Program Structure
To support diverse pathways into climate-health research and training, the IMPACT initiative offers three complementary tracks, each designed to meet different levels of commitment and expertise.
Climate & Health Certificate
The Climate & Health certificate offers advanced interdisciplinary training through integrated coursework and applied learning, preparing you to address climate‑health challenges without extending your time to degree.
Eligibility: Duke graduate and professional students from any department or school.
Certificate Requirements:
- 3 courses (1 from each core unit)
- POPHS 870 Climate - Health Seminar
Cross-listed as ECS 870 & SOCIOL 870
Optional Opportunities:
- Interdisciplinary and summer activities
IMPACT Scholars
IMPACT Scholars receive two years of academic funding plus summer support (21 months total), along with intensive mentorship, interdisciplinary coursework, and experiential learning, without extending time to degree. IMPACT Scholars will also earn the Climate & Health Certificate. Scholars will be expected to incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives of climate and health into their dissertation research.
Eligibility: Rising 2nd year and 3rd year Duke PhD students.
Certificate Requirements:
- 3 courses (1 from each core unit)
- POPHS 870 Climate - Health Seminar
Cross-listed as ECS 870 & SOCIOL 870
Additional Requirements:
- POPHS 871 Climate - Health Seminar
Cross-listed as ECS 871 & SOCIOL 871 - 1 interdisciplinary activity
- Summer activities
IMPACT Summer Scholars
IMPACT Summer Scholars receive one summer of funding to participate in a hands-on, interdisciplinary summer activity that addresses climate and health challenges. This program emphasizes experiential learning, team-based collaboration, and integration into the broader climate-health scholar community.
Eligibility: Duke PhD students at any stage. Priority to those who intend to complete the Climate and Health certificate.
Requirements:
- Summer activities
Optional Opportunities:
- POPHS 870 Climate - Health Seminar
Cross-listed as ECS 870 & SOCIOL 870 (strongly encouraged) - Enrollment in certificate courses
- Interdisciplinary and summer activities
The information detailing how to apply provides guidance on how the application process differs depending which of the above options you select.
SOCIOL 641S Medical Sociology
SOCIOL 642 Global Inequality Research
SOCIOL 710 Sociological Theory
SOCIOL 720 Survey Research Methods
SOCIOL 720S Research Methods
SOCIOL 722 Social Statistics I: Linear Models
SOCIOL 723 Social Statistics II: Advanced Techniques
SOCIOL 726S Advanced Methods of Demographic Analysis
SOCIOL 729S Structural Equation Modeling
PUBPOL 840S Introductory Demographic Measures and Concepts
POPHS 811 Pragmatic Health Policy Research
POPHS 813 Population Health Through Implementation Science
POPHS 815 Health Services Research
POPHS 816 Population Health Data
POPHS 901 Population Health Sciences Theories and Evidence-Based Approaches
POPHS 904 Analytic Methods IV: Non-Randomized Designs
POPHS 910 Fundamentals of Qualitative Research Design
POPHS 923 Principles of Health Measurement
ECS 511 The Climate System
ECS 550 Climate and Society
ENVIRON 537 Environment Health and Epidemiology
ENVIRON 539 Health/Ecological Risk Assessment
ENVIRON 560 Environmental Health – Pollutant Chemistry and Toxicology
ENVIRON 563 Cost-Benefit Analysis/Health & Environment
ENVIRON 605 Air Quality Mgmt – Science & Policy
ENVIRON 637S Population & Environmental Dynamics Influencing Health
ENVIRON 545 Design Climate I: Discover
ENVIRON 545 Design Climate II: Develop
Courses
Students complete at least one course in each core unit: Department of Population Health Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, and the Department of Sociology.
Requirements may be satisfied through a student's elective coursework in their home department program. As such, IMPACT coursework will not increase home program course requirements or time to PhD completion. Students may choose coursework that is suited to their individual interests, research, or professional goals. For course descriptions, visit the Duke Graduate Bulletin.
Interdisciplinary Activities
In addition to coursework, this certificate will require participation in two IMPACT enrichment activities.
- Academic year Collaboratory meetings (required). Each cohort of IMPACT Scholars (all students who are receiving either summer or academic year funding) will be required to attend a biweekly Collaboratory meeting in Fall. Fall semester meeting content will include a rotating series of faculty and student-led meetings that cover the fundamental research, theories, and approaches in each unit in a discussion-based format.
