunavut Territory) and the McGill Sub-Arctic Research Station (Schefferville, Quebec), and has strong ties with McGill’s School of Environment. Faculty and students conduct research in fields as diverse as climate change impacts, periglacial geomorphology, and forest resource history in regions ranging from the Arctic to Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Being both a natural and a social science, geography provides a unique opportunity to obtain a broad interdisciplinary exposure to modes of analyzing the many environmental and situational problems of contemporary society. Because of this, a geography degree is a fantastic opportunity to obtain a career in one of a diverse range of fields. Our students have gone on to become United Nations field researchers in Laos, environmental consultants in Toronto, science teachers in the U.S., geography professors in many parts of the world, UNHCR volunteers in Malaysia, policy analysts, and physical scientists in government agencies and research councils, as well as health and social policy researchers in Montreal…the list goes on! If you're on Facebook, look for McGill Geography Alumni or visit our website to learn more about the advantages of having a geography degree from McGill!

Key facts

Master’s degrees in both the physical (M.Sc.) and social (M.A.) sciences are offered by Geography. The core of both programs for all students is field-based research supervised by a faculty member, culminating in a thesis. The core program consists of the thesis component, required, and complementary graduate (500- or 600-level) courses.

Geography also offers in association with other McGill departments and programs a number of M.A. and M.Sc. options that students may choose to follow. Students must pass the courses specified for their program, attend such additional courses as the Chair and the student's thesis supervisor see fit, and submit a thesis in an appropriate area of geographical inquiry approved by the adviser.