phd global health and development

About the Program

The Doctoral Program in Global Health and Development (GHD) is a new and distinctive training program anchored in the Hubert Department of Global Health, and affiliated with the Public Health Sciences cluster of doctoral programs within the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies .

The goal of this program is to train leaders and scholars who use science to improve public health policy and practice for underserved populations globally. Graduates will acquire a solid understanding of the theoretical frameworks of implementation science and relevant methodological skills required to guide programs and policies that are designed to improve health outcomes in a variety of settings across the globe.

Training will provide students with deep and broad expertise in the field of global health and development, creativity to cross discipline boundaries, courage to challenge convention, and confidence to ask unexpected questions and articulate bold new perspectives.

Training faculty include 47 core faculty members and 10 affiliated faculty members who are based at several partner institutions such as the Carter Center and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The core faculty have primary appointments in the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory School of Medicine, Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Goizueta School of Business, Nell Hodgson School of Nursing and Emory Law School and represent a wide variety of disciplines.  The GHD PhD Program collaborates closely with the Emory Master’s in Development Practice program , a two-year professional degree that prepares students for careers in development and humanitarian fields.

What You’ll Learn

This new PhD offering is one of the only programs globally that specifically offers a doctoral degree in Global Heath and Development. Distinct program advantages include:

• a specific focus on interrelationships between global health and other components of development (e.g. education, urban growth),
• deep learning in ethics and leadership,
• rigorous training in implementation science and interventions, and
• an explicit recognition that field training can be local or global. Moreover, Emory’s strong collaborative ties and engagement of experts based in non-academic settings, such as CARE, The Carter Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer our students unparalleled opportunities for training with experts who are engaged in designing and implementing programs and policies that influence global health and development. These are innovations in training that leverage the expertise of our faculty and our partnerships that are not explicitly emphasized at other institutions in the US or abroad.

Specific skills that the graduates of this program will acquire include a solid understanding of the theoretical frameworks and practical aspects of using implementation science to guide programs and policies that are designed to improve health outcomes in a variety of settings across the globe combined with an understanding of the importance of development theory and practice and ethical challenges.

They will also gain the relevant methodological skills and underlying theory based on their area of interest and career goals (for e.g. policy and advocacy, improving health systems and/or designing and evaluating strategies that include behavioral and/or biomedical interventions in varying areas such as maternal and child health, infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases and mental health).

The trainees in this unique program will be challenged to study and think about issues such as scalability, i.e. exploring the processes and transition through which stakeholders become increasingly skillful and committed to using an intervention and assimilating these interventions into societal structures and functioning within a given context.

They will have core courses that cover the range of content and skills-based knowledge that they need and will have access to a vast variety of elective courses across Emory based on their project needs and/or personal interests.

Emory University’s PhD in Global Health and Development seeks to fill that capacity gap by training leaders in the field with strong methodological foundations to design, manage, implement, and evaluate programs and policies in diverse settings.

The application for the Fall 2021 admissions cycle will open in September 2020. The application deadline is December 1 st . You can submit your application before your letter writers have submitted their letters of recommendation. Make sure you upload the correct version of your statement of purpose, resume and transcripts, as our office is unable to remove or add any document in your application once it has been submitted. View the full list of Admissions Requirements.

Degree Requirements

A full-time course load, considered 9 credit hours or more per semester, is required for all GHD doctoral students. All students must pass the Qualifying Exam before taking the General Doctoral Exam. A Master’s degree will not be granted without a thesis. Independent of admission status, ALL STUDENTS in the GHD Doctoral Program are required to take and pass the Qualifying Exam.

Training Program

The GHD program provides students and program faculty several opportunities for providing feedback. For students, these will include, but are not restricted to, regular meetings with the DGS, participation in the Executive Committee (EC) meetings (two student representatives will be elected by the graduate student body), and meetings with the DGS who will be available by email and during structured office hours.

The DGS will also routinely obtain feedback and obtain student evaluations of the core courses and performance of teaching assistants and other guest lecturer faculty. In these reviews, students will have the opportunity to report on how the curriculum fosters the development of critical thinking skills and make recommendations for additional new courses and/or training opportunities that will be pursued actively.

The EC will also solicit annually from program faculty feedback about the program for discussion at EC meetings in their consideration and application of program changes.

This event includes an overview of the GHD program, the application process, and admission process as well as an introduction to the Hubert Department of Global Health by the Department Chair, Dr. Usha Ramakrishnan, and a panel discussion by current students in the GHD program, followed by a Q&A session.

Virtual Tours of the Campus

Walking Tours

For More Information, Contact:

Please contact Joan Lynfatt to learn more about this new program.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1 404-727-5552

Global Health, PHD

On this page:, at a glance: program details.

• Location: Tempe campus
• Second Language Requirement: No

Program Description

Degree Awarded: PHD Global Health

The PhD in global health draws on the premise that sustainable and satisfying solutions to the most pressing global health challenges require a sophisticated understanding of how cultural context, social and ecological processes and disease are really related.

This transdisciplinary graduate program trains students broadly in cutting-edge health social science research theory and methods. The program leverages the strength of ASU's medical anthropology programming and 15 medical anthropologists, and it has the advantage of accessing an exceptionally wide set of skills offered by those in such fields as medical sociology, demography, human geography and epidemiology.

Some particular thematic foci of the program are biocultural approaches to human coping, computer-based complexity modeling, culture and health, health in the Americas, and Indigenous and minority health, as well as mathematical epidemiology, nutritional anthropology, social justice and vulnerable populations, social networks, and urban and environmental health.

The program draws some 80 faculty members from throughout the university to consider how cutting-edge social science can be applied to understand and substantively improve the health of populations. The program favors community-based research in communities of all sizes and types, from hunter-gatherer communities to large U.S. cities, and runs collaborative projects in which students are encouraged to gain experience and conduct research.

Students generally enter the program with a master's degree in a relevant field.

Degree Requirements

84 credit hours, a written comprehensive exam, an oral comprehensive exam, a prospectus and a dissertation

Required Core (3 credit hours) ASB 510 Health: Social and Biocultural Theories (3)

Electives (39 credit hours)

Other Requirements (18 credit hours) ASB 500 Research Methods (3) ASB 501 Professionalism (3) ASM 579 Proposal Writing (3) SSH 591 Topic: Principles of Epidemiology for Global Health (3) systematic methods courses (6)

Research (12 credit hours) ASB 792 Research (12)

Culminating Experience (12 credit hours) ASB 799 Dissertation (12)

Additional Curriculum Information For electives, students should see the academic unit for a course list approved by the chair.

