The Program
In 2002, the Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense (UNESC) started the Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences (PPGCA), at Master's level, which was officially recommended by CAPES in December 2001. The PPGCA has an interdisciplinary character, both due to the diversity in the academic background of its faculty and the content of the planned courses, and in light of the perspective required for addressing socio-environmental issues, being part of CAPES’s broad Multidisciplinary area.
The PPGCA, in its early stages, was part of the Interdisciplinary Area and in 2011 it migrated to the Environmental Sciences Area (49.CAmb), which was created by Ministerial Order 081 of June 6, 2011. The program had its doctorate recommended by CAPES in 2012 and started its first class in 2013.
After a few years, the Program demonstrated progress toward its implementation goals, awarding degrees to 257 Master's and 38 PhD graduates from the most diverse areas of scientific knowledge. In August 2023, the program had 23 master's students and 29 PhD students in training.
In the evaluations by the Area Committee, the PPGCA obtained a score of 3 in the 2004-2006 and 2007-2009 triennials; in the 2010-2012 triennial evaluation, it obtained a score of 4; in the 2013-2016 quadrennial evaluation it maintained its score of 4 and in the 2017-2020 quadrennial evaluation it obtained a score of 5.
In order to achieve these results (increase in the master's degree grade and recommendation of the doctorate by CAPES) it is worth highlighting, among others, the following actions and procedures that began in 2012: a) approval and implementation of the doctoral program with score 4; b) expansion of the permanent faculty with participation in strategic areas of concentration that contribute to the interdisciplinary training of the program; c) onsolidation and adjustment of the lines of research; d) advancement in academic-scientific and intellectual output of faculty and students; e) restructuring of courses starting in 2013 with the involvement of at least two faculty members from different research lines and a greater emphasis on interdisciplinarity; f) compliance with deadlines for dissertation defenses of scholarship students; g) expansion of its demand to other regions of Brazil and within the Institution itself; h) increase in the Program’s presence and output in national and international congresses; i) organization of regional/national events promoted by the Program; j) revitalization of the journal Tecnologia e Ambiente, which is being published digitally on the UNESC journal portal; k) community involvement and regional engagement; l) integration with undergraduate programs and alumni of the Program.
Mission +
The Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences has the mission of training qualified professionals, promoting interdisciplinary research in order to understand, address and solve contemporary socio-environmental challenges, committed to ethics, innovation and social responsibility, for the conservation and restoration of the environment and sustainable development.
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Objective +
The objectives of the PPGCA are:
To provide students with specialized training in the various areas of Environmental Sciences, with an emphasis on concepts, theories and methodologies that address contemporary challenges.
To stimulate research in Environmental Sciences, encouraging the production of original and innovative knowledge that contributes to the understanding and solution of socio-environmental issues.
To promote collaboration and dialogue among different areas of knowledge, enabling students to become familiar with interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and solving environmental problems, as well as respect and dialogue with other forms of non-academic knowledge, such as those originating from Indigenous peoples and traditional communities.
To encourage the creation and application of innovative technologies that can contribute to environmental preservation and restoration, as well as sustainable development.
To develop projects and research aimed at biodiversity conservation and the promotion of the sustainable use of natural resources.
To encourage interaction between the academic community and society at large, promoting awareness and collective actions for environmental conservation.
To foster the participation of students and faculty in spaces for environmental public policy management and formulation.
To promote regional, national, and international collaborations to enrich students’ global nowledge in the field of Environmental Sciences.
Research Lines
Discover our research lines
Natural Environment
Society, Environment and Development
Natural Environment
This research line encompasses the study of biodiversity and the dynamics of natural ecosystems, seeking alternatives and strategies for their management. It values the interaction with surrounding human populations with the aim of conserving both the natural environment and the associated traditional knowledge. In this way, it seeks to generate results that contribute to the definition of public policies and concrete actions for the restoration of degraded ecosystems, the conservation of biodiversity, and the sustainable use of natural resources.
Society, Environment and Development
Studies the interactions between society and nature, human occupations, and the implications of development, productive and social organizations. Through analyses of the forms and relationships between urban planning and environmental planning, it seeks to study urban issues in the regional context in order to understand the city-country relationship. Research is organized around themes such as health and environment, urban planning and management, sustainability, citizenship, communication, environmental education, and the definition of public policies, aiming to contribute and suggest technical-scientific mechanisms capable of enabling proposals to solve the socio-environmental problems of the modern world from an interdisciplinary perspective.
CAPES Evaluation