- Interdisciplinary, collaborative activity (choice of 1). In the spring of the first year, summer, and second year of funding for each cohort, students will run a biweekly working group meeting (with faculty guidance) that will have the objective of working together on a peer-review perspective, commentary, or short report, preparing for teaching of a DPHS Summer Institute, or participating/sharing their Design Climate experiences or Bass Connections experiences.
Summer Activities
For both full year IMPACT scholars and summer IMPACT scholars, summer activities will include at least 3 events. These 3 meetings will be a short introduction to each IGEC unit and interdisciplinary approaches (i.e., an abbreviated version of the Fall Collaboratory meeting series, run by faculty in the first year, and by second year IMPACT scholars in subsequent years). Summer scholars will also have the opportunity to shadow faculty and partner with full year IMPACT scholars and take up to 1 DPHS Summer Institute workshop.
The DPHS Summer Institute Workshops are a yearly education offering of a rotating range of courses over a 3-week period in June of each year. Workshops are an opportunity for IMPACT scholars to be introduced to topics in 3-4 hour sessions without the commitment of an elective course. Examples of existing workshops include: social determinants of health, implementation science, qualitative research methods, community-engaged research methods, and proposed workshops may include a clinical trial methodology course.
Other Opportunities
Students will have the option to be exposed to the activities and courses of the Christensen Family Center for Innovation (CFCI). For example, Design Climate (ENVIRON 545) is a 2-course series that may serve as the certificate requirement. IMPACT scholars would be able to serve as technical consultants, bringing their expertise from their home units to the Design Climate teams. In addition to participating in Design Climate and CFCI course offerings, IGEC scholars can participate in co-curricular activities and act as project sponsors or advisors. Having a variety of engagement levels will allow PhD students to investigate technology commercialization opportunities at engagement levels that align with their degree completion timeline goals.
Students will also have the opportunity to participate in unit or Duke-wide events such as the DPHS annual student-organized Climate and Health symposium; Bass connections, Muser, or Data+ projects (as a mentor); DUPRI’s Demography Daze; and all Research Seminars in each department. Finally, all IMPACT students, full and summer scholars, will have the opportunity to present their work for the aim of receiving interdisciplinary feedback on the design of their dissertation research or climate-related project.
Scholar Paths
IMPACT is designed to complement a wide range of graduate education paths. Below are some potential ways scholars might integrate an IMPACT experience into their academic journey. These examples illustrate how the program’s flexible tracks can align with diverse goals and timelines.
A second-year DPHS student is interested in the effect of heat on farmworker health in North Carolina. In addition to qualitative and implementation electives in her home department, she chooses to take ENVIRON 605 Air Quality Management–Science & Policy and SOCIOL 720 Survey Research Methods, to better understand the ways in which air pollution interacts with heat and to learn methods to evaluate both system-level and individual level interventions. She attends the biweekly IMPACT Collaboratory meetings, collaborates with peers in NSOE on an abstract submitted to the yearly symposium,
and includes NSOE faculty on her doctoral committee.
An Earth and Climate Sciences student is interested in individual-level solutions. She takes SOCIOL 641S Medical Sociology and POPHS 813 Population Health Through Implementation Science. She attends the biweekly Fall IMPACT Collaboratory meetings, develops a short report with her cohort and establishes a relationship with Dr. Ledlee in her first Spring, and takes the DPHS Summer Institute course on Social Entrepreneurship. She pursues her interest in solutions during her second year by taking the Design Climate courses and developing a project which incorporates her Design Climate and implementation science training as part of her dissertation.
A Sociology student with training in social determinants, demography, and aging chooses to extend his contextual training by pursuing a mechanistic course (ENVIRON 539 Health/Ecological Risk Assessment) and a solutions course (POPHS 811 Pragmatic Health Policy Research). These courses enhance his societal-level perspective, so that he can conduct research into the health disparities due to the unequal distribution of ecological risks and the impact of current policy solutions which may inadvertently perpetuate disparity further. He attends the Fall IMPACT Collaboratory meetings, prepares a commentary with his cohort during his first Spring, and works with IMPACT faculty to develop a Muser project over his funded summer. His Muser project uses DPHS Medicare data to investigate the rates of aging-related decline as a function of air pollution by location. He mentors undergraduates through the Muser project during his second year as an IMPACT scholar.