Other requirement coursework may be substituted with the approval of the academic unit. At least two systematic methods courses in an area other than epidemiology or biostatistics and ethnography should be selected, such as nutrition, survey, archival analysis, demography or geographic information systems.

When approved by the student's supervisory committee and the Graduate College, this program may allow up to 30 credit hours from a previously awarded master's degree to be used for this program. If students do not have a previously awarded master's degree, the remaining coursework is made up of electives.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must fulfill the requirements of both the Graduate College and The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Applicants are eligible to apply to the program if they have earned a bachelor's or master's degree from a regionally accredited institution.

Applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in the last 60 hours of their first bachelor's degree program or a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in an applicable master's degree program.

All applicants must submit:

• graduate admission application and application fee
• official transcripts
• personal statement outlining educational and professional goals
• current curriculum vitae or resume
• three letters of recommendation
• proof of English proficiency

Additional Application Information An applicant whose native language is not English must provide proof of English proficiency regardless of their current residency.

Suitable backgrounds for admission include a master's degree in the social sciences (e.g., anthropology or sociology), public health, human biology or related fields. Students who enter directly from a bachelor's degree program should have completed at least 15 credit hours of social science and six credit hours of human biology or equivalent at the senior level and should have some background in statistics or epidemiology.

Applicants may submit with their application materials an optional scholarly writing sample, not to exceed 30 double-spaced pages.

Next Steps to attend ASU

Learn about our programs, apply to a program, visit our campus, application deadlines, career opportunities.

Nationally and internationally, the health field provides enormous and varied career opportunities, and demand is high and growing for graduates with specific skills. The program supports the goals of those pursuing careers in academic research teaching and health services. Sample employment venues include:

• health departments
• government agencies
• international agencies (World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Global Health Council, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank)
• nongovernmental organizations
• private sector
• universities

The degree program also provides a broad intellectual base for those who plan advanced specialist health training in fields such as:

In Arizona and elsewhere, there is a pressing need for professionals with appropriate skills to work in cross-cultural settings or with underserved populations, such as migrants, minorities and those living in poverty, and many of these jobs are directly or indirectly related to health.

Global Opportunities

Global experience.

With over 250 programs in more than 65 countries (ranging from one week to one year), study abroad is possible for all ASU students wishing to gain global skills and knowledge in preparation for a 21st-century career. Students earn ASU credit for completed courses, while staying on track for graduation, and may apply financial aid and scholarships toward program costs. https://mystudyabroad.asu.edu

Program Contact Information

If you have questions related to admission, please click here to request information and an admission specialist will reach out to you directly. For questions regarding faculty or courses, please use the contact information below.

• [email protected]
• 480/965-6215

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• PhD Global Health

The structured PhD program Global Health at the Charité is a collaboration between seven partnering institutions. It aims to train excellent scientists for leadership positions in global health. The program imparts an interdisciplinary  perspective on health and a sensitivity to inter-cultural factors affecting health.

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• PhD Programs .

Key Facts - PhD Global Health

Seven collaborating partners in Berlin

• Enrollment at the Charité
• Language of instruction is English
• University degree conferred: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Standard period of study 3 years / 6 semesters

• 30 ECTS course work
• 150 ECTS scientific research work (dissertation)

Admission of 15 doctoral candidates per year

• Eligibility requirements are a master’s degree or equivalent
• Application period 2024 TBA
• First PhD Cohort starting October 2024

The structured PhD Global Health is tuition free

Cooperating Partners - PhD Global Health

The structured PhD Global Health is a joint doctoral program hosted at the Charité. It brings together the outstanding expertise in Global Health of the following seven cooperating partners (in alphabetical order):

• Charité -  Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Freie Universität Berlin (FU)
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU)
• Robert Koch-Institut (RKI)
• Technische Universität Berlin (TU)
• Universität Potsdam
• Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB)

PhD candidates are enrolled at the Charité. The degree awarded upon completion of the three year program is PhD in Global Health. The program requires participants to complete 30 ECTS of coursework divided over the 6 semesters and work on a research project (equivalent to 150 ECTS / 5 Semesters) that will result in publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals (doctorate by publication). The program concludes with an oral defense.

The thematic focus of the doctoral program is based on the health-relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The topics we wish to address include communicable and non-communicable diseases, the prevention and control of disease outbreaks, global health security, migration and health, universal health coverage, the role of climate and the environment as determinants of health, One Health, governance and health policy, health economics, community engagement as well as digitalization in healthcare. The doctoral program approaches research topics from an interdisciplinary perspective and incorporates a variety of methodological and conceptual approaches. Through the close exchange between teachers, supervisors and doctoral students, we support the critical examination of institutional and political constellations in the field of global health.

Modes of Study

The PhD Global Health seeks to develop expertise around the globe. We hope to provide prospective students with modes of participation that match their needs and their lifestyles, regardless of where they are from. You can chose to relocate to Berlin for the program or you can stay in your home country and travel to Berlin to participate in coursework and for temporary research stays.

Sandwich PhD

• The sandwich PhD allows you to conduct research in your home country under the co-supervision of researchers from the Cooperating Partners and your home institution.
• Sandwich doctorates limit the time spent in Berlin to research stays of 3 months or less while completing coursework.
• This path requires you to secure funding for travel to and from Berlin but is often more convenient for non-EU candidates as it reduces overall costs and eases visa requirements.

Berlin-based PhD

• The Berlin-based PhD allows you to live in Berlin and expects you to travel for field research, research exchanges or conferences. This path is often more convenient for EU candidates.

What is Global Health?

Global Health is a dynamic and interdisciplinary field dedicated to addressing health challenges on a global scale. Focused on promoting well-being, preventing diseases, and improving healthcare access for all , it transcends national borders to tackle complex health issues that affect diverse populations worldwide. Global Health professionals work collaboratively to understand and address the social, economic, and environmental determinants of health, striving to create equitable and sustainable solutions.

