Grappling with life’s big topics, Philosophy provides students with critical thinking skills that enable you to uncover hidden assumptions, identify core premises, and evaluate arguments. The Department of Philosophy at Queen’s University has faculty working in a wide variety of fields, including political philosophy, ethics, bioethics, feminism, contemporary metaphysics and epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, continental philosophy and the history of philosophy.

There are three aspects to Linguistics: language form, language meaning, and language in context. Linguistics is a scientific study of a language that explores the structure of language and how it is acquired. Linguistics students explore how a language is structured, how it is used in the production and comprehension of messages, and how language changes over time. You will try to answer questions relating to the nature of language, such as what do all languages have in common, or how do children learn a language?

Certificate in Law

The Certificate in Law (CiL) program is your entry point into the fascinating world of Canadian law. Whether you are discovering if a JD or LLM is right for you, or building your skills and competencies to supplement your degree or professional field, the CiL will provide you with a foundational understanding of Canada’s legal system and critical knowledge that can be applied to any discipline.

Urban Planning is a profession and an academic discipline that is devoted to the organization of land use, resources and services in cities. Urban Planners require a sound knowledge of land use policy as well as strong legal, behavioral and social skills in order to successfully work in the field. Cities have become key sites for understanding contemporary social life.

Study social issues and how our society responds to these issues while asking questions drawn from economic, political, and philosophical perspectives. Society faces challenges that are complex and multi-dimensional, and our efforts to tackle these challenges require us to bring complementary intellectual skills together using multidisciplinary analytical and critical approaches.

The world of work is changing. Rapid technological change has led to unprecedented challenges. But while technology may have accelerated the economy, it will always be people who keep it running. Employment Relations focuses on the complex relationships between people - the employees and employers who keep the world of work running - and the laws and government policies that ensure an equitable and inclusive workplace. Because an equitable and inclusive workplace isn’t just about creating a more productive economy, it’s about sustaining happy and healthy people. 

What determines the prices of goods and services? How do individuals decide how much to spend and save? How can government policies help reduce environmental pollution? These are questions we all face every day. Economics is our attempt to analyze and understand them. Often seen as being all about money, at its more basic level economics is concerned with the material well-being of human societies.

The Advanced Leadership for Social Impact Fellowship prepares experienced leaders with the skills, knowledge, and networks needed to meaningfully tackle the root causes and drivers of social issues or problems. By focusing on developing leaders with the skills and perspectives to tackle complex issues, Queen’s University can help solve the world’s most significant and urgent challenges.

Kinesiology is the science of the human body in motion. You will learn about the physiological, biomechanical, psychological and sociological factors that influence human movement, exercise and sport performance, along with health. From the structure of the cell to the structure of society, your studies in Kinesiology will expose you to the complex factors that influence health and wellness.

Health Studies strives to understand the complex factors that influence physical, mental and social health and overall well-being. Drawing largely from social science disciplines, our courses explore the social determinants of health, approaches to health promotion, health policy, health behaviour change, epidemiology, and program planning and evaluation. You’ll be expected to challenge yourself and to think critically about health in relation to social justice, politics and culture. And you will gain the skills you need to do that.