Global Public Health Leadership

Taught modules

Compulsory modules

• Project Management Skills

  This module will provide hands-on guidance and theory to managing a small-scale project. It is intended as a preparatory module to the Global Public Health Leadership Project module. You will learn the necessary steps to designing, executing and disseminating a project. The learning process will combine theoretical learning with practical exercises, culminating in the production of a video-recorded presentation or equivalent media content.

• Health Promotion

  This module explores the theoretical and practical aspects of health promotion, including how to develop action plans for health promotion. You will be introduced to behavioural theory as it relates to changes in health behaviour and lifestyle, as well as looking at the larger social dimensions related to social determinants of health and health inequalities. The module will also provide you with tools for assessing community health needs, planning health promotion activities and advocacy, and considering the advantages and disadvantages of engaging communities in developing their own strategies to improve health.

• Public Health Leadership

  
  This module offers you an opportunity to engage in inter-professional learning on a topic fundamental to delivering public health services - leadership. It aims to equip public health practitioners at all stages of the leadership spectrum to develop and apply the relevant knowledge base, research evidence, concepts, and skill-sets to be effective leaders in both public and private sector health and care environments. With reference to core theories of leadership and management and how they can be applied to developing teams, improve engagement and operational performance, the module seeks to enhance leadership practice at personal, organisational and inter-organisational levels. The module includes a strong emphasis on personal development and seeks to promote a learning community where you can nurture a network of learning relationships so as to support current and future leadership development. 

• Data Analysis and Interpretation

  This module offers you the ability to understand and evaluate statistical data with the use of software. You will also gain an understanding of how appropriate statistical techniques are chosen for a particular context. You will develop information technology and academic writing skills to present and interpret statistical information in a report. This module does not assume previous statistical knowledge and the analyses included in the teaching and assessment are those which are commonly seen in health-related research and policy papers.

  Assessment is via a written statistical report.  

• Epidemiology and Research Methods

  This module provides you with an introduction to the concepts and methods within epidemiology and to qualitative methods for public health research and intervention evaluation. It covers the principles of epidemiological research, provides an overview of different study designs and when each design is indicated drawing on real-life examples. It also teaches the interpretation of results of epidemiological studies, explains sources of bias and confounding and different methods of statistical measurements used in epidemiology. You will also be introduced to qualitative research, with focus on action and participatory methods.

• Community Empowerment and Advocacy

  This module aims to teach the approaches, theories and tools which are effective for promoting healthy behaviour within communities. It will first focus on recognising and addressing sources of bias towards and within communities (both personal and socially generated). It will then show you how to assess the existing needs and resources within social groups and organisations which can be used to support communities in their own development, and link this to an assessment of risks and opportunities. Historical and current beliefs surrounding how to effect change will be evaluated and you will be encouraged to plan a health promotion strategy for a community with a consideration of need, practical planning and ethics. Built around the examination of case studies, the teaching draws on both examples from history and from present-day practice, and these will cover examples where advocacy is used to tackle public health problems originating from a variety of causes. 

• Communicable Diseases

  
  This module will examine the history, causes and epidemiology of communicable diseases. Associated morbidity and mortality, both nationally and globally, will be considered together with trends in established and emerging infections. We'll discuss methods to prevent and control infection, including surveillance, screening and vaccination strategies. You will have the opportunity to increase your knowledge and understanding of microbiology, immunology and the legal and ethical aspects of infection control to underpin this material. You will also develop a greater understanding of the relationship between the methods concerning the spread of disease and the behavioural aspects, which influence the outcome. You will also develop an understanding of the relationship between the different healthcare and other professionals involved in communicable disease control, and how different settings can affect this relationship. 

• Global Public Health Leadership Project

  This module requires students to undertake an extended independent leadership and teaching project. The aim is to demonstrate the ability to symbiotically apply and communicate the knowledge acquired in the other modules of the Master’s programme. Students typically will do this by designing, teaching and evaluating either to an audience in their setting or on a social media platform. The project, which will be supervised by an individual tutor, may test educational theory or innovatively apply health promotion concepts. Where appropriate, you may elect to conduct a secondary analysis of a freely available dataset or to conduct a critical or quasi-systematic literature review in aid of the design of the project. The objectives of the project must be agreed through a proposal-writing process overseen by an appointed supervisor.