Public Health (Taught)

The MSc in Public Health provides a solid foundation for public health research and practice, empowering graduates to lead and innovate in a variety of public, NGO and international settings.  Our students collaborate with external partners to address real-world challenges and opportunities as part of their assignments and research. We equip students and professionals with essential Public Health skills and competencies, many of which are highly sought after by employers, including:

Informing public health policy and practice
Creating a population health needs assessment
Drafting a funding application
Designing an intervention, with a special focus on public participation methods
Designing a professional evaluation plan
Analysing quantitative data with statistical packages
Designing, analysing, interpreting, and evaluating epidemiological studies
Negotiating research ethics and governance procedures
Publishing your scientific findings in high-impact academic journals
Presenting at public health conferences

We have a strong focus on experiential learning and practical skills and offer exciting opportunities for students to collaborate directly with local and international community and public health organisations throughout the MSc. Our immersive learning approach – with each module delivered within an intensive full-time week of lectures – allows students to apply learning within their ongoing professional work, placements or extracurricular activities.

Our lecturers are not just academics; they bring decades of experience from the frontlines of public health practice, research and advocacy. Our students include primary care and public health practitioners, specialist community public health nurses, health promotion specialists, community development workers, environmental health officers and managers in the NHS and local authorities. Together, our course team and students form a dynamic MSc with interactive lectures, interdisciplinary group work and real-world dissertation projects.

We believe that our student cohort is greater than the sum of individual students, which is why we invest in building a strong community at the start of the academic year. Our induction day might surprise you. Once enrolled, you will be invited to spend a few hours in a mix of social/professional activities that truly ignite the cohort's community building. We take account of different learning styles and we do not push students to socialise, yet the opportunity is there and the feedback tells us that it is much needed.

We are grateful to work with valued partners in experiential learning and research. Partners include:

Public Health England
UK Health and Security Agency
Department of Health and Social Care
NHS England
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
NIHR ARC KSS
Brighton and Hove City Council
Medway Council
Citizens Advice
University of Oxford
Pandemic Sciences Institute
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
University College London
Global Network of People Living with HIV
Global Network of Young People Living with HIV