Activities specific to NEO include existing and new courses and are as follows:
- Residency in Latin America. During the course of their graduate study, NEO requires M.A. and M.Sc. students to spend a minimum of two terms in Panama, or another country of tropical Latin America. The Latin America residency time for Ph.D. students is three terms. These terms need not be consecutive.
- Two required courses (3 credits each). These courses emphasize two poles of knowledge, Biology and Philosophy, as the fundamental building blocks of environmental work. "Foundations of Environmental Policy", grounded in the study of environmental thoughts, provide a clear link between NEO and the MSE. "Tropical Biology and Conservation" emphasize the role of natural sciences in environmental action and of STRI in the Option. Both core courses focus on environmental issues relevant to developing countries and are offered in alternate years.
- One complementary course (3 credits). The complementary courses include courses taught at the 500 level aiming to broaden students learning and specialized 600-level courses that provide in depth knowledge of specific environmental issues. This complementary course must be chosen in consulltation with and approval by the student's supervisor AND the Neotropical Environment Option Director.
- All newly admitted students. All new NEO students will be expected to spend the month of August (prior to September admission) in Panama to take their first core course and familiarize themselves with Panama. This initial stay in Panama could be used to think about ideas for the thesis.
- One NEO Symposium presentation. All NEO students will have to give at least one symposium presentation at the end of their study. They will also be encouraged to make presentations of their results at McGill and STRI. This participation will not count towards course credit.
- All students will have a thesis advisory committee. This committee has to include a research supervisor, a co-supervisor and one McGill professor from the student's home department. If the main research supervisor is from STRI, the co-supervisor will be from McGill or vice-versa.
- Social Science seminars. In order to expose students to the idiosyncrasy of various disciplines in the Humanities, a guest speaker is invited, every month, to meet with the NEO students for a seminar followed by dinner and an informal discussion. The Social Science seminars are held in Montreal for the fall term and in Panama from January to August. Half of the guest speakers are Latin American scholars who share with the students their knowledge perspective.