From infectious diseases to non-communicable illnesses, Global Health emphasizes the importance of international cooperation, research, and policy development to build resilient healthcare systems and foster a healthier future for communities across the globe.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) guide the major themes of  PhD Global Health program. Program participants are encouraged to approach their research from conceptually and methodologically innovative perspectives. The topics to be addressed include communicable and non-communicable diseases, pandemic intelligence, monitoring, surveillance and prevention, migration and health, universal health coverage, the role of climate and environment as determinants of health, One Health, governance and health policy, as well as digitalization and health. The PhD Global Health aims to approach research from an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating a variety of methodological and conceptual approaches. Close exchanges between faculty, supervisors and doctoral candidates encourage critical thinking and innovation in Global Health.

A PhD in Global Health opens the door to a myriad of impactful and diverse career prospects at the intersection of healthcare, research, and policy. Graduates are well-equipped to take on leadership roles in international organizations, governmental agencies, non-profit institutions, and academic settings. As researchers, they contribute to advancing our understanding of global health challenges, developing innovative interventions, and shaping evidence-based policies. Professionals with a PhD in Global Health may also engage in fieldwork, implementing health programs and strategies in diverse communities around the world. Additionally, opportunities exist in academia, where individuals can contribute to the education and mentorship of the next generation of global health leaders. With a unique skill set that combines research, critical thinking, and cross-cultural understanding , those with a PhD in Global Health are poised to make a meaningful impact on global healthcare disparities and contribute to the development of sustainable and equitable health systems worldwide.

• Academic Programs
• PhD in Global Health Metrics and Implementation Science

The Department of Global Health and the Department of Health Metrics Sciences  offer an interdisciplinary PhD program in Global Health that is the first of its kind, building on the expertise of our faculty in the areas of metrics and implementation science. The PhD program provides students with the latest and most innovative tools to advance global health solutions that are critical for decision-making and priority setting.

PhD candidates will have the opportunity to study in Seattle, one of the true global health capitals, where innovators in research, funding, and delivery work side by side to improve population health. Our doctoral program offers amazing opportunities to those who choose to pursue a career in academia, international organizations, ministries of health, foundations, or the private sector.

At the University of Washington, diversity is integral to excellence. We value and honor diverse experiences and perspectives, strive to create welcoming and respectful learning environments, and promote access, opportunity and justice for all.

Choosing An Area of Emphasis

• Implementation Science

Select from the following:

Implementation science focuses on developing and applying diverse, state-of-the-art methodologies to understand and improve complex health systems to close the gap between incomplete evidence on interventions into effective programs. The interdisciplinary implementation science framework includes systems analysis and improvement techniques; innovative designs to measure impact; economic analysis; and policy research to inform the formulation, implementation, and scale-up of improved delivery approaches.

Because of the applied nature of this area of emphasis, it is expected that implementation science doctoral projects will involve primary data collection.  

Examples of dissertation topics:

• Development, application, and evaluation of simulation and optimization models for provincial and district human resource allocation systems
• Systems analysis and improvement for malaria case management in primary health care settings
• Stepped wedge trial of alternative delivery strategies for prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV
• Cost effectiveness of partner services for HIV
• Impact of the introduction of point of care diagnostics for TB care system performance

Prospective students will find more information about applying here , and should select “Global Health Metrics and Implementation Science (PhD)” in the dropdown when beginning their application.

Metrics students translate evidence into useful knowledge by learning and applying advanced quantitative methods, impact evaluation techniques, and analytic tools. Students in the metrics area of emphasis organize their research around answering three critical questions that are essential to understanding the current state of population health and strategies necessary to improve it.

• What are the world’s major health problems
• How well is society addressing these problems?
• How do we best dedicate resources to maximize health improvement?

Examples of projects that doctoral students in metrics engage in:

• Estimating the Global Burden of Disease for diabetes
• Improving the cost effectiveness of antiretroviral delivery systems in sub-Saharan Africa
• Improving the methods to measure mortality by cause in a comparable way across countries
• Evaluating the effect of malaria control policies on reducing child mortality
• The contribution of development assistance for health on health outcomes

Prospective students will find more information about applying here , and should select “Health Metrics Sciences (PhD)” in the dropdown when beginning their application.

What is implementation science? What is metrics? This short video features our students discussing the PhD program in Global Health, including the definitions of metrics and implementation science, their dissertation, research, and what makes this program unique.

In this unique interdisciplinary program, students develop skills through a combination of didactic courses, seminars, and research activities including primary data collection and analysis. The PhD program is comprised of a core curriculum in advanced quantitative methods, epidemiology, population health measurement, impact evaluations, and implementation science methods.

The PhD program specializes in two areas of emphasis, metrics and implementation science. Metrics is dedicated to providing students with advanced training in independent, rigorous, and timely scientific measurements to accelerate progress on global health by identifying the world’s major health problems, assessing how well society addresses these problems, and guiding resource allocation to maximize health improvements. Implementation science focuses on the systematic application of scientific approaches to ask and answer questions regarding evidence of intervention efficacy to implementation. This science addresses how interventions can be scaled-up with greater speed, fidelity, efficiency, quality, and coverage.

Upon graduation, students will have acquired the knowledge and skills required to make meaningful and innovative contributions to the field of global health.

The applications for each area of emphasis in the PhD program are separate, and prospective students must apply using the application for the area of emphasis they wish to pursue. Prospective metrics students can learn more about the program, and the application here .

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• Schools & departments

Global Health PhD, MScR

Awards: PhD, MScR

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Global Health

Upcoming Introduction to Postgraduate Study and Research events

Join us online on the 19th June or 26th June to learn more about studying and researching at Edinburgh.

Choose your event and register

Research profile

Undertaking a PhD or MScR in Global Health at the Usher Institute offers you the opportunity to work in a multi- and interdisciplinary way, building on your knowledge, skills, interest and passion to carry out innovative global health research that makes a new contribution to the existing knowledge base.

Research priorities

Research priorities include such global health issues as:

• mapping and measuring the shifting burden of global disease
• neglected and emerging tropical diseases
• infectious diseases
• noncommunicable diseases
• global palliative care
• population health
• social inequalities in health
• sexual and reproductive health
• e-health and tele-medicine
• migration and minority ethnic health
• faith and health
• translation of leading scientific advances into effective interventions

Before applying

Before submitting an online application, prospective students should contact an academic members of staff who may act as first supervisors in order to align their research proposal with one of the Institute's main areas of research.

