Doctoral Degree Program in Ocean Resource and Environmental Changes

Global environmental change causes the cascading impact of global warming, ocean acidification and anthropogenic influences, and affects living and existence of human being. It has been the most important issue in science in recent years. According to the report of the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change may cause millions of people to face food shortage and water scarcity before 2080. The rapid increase in CO₂ emission since industrial revolution has been driven largely by economic growth and livelihood improvement. However, global change causes strong marine ecosystem shift which influences the amount of CO₂ absorption. Fishing capacity decreases due to global warming, overfishing and pollution. In addition to growing shortage of fossil fuel and the loss of farm due to excessive exploitation, the challenge for the survival and development of human beings has become more severe than before. In conducting marine scientific research, we aim to investigate the environmental change impacts on marine system. We want to find out solution to expand marine innovation industry by marine technology. In order to provide a strategy for effective management and utilization of sustainable marine resources, protection of marine environment as well as fundamental research focused on marine ecosystems are required. Therefore study of marine environmental science is the appropriate direction for the future development of the College.

Under this direction, based on the division of research avoidance of overlapping in Ph.D. programs in the University, and cultivation of students in interdisciplinary study, we establish the Ph.D program to focus on environmental change and management of marine resource. This program was approved by the Ministry of Education in 2014 and shall be inaugurated in September 2015.