Public Health

Entry requirements

Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK 2:1 Honours Degree.

Non-medical applicants usually have degrees in quantitative science or a health-related area, although other relevant experience will also be considered.

Months of entry

October

Course content

This intensive full-time course is designed to provide successful students with the necessary theoretical knowledge and skills which, when combined with appropriate further experience, will enable them to make a professional contribution to public health research or practice. Approximately two-thirds of the curriculum is shared with the MPhil in Epidemiology, providing students with a full understanding of a key science underpinning public health practice. The course draws on local strengths in quantitative methods and their application to the solution of public health problems. It covers most of the curriculum for the UK Faculty of Health Part A examination. Throughout the course, students are able to draw on the research expertise within the Institute of Public Health and wider expertise in the University. The course is open to medical and non-medical graduates and is aimed at the following groups:

• Graduate students who wish to pursue a career in public health research
• Graduate students with practical experience in a health field, who wish to have a career in public health practice
• Speciality registrars and speciality trainees in public health who have not yet completed the Faculty of Public Health's Part A MFPH examination
• Public health professionals who wish to gain a fuller understanding of aetiologic and applied epidemiology and other disciplines at the foundation of public health practice, and their application to the solution of public health problems

A variety of teaching and learning methods are used during the course including lectures, practical exercises, one-to-one supervisions and self-directed learning. The level moves from basic to advanced within the three terms.

The MPhil in Public Health's main aims are:

• to provide course participants with the necessary theoretical knowledge, which when combined with appropriate practical experience, can serve as a foundation for a career as a public health professional in either a service or an academic setting;
• to give students with relevant experience at a first-degree level the opportunity to carry out focused research in the discipline under close supervision; and
• to give students the opportunity to acquire or develop skills and expertise relevant to their research interests.