A list of contacts for PhD and MScR supervisors can be found at:

• Usher Institute research
• List of supervisors

The programme is also affiliated to the University's Global Health Academy.

• Global Health Academy

Training and support

Students will be integrated within the existing student-led approach at the Usher Institute, where structures are already in place to ensure a high-quality student experience.

The Centre for Global Health Research, which forms part of the Usher Institute, has a thriving PhD community with well-developed management and administrative structures.

University Quality Assurance monitoring and reporting processes will be adhered to. All supervisors will satisfy University requirements in terms of training and mentoring.

Expectations of students, including assessment guidelines, will be clearly communicated by multiple channels (e.g. at interview, during induction, in the Postgraduate Research Student and Supervisor Handbook, by supervisors, at annual review meetings and on relevant web pages). All students will have at least two supervisors who will also give pastoral care and career advice in addition to student services provision.

Students will attend appropriate training, including transferable skills, at appropriate courses (e.g. from the Institute of Academic Development) identified in consultation with the supervisors.

The Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences & Informatics, where Global Health PhD students are based, brings together researchers active in population health science research, including public health and primary care.

Within the school the Usher academic staff play a large role in research project supervision.

There are also links with the Institute of Genetics and Cancer and the Queen's Medical Research Institute.

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK 2:1 honours degree and a UK masters degree, or their international equivalents. We will also consider a UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, and significant work experience in an area relevant to your research project.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 92 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 176 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE II with distinctions in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 62 with at least 59 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

Fees and costs

Tuition fees.

Scholarships and funding

Featured funding.

• Usher Institute postgraduate funding and scholarships

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

• your programme
• the duration of your studies
• your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• Postgraduate Administrator, Sarah Golightly
• Phone: +44 (0)131 651 5446
• Contact: [email protected]
• Prof Harish Nair
• Contact: [email protected]
• Usher Institute
• Teviot Place
• Central Campus
• Programme: Global Health
• School: Edinburgh Medical School: Molecular, Genetic & Population Health Sciences
• College: Medicine & Veterinary Medicine

Select your programme and preferred start date to begin your application.

PhD Global Health - 3 Years (Full-time)

Phd global health - 6 years (part-time), msc by research global health - 1 year (full-time), msc by research global health - 2 years (part-time), application deadlines.

We encourage you to apply at least one month prior to entry so that we have enough time to process your application. If you are also applying for funding or will require a visa then we strongly recommend you apply as early as possible.

• How to apply

You must submit two references with your application.

Before making your application, it is advisable to make contact with a potential supervisor to discuss your research proposal.

Further information on making a research degree application can be found on the College website:

• How to apply for a research degree

You will be formally interviewed (in person, by video-conferencing or Skype).

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

The Department of Global Health and Population (GHP) seeks to improve global health through education, research, and service from a population-based perspective.

Who we are:.

As a community of students, educators, researchers, and practitioners from around the world, GHP works together to produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere.  Visit these pages to learn more about the people that make GHP great.  Current Students | Faculty, Researchers, and Staff

Where We Are:

GHP programs and projects span the globe in more than 60 countries.  GHP offers several opportunities for students to take an international travel course.  Learn more about these experiences on the following page.  International Travel Courses

What We Do:

Through distinctive teaching, and exceptional research, we strive to advance global health and population studies.  GHP has long-standing and recognized research excellence in fields such as Maternal & Child Health; Nutrition; Decision Science; Behavioral Economics and Implementation Sciences; Population Bioethics, Humanitarian Studies and Human Rights; and Health Systems. More information about what we do is available on these pages. Prospective Students | Research Initiatives, Centers and Programs, and Affiliations | Events and Symposia | Weekly Newsletter Subscription

News from the School

The power of storytelling in public health

New center to tackle health disparities affecting LGBTQ community

Alcohol use disorder among reproductive-age women—and barriers to treatment

Prosthetics nonprofit wants to hear from its patients

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Joint phd programme for global health, lshtm and nagasaki university (nu).

The mission of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Nagasaki University (NU) is to improve global health through the pursuit of excellence in research, postgraduate education, advanced training and consultancy in international public health and tropical medicine.

Both Universities believe that this mission is best achieved through international collaboration. By working together for a common purpose, whilst valuing differences, they can draw on a wider range of human and technical resources to tackle the major global health issues.

Nagasaki University is renowned for its work and research into infectious diseases and has a long history of collaboration with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. In 2015, the School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health (TMGH) was established to expand the global health research and teaching and accelerate collaboration with international researchers. Through working with researchers in the UK and Japan and studying within a community of global researchers, research students will have opportunities to appreciate and celebrate the diversity of cultures and approaches to improving global health. 

This joint PhD programme aims to support the mission of both universities to improve global health by offering a unique environment to students to acquire:

• competency as independent researchers;
• expertise in core research concepts, methods and skills;
• key transferable skills; and
• ability to work effectively within international collaborative groups 

Nagasaki University

The history of Nagasaki University goes back to 1857 when Dutch naval surgeon Dr Pompe established Igaku Denshusho, which was the oldest medical school of western style in Japan. Although Nagasaki Medical College Igaku Denshusho was completely demolished in 1945 by the atomic bomb, it has now grown into an important university that comprises seven graduate schools ( Tropical Medicine and Global Health , Global Humanities and Social Sciences , Education , Economics , Engineering , Fisheries and Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Sciences ) and nine faculties including Medicine , Dentistry , Pharmaceutical Sciences , affiliated hospitals, libraries, the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the Atomic Bomb Disease Institute .

Nagasaki University is the only university in Japan with an Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN)  since 1947, and is considered the leading university in the field of Tropical Medicine and Global Health in Japan, with overseas research stations in Kenya , Vietnam and the Philippines.

Founded in 1899, LSHTM is renowned for its research, postgraduate studies and continuing education in public and global health, with over 4,200 students and more than 3,300 staff based all around the world with core hubs in London and at the MRC Units in The Gambia and Uganda , which joined LSHTM in February 2018.

LSHTM is working closely with partners in the UK and worldwide to address contemporary and future critical health challenges. It has a diverse and truly global community dedicated to quality cross-disciplinary research and is involved at every stage of the research pipeline, from basic science all the way through to evaluation of health interventions, providing a firm foundation of evidence for improving health.

Its mission  is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.

