The 2025/26 IHTM cohort returned to Oxford last week to present research findings and share their experience working in the field.
Over three days of presentations, students shared work co-developed with host partners across diverse settings, including Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Thailand, Zambia, Seychelles, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Somalia, Cambodia, Switzerland and the UK.
For many students, the placements were as much about understanding people and context as they were about research outputs. Visits to community health centres, conversations with health workers, and day-to-day collaboration with host teams helped bring data and policy questions to life.
During their feedback sessions students reflected on how lived realities shape health outcomes, and how effective global health work depends on adapting solutions to local settings, building trust, and working across sectors and disciplines.
Their projects addressed a broad range of global health challenges including, epidemic and pandemic preparedness, work on vaccine data systems and parasite clearance in children with acute uncomplicated malaria, among others.
These post-placement debriefs are an important part of the IHTM course, providing students with the opportunity to learn about one another's experiences and to reflect on wider contexts in which their research took place. Feedback from peers and faculty also offers valuable guidance to help students refine their research projects before the submission of their 10,000-word dissertations, which marks the culmination of the programme.
The overseas research placement remains a core component of the MSc IHTM course, offering student the chance to apply theoretical concepts and classroom-based learning to real-world settings