Climate, Environment and Health

Overview

Students undertaking this specialisation will examine global environmental challenges, their profound implications for population health and health systems, and the need for interdisciplinary solutions now, and in coming decades. The specialisation aims to improve students’ understanding and interpretation of contemporary frameworks for action on climate change and health, including environmental health risk and governance, sustainable healthcare, and global and planetary health. Students will be exposed to widely used decision-support tools and develop skills in vulnerability and capacity assessment, policy agenda setting, adaptation and mitigation actions, and evaluation in climate change and other environmental health areas. Students will analyse the governance of climate change and environmental health risks that include prevention and protection using an equity, justice and ‘systems’ lens.  In doing so, key national and international regulatory and legislative structures and directives, and innovative programs related to environmental health protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation will be explored across multiple settings.  As a result, students will become familiar with and critique relevant policies and international agreements pertaining to environment, climate change and health. Students will also learn to identify complex systems, barriers and enablers implicated in processes of responding to environmental challenges on global, national, and local scales.  This subject is aimed at students, who, as current or future decision makers would like to lead and implement change through advocacy, development, implementation, and evaluation of environmental change and health strategies and policies.

Last updated: 13 February 2025