Students in this program are normally supervised by Faculty members in the following contributing departments/areas: Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Geography, and Physics and Astronomy.

Research in this program focuses on the physical sciences, with an emphasis on understanding and predicting the behaviour of complex systems. Areas of research include remote sensing, polymers, surface chemistry and physics, soft condensed matter, superconductors, neutral radical conductors, synthetic methods, earth systems science, and climate change and modeling. In their programs, researchers use a wide range of spectroscopic techniques and physical techniques, in combination with novel theoretical and computational approaches, to study a diverse range of complex systems. Graduates of this program are distinguished by their versatility, and by their integrated and comprehensive knowledge of mathematical and physical research tools.