2023/24 April entry: research topic

The programme is offering the following potential project for April 2024 Entry. Please read the proposal below carefully which includes a link to the application guidance for the April 2024 entry, and information and conditions specific for this admission offer.  We are accepting applications only for this project for April 2024 Entry.   

2024-25 September entry: research topics

The programme is offering the following potential projects for the 2024/25 application round.  We also encourage you to propose your own research project idea in the field of global health. The research idea should not only be novel but also capitalise on the strengths of the partnership between LSHTM and NU. If you are proposing your own idea you will need to identify supervisors in each institution who would supervise your PhD if your application is successful. Please see the " How to apply section "  for further information.

Lead for each project is shown in bold .

Current PhD research projects 

About 25 students are currently registered in the Joint PhD Programme.  

In January 2023, Nagasaki University hold the WISE/Sakigake Symposium in Nagasaki. Most of the current students gave a talk at the symposium, and the recordings are available at the symposium website . See the list of the students and other speakers in the Symposium Programme (pdf).  

The recordings of the students’ turbo talks given at the 2022 Bridging Japan-UK Online Symposium are also available on demand (See the recording on the WISE&LSHTM-Nagasaki Joint PhD Day on 7 March 2022 on the website )  

The PhD Programme is based on completion of an independent piece of original research. The research will be carried out under the guidance of supervisors from both Universities, with additional support provided by members of an advisory committee.

Students will have at least one named supervisor from each University. A Lead Supervisor will be identified, which will determine the Lead University for the research student.

Research students will be registered directly for the Joint PhD award, without a preliminary period of registration for the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree. Normally, research students will spend at least six months at each of the two Universities. The timing, and possible subdivision, of these periods of residence will be aligned to the needs of the individual research degree study. There will also be opportunities for research students to undertake research in resource-poor settings around the world.

Qualifying Examination

A Qualifying Examination (QE) Panel will review the progress of each research student after 7-11 months of full-time registration. All QE requirements (including any resubmissions) must be completed by 18 months (maximum). The QE consists of a written report (max 7,500 words), an open seminar, and a closed meeting with an assessment panel. The QE provides students with feedback to improve the design of their research and identifies students who are struggling with progress and unlikely to complete a PhD successfully. Continuation in the Joint PhD programme will be allowed only if the QE Panel is satisfied that the research study and the research student’s progress are sufficiently advanced to indicate that the PhD standard will be reached within the permitted period of registration.

PhD Research Thesis

Students complete a written research thesis for the PhD degree which must be written in English with satisfactory literary presentation, and include a full reference list. The thesis should not exceed 100,000 words in length.

PhD duration

Research students will be registered at both universities in late September or early October, enabling them to access the resources of both universities, subject to the relevant regulations, policies and procedures at each university.  The minimum and maximum periods of registration for the Joint PhD programme will be as set out below.  

Part-time is not offered in the Joint PhD Programme.

*Please see the fee and funding information for the April 2024 entry in the project proposal.     

Nagasaki University Application & Admission fees 2024-25

• Application Fee:  JPY 30,000
• Admission Fee:  JPY 282,000   

Applicants who pass the preliminary shortlisting will be invited for an interview. These applicants are required to pay the Nagasaki University application fee by 1 March 2024. Please note the followings and refer to  the application guidance   for payment instructions.

Applications will not be considered in the following cases:

The applicant does not pay the application fee; the applicant fails to provide the transfer payment certificate on the Nagasaki University’s transfer payment certificate attachment slip; or submit the transfer payment certificate.  ​​​​  The application fee is not refundable except in the following circumstances:

The application fee was paid but the application documents were insufficient or they accidentally paid the application fee twice. In principle, the refund charge must be borne by the applicant and request for a refund must be made within 14 days from the last day of the application period.

The Nagasaki admission fee is for successful candidates who are offered a place on the Joint PhD Programme. Details on how to pay will be given in the offer of admission letter.

LSHTM and Nagasaki University Tuition Fees

The table below shows the annual tuition fees for each University in their own currency. These are reviewed annually and subject to change. In order to calculate the full 2024/25 fee for the Joint PhD Programme, you will need to add together both. Further information on LSHTM’s tuition fees can be found here .

* Full-time students pay the relevant full-time rate for the first 3 years of study, and then a flat 12-month writing-up fee for year 4.

Funding opportunity

Nagasaki University was awarded the Doctoral Program for World-leading Innovative & Smart Education (WISE), offered by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2018. The Nagasaki University WISE Programme for Global Health established a support scheme to provide financial support towards living costs for the selected grantees and a research grant for the grantee’s supervisory team to support the grantee’s research project in global health. Students accepted onto the Joint PhD Programme can apply to the Nagasaki University WISE Programme.

Applicants who are selected as a WISE Programme Student will receive the financial support towards living costs (last year this was approx. JPY 200,000 per month ), and the Nagasaki University School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health (TMGH) supervisor will receive a research grant to support the grantee’s PhD research project (last year this was approx. JPY 2,000,000 per annum). The amount maybe subject to change for this year but further information can be found on  the Nagasaki University Wise Programme website .  The WISE programme does NOT cover tuition or admission fees therefore students are responsible to pay all tuition and admission fees by themselves. In addition, the awardees of the financial support towards living costs who have residential status in Japan are required to file on income tax return. For further information about living costs in London, please refer to our  Study with us  section, and in particular the  Cost of living  section.

For WISE funding enquiries, please email to:  [email protected]

Academic requirements

The programme (and the funding award) is open to any candidate who can satisfy the entrance requirements.

A student must normally satisfy entrance requirements as follows:

The normal  minimum  entrance qualification for registration is at least one of the following:

• a master’s degree in a subject appropriate to the course of study to be followed  (recommended)
• a qualification appropriate to the course of study to be followed, in medicine, dentistry or veterinary studies
• an upper second-class honours degree from a UK or Japanese university, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard, in a relevant subject.

Applicants should have evidence of an aptitude for research.

Desirable but not essential is knowledge of the Japanese language and an awareness of Japanese culture.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to meet these requirements:  Band B

Please see our  English Language Requirements FAQs   for information.

The application deadline for 2024/25 was Wednesday 10 January 2024, 23:59 GMT - register interest for 2025/26 .

*Please see the application process for the April 2024 entry in the project proposal.

Applying for a doctoral degree can be a lengthy process and requires some preparation.  Please read the following two documents before you apply  to ensure you send in a completed application with the correct supporting documents.

