Ph.D. in Environment and Sustainability

Faculty Advisors

Interdisciplinarity is at the core of the Ph.D. program’s identity. Each student’s program of study and dissertation research will be guided by a major advisor, and we recommend selecting a secondary advisor from a distinct area of research or scholarly expertise. This dual-advisor model supports students in developing integrated, cross-disciplinary approaches to complex environmental and sustainability issues.

We strongly encourage prospective students to begin identifying areas of interest early in the application process and to reach out to at least one potential advisor. The alignment between an applicant’s research goals and the expertise and availability of faculty advisors is an important consideration in admissions decisions.
Advisors will be drawn from the faculty with an appointment in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. However, depending on the student’s focus, additional advisors may also come from other UCLA departments and schools—reflecting the university’s exceptional breadth in physical and life sciences, humanities, social sciences, fine arts, and professional training.

To help guide your search for potential advisors, we have organized IoES faculty into broad categories of expertise. These categories represent linked approaches broad challenges in environment and sustainability or distinct ways of approaching the topic.

Sociotechnical Systems. The aggregate of human social arrangements and technical artifacts used to control, manage, and provide services from the environment are defined as sociotechnical systems. The overall system includes multiple actors and material elements that are best understood as a whole rather than independent subsystems. These systems include the water system, energy system, cities and their networks, and the climate system under human influence. Disciplinary approaches encompass environmental sciences, engineering, physical and biological sciences, and social sciences, from political science, anthropology, geography and urban planning. They also embody cultural and historical aspects, hence can be looked at from the humanities and from history. Sociotechnical systems are composed of physical infrastructures and the institutions and regulations that govern them, create them and manage them.

Conservation and Natural Resources. The science and practice of either protecting and restoring natural systems and biodiversity or ensuring the sustained yield of nature’s services. Studies include both basic research into the functioning of such systems — biodiversity, marine and coastal systems, water, air, and climate — and methods and practices for their protection and restoration. This broad and complex set of topics can include biological sciences, geology, geography, history and other social sciences. They have also been – and continue to be – the subject of humanities writing, including science fiction, poetry, and much more.

Economy and Society. Investigation of both economic and social dimension of environment and sustainability, including approaches that address policy, governance and regulation, and environmental justice. Disciplines include economics, business, law, sociology, anthropology, planning, and political science.

Environmental Humanities. Investigation of environmental changes and crises as problems of language, culture, history, and social structure, including approaches from environmental justice, environmental ethics, film studies, gender studies, human-animal studies, Indigeneity studies, studies of modernity and modernisms, narratology, postcolonialism, religious studies, and urban studies. Disciplines include anthropology, art history, cultural geography, environmental history, environmental literary studies, environmental philosophy, and urban studies.

Advisors who are accepting applications for the December 2025 for Fall 2026 start date are listed in the first section.