International Health and Tropical Medicine (Taught)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine is a full-time one-year multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary course examining major challenges to the health of populations in resource-limited contexts.

The course is embedded within the Oxford Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health in the Nuffield Department of Medicine in the Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research on South Parks Road.

The course aims to develop your:

• capacity to lead and work in multidisciplinary teams to tackle health challenges in resource-limited settings;

• ability to apply an ethical approach to address inequities;

• foundational skills in research techniques applied in the analysis of global health challenges;

• capacity to critically appraise evidence in global health;

• skills and practical experience in research.

Course structure
The first term will consist of core modules on research methods, an overview of major global health challenges, and topics related to the research and practice of global health. During the second term, in addition to some continued core content, you will select two module options.

The third term will involve a funded placement of up to eight weeks on a global health project in a resource limited setting.

In addition to the core curriculum, you will benefit from leadership and communication training. Moreover, a series of sessions will be organised with senior, internationally-recognised figures in global health. Sessions will be outside the structure of lectures and seminars for core modules, intended to provide stimulating materials to integrate global health thinking and perspectives.

You will also have the opportunity to attend research seminars across the University.

A series of career events will be made available throughout the year and skills-building activities integrated in the curriculum to support various trajectories.

Students on the course are expected to become engaged members of their cohort by actively participating in all classroom sessions, group work activities and cohort exercises. The teaching programme, by design, relies on collaboration. Peer and self-directed learning are key elements of our cohort-based teaching. The overall collective orientation of the course is deliberately design to contribute to the students’ professional development.

Teaching is expected to take place in the Old Library at the Pitt Rivers Museum.