• Joint PhD Application guidance (September entry)
• Joint PhD supporting documents

To apply, you may either apply for a project from the project list, or you can apply with your own project idea. You can apply for up to 2 projects. A research proposal is needed only for your first choice.

To apply for a project from the research project list:

• Read our Joint PhD application guidance  and Joint PhD supporting documents ;
• Select topic(s) from the research topics list ;
• Contact the lead supervisor(s) of your choice to discuss the project and your interest in it;
• Prepare the application and supporting documents for your application - we strongly recommend that you discuss your application with the listed supervisor; and
• Submit your application  through the LSHTM online application portal

To apply with your own project idea: We also encourage you to propose your own research project idea in the field of global health. The research idea should not only be novel but also capitalise on the strengths of the partnership between LSHTM and NU. If you are proposing your own idea you will need to identify supervisors in each institution who would supervise your PhD if your application is successful. If you would like to propose your own idea:

1 - Read our Joint PhD Application guidance  and Joint PhD supporting documents

2 - Contact potential supervisors at NU-TMGH and/or LSHTM

3 - Identify one potential supervisor from each university. You may find it helpful to contact the Joint PhD Programme Coordinator, Kazuyo Machiyama  and the NU-TMGH admin office to help you identify potential supervisors.

Use the websites to look at research taking place across the Universities and identify the members of staff who would be most appropriate for your area of interest. LSHTM potential supervisor There are three main ways to identify an appropriate supervisor at LSHTM to contact

• Browse LSHTM’s  Faculties  or  Centres pages  to find the research we do in your area of interest. Our research is multidisciplinary and it may be that your area of interest is represented in more than one Faculty. Centres are cross-Faculty and multidisciplinary. Click through to the department or centre website to find staff profiles.  
• Look on the  LSHTM People Search database  where you can search for potential supervisors by keyword, research areas or region. Not all academics are listed in the people search but it is a good place to start.  
• Search our  online research resources , LSHTM’s open access repository, including journal articles, theses and videos by School authors. If you identify a research paper that particularly interests you it is likely that one of the authors would be a suitable research supervisor.

See the "  before you apply " section of our website for information on finding and writing to a prospective supervisor. 

Nagasaki University potential supervisor ​​​​​To find NU supervisor’s contact details, please visit the TMGH website and faculty contact details can be found under the top bar “About TMGH – Faculty”. If there are no contact details on the faculty page, please email to TMGH admin office: [email protected]

4 - Prepare the application and supporting documents for your application in discussion with the potential supervisors. In your research proposal, you are expected to describe the roles of LSHTM and NU in your project and explain why the collaboration is helpful, and indicate that you have the approval of the potential supervisors.

5 - Submit your application  through the LSHTM online application portal .

After submission of your application:

Applicants who pass the preliminary shortlisting will be invited for an interview.

April 2024 entry: 

• Interviews will be held on 2nd or 7th February 2024
• Results for successful candidates (Notification of Successful candidates): 22 February, 10:00 JST

September 2024 entry:

• Interviews will be held on 13 March 2024
• Results and notification for successful candidates: JST 10am on 25 March 2024

1 - Applications

If you are graduating before the programme starts, you will be eligible to apply for the Joint PhD programme. As it’s mentioned in the list of supporting documents for application, if you are yet to complete your highest academic qualification, you will need to submit an interim transcript (an up-to-date copy of your results so far) along with your next highest qualification.

Yes. We only accept degree certificates and academic transcripts (and qualification document(s) if relevant) in English.

Please read the English requirement FAQs carefully. If English is not your first language, you will need to meet the Band B English language requirements for the Joint PhD Programme.  

Applicants who are a national of a majority English-speaking country or who have successfully completed an appropriate academic qualification (at least equivalent to a UK Bachelor’s degree), which was taught in a majority English speaking country from the UKVI approved country list , automatically meet the programme’s English language requirements.

Any applicants who do not meet the Band B English language requirement or are not exempted from providing an English language test score will be required to fulfil this requirement, should an offer of admission be given. If they fail to meet the English language requirement by August, their offer of admission for the year will be rescinded.

Because Nagasaki University takes students only once a year in October, all joint PhD students must commence the course at the start of an academic year, in late September. 

Approximately 5 students will be offered a place. 

Only shortlisted applicants who proceed for the interview will be asked to pay the Nagasaki University application fee. Further information about how to pay the application fee will be given to shortlisted applicants. Please note that the application fee is non-refundable except when the application fee was paid but the application documents were insufficient or they accidently paid the application fee twice. In principle, the refund charge must be borne by the applicant and request for a refund must be made within 14 days from the last day of the application period.

It is desirable for applicants to have some knowledge of Japanese language and culture though it is not mandatory. As long as they hold the normal minimum entrance qualification, they can apply to the programme.  In your application it is important to show how the link with Japan is relevant for your research.

The interview will take place online using the web conferencing system such as Zoom.

2 - Joint PhD Programme

The research degree will be awarded jointly by Nagasaki University and the University of London .

Students are normally expected to spend 6 months in each institution during the study. This is to enable students to benefit from the institutions’ academic environment and gain any training required for successful completion of their doctoral work. In some cases, a request can be made to reduce this minimum residency period if students and supervisors can demonstrate that they will receive the necessary training and support, or if personal or financial circumstances make residency challenging.

NU-LSHTM Joint PhD degree programme is offered as full-time registration only and the students cannot engage in full-time work whilst studying full-time.

3 - Fees & Funding

Please see the general FAQs on fees and funding on the LSHTM website and the Nagasaki University’s WISE website .

The current students pay the fees from personal savings, family support or other scholarship awards which only cover tuition fees. Nagasaki University runs a competitive waiver scheme for its tuition and admission fees which all successful candidates are eligible to apply for. The decisions on applications for the waivers are made by the Nagasaki University Student Support Department and only a limited number of student(s) who both demonstrate the academic excellence and bear financial hardship shall be considered for the fee waiver.

Please note that the fee waiver is very competitive and the acceptance rate for the admission fee waiver is very low. Please prepare to pay the admission fee and tuition fee in case your fee waiver application is rejected. If the admission or tuition fees are not received by the stipulated deadline, your registration will be terminated. 

