Since 1991, there are some research groups at the Universitat de Valencia that develop their activity in this field and that have been taking part in the doctoral programme with the different lines. From 1991 until 2011 the Doctoral Studies in Environmental Pollution directed by the professor Enrique Andreu Moliner was in force. The Master’s degree in Environmental Pollution and Toxicology started in the 2008/2009 academic year within the European Higher Education Area. Then, the Environmental Health was added and it now forms the current doctoral programme.

A sample of the programme’s social importance can be reflected on the reports from the programme “European Environment and Health Strategy SCALE” (CE, 2003) which indicated that 20% of health problems in industrialized countries have an environmental origin, as a consequence of the increasing importance of social environments nowadays, considering that ecosystems, and the biodiversity that they support, have an intrinsic value. REACH regulations and the Water Framework Directive are examples of programmes within the European frame which manifest the need to train professionals specialized and capable of generating knowledge on environmental pollution as well as its effects on health and ecosystems and of applying such knowledge to their protection and that of the environment in general. Technics and methodologies used within this field have gone through a great progress in the last decade and comprise, from analytical chemistry advances which allow detection and determination of ‘emerging’ pollutants to the application of remote sensing in the study of soil and water’s characteristics. In other organisational levels, the techniques and methodologies-omics have allowed a ‘massive’ valuation of pollutants’ effects on organism from a biochemical point view. It is important to highlight that the inter/cross-disciplinary approach which environmental contamination requires and its effects makes it impossible to address it from only one field of knowledge.