Notre Dame Doctoral Program 2027 - Sustainable Development

It is a five-year PhD run by the Keough School of Global Affairs at Notre Dame, training researchers who work on climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental governance and development policy. The programme is STEM-designated and interdisciplinary, pulling electives from departments across the University and research resources from nine Notre Dame institutes and centres. Students do 15 credits of core coursework, 21 credits of electives and 30 dissertation credits, sit an oral qualifying exam at the end of Year 2, defend a dissertation proposal in Year 3, and defend the dissertation itself around Year 5.

Yes. Everyone admitted receives a five-year funding guarantee covering a 12-month stipend, a full tuition scholarship, a health insurance premium subsidy, summer research support and conference and professional development money. Notre Dame states the tuition scholarship for doctoral students covers all fees except a small student activity fee, and reports that almost 100 percent of its doctoral students hold full tuition scholarships while 94 percent hold multi-year fellowships or assistantships.

The Graduate School's funding page gives the 2026-2027 standard twelve-month stipend for Kroc and Keough doctoral students as $39,000, with up to $48,000 for students holding one of its select fellowships. Notre Dame's admissions landing page still describes doctoral support as starting from $38,000 with select fellowships up to $46,000, which looks like last year's figures left in place. The funding page is the more current and more specific of the two, so treat $39,000 as the working number and confirm your own rate with Keough admissions before you make a decision based on it.

Applications for the Fall 2027 start close on 1 December 2026, and the Graduate School lists the same December 1 date on the programme record. Nothing is accepted after the close, and letters of recommendation have to be uploaded by your recommenders by then too, so build in a fortnight of slack.

Yes. The Graduate School lists the GRE General Test as a required application material for this programme, which is unusual now that many doctoral programmes have dropped it. Scores go to institution code 1841, ETS will not send results older than five years, and there is no published minimum score. Applicants who already hold a PhD, JD, MD or another doctoral degree are exempt, and a waiver can be requested by email if the test is genuinely unavailable where you live.

Yes, and roughly 30 percent of entering Notre Dame graduate students come from outside the United States. Non-native English speakers need TOEFL iBT 80 with 23 in Speaking, IELTS 7.0, or Duolingo 120, unless they earned a degree or completed two years of study in English. Once you accept an offer, the International Student and Scholar Affairs office issues the F-1 or J-1 documents. The STEM designation is worth noting, since it extends post-graduation work authorisation for F-1 students.

The Graduate School sets the general bar at an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale, alongside a completed bachelor degree or its equivalent. That is a floor rather than a competitive target. In a small doctoral cohort funded for five years, the statement of intent, the research fit with faculty and the letters decide the outcome far more than a decimal point on a transcript.

Most students finish in five years, though Notre Dame notes that timelines vary with preparation and research progress. The first two years are coursework and the oral qualifying exam, Year 3 brings the candidacy exam and the move to dissertation credits, and the defence normally lands in Year 5. The tuition scholarship runs up to eight years, which gives some room if fieldwork pushes the schedule out.