Admissions status

Register interest for 2025/26

Programme Directors

Kazuyo Machiyama (LSHTM)

Prof. Koya Ariyoshi (NU)

General enquiries

TMGH Team (NU) Study Team (LSHTM)

More information

• Nagasaki University website
• Programme specifications

Global Health, PhD

• Program description
• At a glance
• Degree requirements
• Admission requirements
• Tuition information
• Application deadlines
• Career opportunities
• Contact information

Anthropology, Culture, Environment, Global health, Health, International health, Medical Sociology, Medical anthropology, Medicine, Nutrition, community health, human biology, medical, public health, sustainability

When the evolving health needs of growing global populations beckon, few are better equipped to offer solutions than those with a PhD in global health. As a program graduate prepared for medical, commercial, governmental and academic careers, you can help improve and save thousands of lives at home and abroad.

The PhD in global health draws on the premise that sustainable and satisfying solutions to the most pressing global health challenges require a sophisticated understanding of how cultural context, social and ecological processes and disease are really related.

This transdisciplinary graduate program trains students broadly in cutting-edge health social science research theory and methods. The program leverages the strength of ASU's medical anthropology programming and 15 medical anthropologists, and it has the advantage of accessing an exceptionally wide set of skills offered by those in such fields as medical sociology, demography, human geography and epidemiology.

Some particular thematic foci of the program are biocultural approaches to human coping, computer-based complexity modeling, culture and health, health in the Americas, and Indigenous and minority health, as well as mathematical epidemiology, nutritional anthropology, social justice and vulnerable populations, social networks, and urban and environmental health.

The program draws some 80 faculty members from throughout the university to consider how cutting-edge social science can be applied to understand and substantively improve the health of populations. The program favors community-based research in communities of all sizes and types, from hunter-gatherer communities to large U.S. cities, and runs collaborative projects in which students are encouraged to gain experience and conduct research.

Students generally enter the program with a master's degree in a relevant field.

• College/school: The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Location: Tempe

84 credit hours, a written comprehensive exam, an oral comprehensive exam, a prospectus and a dissertation

Required Core (3 credit hours) ASB 510 Health: Social and Biocultural Theories (3)

Electives (39 credit hours)

Other Requirements (18 credit hours) ASB 500 Research Methods (3) ASB 501 Professionalism (3) ASM 579 Proposal Writing (3) SSH 591 Topic: Principles of Epidemiology for Global Health (3) systematic methods courses (6)

Research (12 credit hours) ASB 792 Research (12)

Culminating Experience (12 credit hours) ASB 799 Dissertation (12)

Additional Curriculum Information For electives, students should see the academic unit for a course list approved by the chair.

Other requirement coursework may be substituted with the approval of the academic unit. At least two systematic methods courses in an area other than epidemiology or biostatistics and ethnography should be selected, such as nutrition, survey, archival analysis, demography or geographic information systems.

When approved by the student's supervisory committee and the Graduate College, this program may allow up to 30 credit hours from a previously awarded master's degree to be used for this program. If students do not have a previously awarded master's degree, the remaining coursework is made up of electives.

Applicants must fulfill the requirements of both the Graduate College and The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Applicants are eligible to apply to the program if they have earned a bachelor's or master's degree from a regionally accredited institution.

Applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in the last 60 hours of their first bachelor's degree program or a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in an applicable master's degree program.

All applicants must submit:

• graduate admission application and application fee
• official transcripts
• personal statement outlining educational and professional goals
• current curriculum vitae or resume
• three letters of recommendation
• proof of English proficiency

Additional Application Information An applicant whose native language is not English must provide proof of English proficiency regardless of their current residency.

Suitable backgrounds for admission include a master's degree in the social sciences (e.g., anthropology or sociology), public health, human biology or related fields. Students who enter directly from a bachelor's degree program should have completed at least 15 credit hours of social science and six credit hours of human biology or equivalent at the senior level and should have some background in statistics or epidemiology.

Applicants may submit with their application materials an optional scholarly writing sample, not to exceed 30 double-spaced pages.

Nationally and internationally, the health field provides enormous and varied career opportunities, and demand is high and growing for graduates with specific skills. The program supports the goals of those pursuing careers in academic research teaching and health services. Sample employment venues include:

• health departments
• government agencies
• international agencies (World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Global Health Council, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank)
• nongovernmental organizations
• private sector
• universities

The degree program also provides a broad intellectual base for those who plan advanced specialist health training in fields such as:

In Arizona and elsewhere, there is a pressing need for professionals with appropriate skills to work in cross-cultural settings or with underserved populations, such as migrants, minorities and those living in poverty, and many of these jobs are directly or indirectly related to health.

School of Human Evolution & Social Change | SHESC 233 [email protected] 480-965-6215 Admission deadlines

Global Health and Development MSc

London, Bloomsbury

The MSc in Global Health and Development is a multidisciplinary programme (drawing on epidemiology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, political science and government, gender studies, critical theory etc.) that provides comprehensive training in how to address the world’s most complex and pressing health issues with an emphasis on low- and middle-income countries.

UK tuition fees (2024/25)

Overseas tuition fees (2024/25), programme starts, applications accepted.

Applications open

• Entry requirements

Normally a minimum of an upper second-class UK Bachelor's degree or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in medicine, nursing and other allied heath professions, sciences, humanities and social sciences. Professional experience in the fields of health and development is desirable. An applicant whose qualifications vary from UCL standards may be admitted if evidence of an adequate academic background and work experience in an appropriate field can be shown.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website .

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

You are provided with foundational training in the critical evaluation of research evidence, health systems strengthening, and global health policy. The programme’s extensive range of optional modules offers the opportunity to tailor the MSc to your desired areas of specialisation whether you are interested in research and evaluation, policy formulation, advocacy, or the implementation of global health programmes in resource-limited settings. This programme takes a unique cross-disciplinary approach to global health and attracts students from a range of academic and professional backgrounds.

Who this course is for

Graduates of this programme include students from more than 70 countries and from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds including development practitioners, medical doctors, nurses, researchers and non-governmental organisation workers. This increases opportunities to learn from other students' skills and experiences.

What this course will give you

UCL offers a multidisciplinary approach to studying global health. You will work alongside teachers, researchers and other students from a diverse range of disciplines and be taught by experts from several of UCL's faculties. These may include health policy specialists, economists, philosophers, lawyers, political scientists, geographers, clinicians, nutritionists, anthropologists, and epidemiologists. We place particular emphasis on research-based teaching, and our academics use their current research as case studies.

The MSc in Global Health and Development will provide you with the following skills and capacities:

1. A comprehensive understanding of the main theoretical approaches to global health and development and the ability to critically analyse them.

2. Experience working with quantitative/ qualitative or mixed methods research methodologies and an understanding of their application in global health settings.

3. The capacity to communicate effectively both orally and in writing about global health topics and research.

4. Collaborate in a team and across disciplines in addressing complex global health challenges.

The foundation of your career

The programme is designed to teach you how to apply different disciplinary perspectives to global health issues. The modules draw on different approaches to assessing your skills and knowledge in order to develop the diverse set of skill needed for work in global health, including: presentations, teamwork, applying theory to practice, project management and planning, policy analysis, time management, and critical thinking. These skills are relevant for a wide range of careers within global health, including: research and evaluation, policy formulation and advocacy, and programme planning and implementation.

Employability

Alumni from the MSc in Global Health and Development have pursued careers in government, NGO and for-profit sectors. They have taken on roles at national and international levels as programme managers, policy advisers and advocacy leaders, researchers, advisors for Ministries of Health, consultants, programme officers, and so on. Others have decided to pursue a career in academia by completing a PhD after their MSc. The MSc in Global Health and Development alumni network is global, dynamic, and continuously expanding. The alumni network provides the chance for students to engage and interact with leaders in global health throughout the academic year in a number of networking and social events.

Institute for Global Health students have priority access to academic events held throughout the year. This includes UCL's prestigious Lancet Lecture series which showcases leading global health scholars working on key public health issues. Students also have access to internal events, such as meetings that bring together research being done across our three sites and lunchtime lectures featuring the research of Institute for Global Health staff and doctoral candidates. From 2023, academic staff will be hosting a series of events for students in order to provide informal spaces to discuss ideas, research, and provide career advice.  

Teaching and learning

The MSc is designed to train the world’s future global health practitioners through developing critical thinking, writing, planning, teamwork, and presentation skills. You will learn through a mixture of lectures, seminar discussions, presentations, group work, and independent reading and research. Most lectures are accompanied by assigned readings and a discussion seminar. Seminars are designed to help you solve global health problems through prepared questions, problem-sets based on readings, debates, role-playing, scenario-based sessions, case studies, task-oriented activities, presentations and group work. 

The programme is taught with an emphasis on collaborative and co-operative learning to ensure that you enter the workforce capable of joining projects and programmes where working in teams is important.

Assessments may include written assignments, unseen written examinations, projects, oral presentations, portfolios, multiple choice questions, group work and the written dissertation. In addition, students undertaking primary data collection as part of the dissertation must submit an ethics form for screening by the UCL Ethics Committee.

Core modules are normally taught over five weeks. Optional modules are offered in two formats: long (three hours per week over 10 weeks) or short (three weeks, with teaching in the first two weeks on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday and the third week is for self-study).

A Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits, nine months full-time, two to five years flexible study) is offered. Students take four core modules (60 credits) and four optional modules (60 credits).

For full-time students, in term one, you will be introduced to the most recent and pressing issues defining global health in Concepts and Controversies in Global Health, alongside the study of Research Methods and Evidence for Global Health, Health Systems in a Global Context, and Power and Politics in Global Health. These four compulsory modules provide a foundation for the MSc and expose you to the different conceptual frameworks used by global health practitioners to understand and assess the causes and consequences of poor health outcomes globally.

Terms 2 and 3 provide an opportunity to take the concepts learned in term one and further refine your study with a focus on a more specific area. You can choose from a diverse range of optional modules, which offer the possibility to tailor the programme to your own interests and prepare for your final Dissertation Project.

Alongside your taught modules, you will work on your Dissertation Project throughout terms 2 and 3. This project is an opportunity to complete an independent piece of scholarship with guidance from an expert supervisor, and can be a literature review, an original piece of research (including primary data collection or secondary data analysis), or an action plan. The flexibility in the dissertation project offers yet another opportunity to tailor the MSc to your specific areas of interest within global health.   

Over the course of 2 years students must take 60 credits of compulsory modules, 60 credits of optional modules and 60 credits MSc Dissertation

In year 1, students must take a minimum of 90 credits of which a minimum of 30 credits must be taken from the compulsory modules list, and a maximum of 60 credits can be taken from the optional modules list.

In year 2, students must take a minimum of 90 credits including 60 credits of MSc Dissertation. The remaining 30 credits can be taken from the compulsory or optional modules list.

Over the course of up to five years students must take 60 credits of compulsory modules, 60 credits of optional modules and 60 credits of MSc Dissertation. There is not a prescribed structure for this programme and students can take modules as they fit in their timetable.

Compulsory modules

Optional modules.

Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Global Health and Development. Upon successful completion of 120 credits, you will be awarded a PG Dip in Global Health and Development.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk . Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team .

11 June 2024

Gordon Street, London, WC1H 0AH - Open day

UCL Postgraduate Open Evening - Medical, Health and Life Sciences

16:00 — 19:00

At our upcoming Postgraduate Open Evening, join us on the UCL campus, in the heart of Bloomsbury, to discover our diverse array of Postgraduate Master's programmes within medical, health and life sciences.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course.

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis .

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees .

Additional costs

There may be additional costs for students undertaking primary data collection or secondary data analysis as part of the dissertation. Additional costs may include travelling, accommodation, translation services, etc. The department offers several competitive travel bursaries each year to cover some of these costs.  

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs .

Funding your studies

Find here information about bursaries and scholarships offered by the UCL Institute for Global Health .

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website .

African Graduate Scholarship

Deadline: 31 May 20214 Value: £38,000 towards fees, accommodation and living costs (1 year) Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme (CSSS)

Deadline: NOW CLOSED FOR 2024/25 ENTRY Value: Full fees, flights, stipend, and other allowances (1 year) Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Dr Keith Travel Bursary

Value: Varies () Criteria Based on academic merit Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this programme of £90 for online applications and £115 for paper applications. Further information can be found at Application fees .

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

• why you want to study Global Health and Development at graduate level
• how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this challenging programme
• why you want to study Global Health and Development at UCL
• what particularly attracts you to this programme
• where you would like to go professionally with your degree

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2024-2025

Got questions get in touch.

Institute for Global Health

[email protected]

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