Postgraduate Diploma in Global Health Research

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

This highly practical qualification can facilitate real impact at a local level for the healthcare settings in which our target students are located, importantly and uniquely across the whole spectrum of health research. It will cover the challenges of working in low resource settings with vulnerable populations and consider all the regulatory and ethical requirements, alongside robust study design and operational delivery. It will teach how to plan such studies from setting the research question to taking research findings into practice.

This programme is a postgraduate course for professionals who are able to learn from the programme and add value to the learning experience of all participants by sharing their own practical experiences. Accordingly, this programme is designed for learners who are able to reflect on and learn from their own experiences.

We welcome students diverse in gender, geography, academic and professional backgrounds. All of this will provide a variety of perspectives and approaches which will enrich the learning environment.

The postgraduate diploma is very different from all other courses for two key reasons:

Firstly, it refers entirely to health issues specific to diseases of poverty in low-resource countries. 

Secondly, this is an operational and highly applied course that covers the steps needed to set up studies across all types of health research, including and importantly beyond clinical trials. 

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This postgraduate diploma aims to enhance knowledge and raise standards of professionals working in health research in a global context so they can work in teams and lead successful and high-quality research studies. Students will be equipped to implement best research practices, typically in low resource settings. The core objective is to prepare students to resolve difficult challenges by providing them with tools, skills and knowledge to generate high quality, safe and ethical evidence, and to inculcate in them the competence and ambition to become leaders in health research.

PROGRAMME LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this programme, successful graduates will be able to: 

• Design and implement high quality, ethical, health research studies in a global health setting.

• Translate their research into new guidelines, policies, best practices or recommendations. 

• Effectively manage data throughout the life cycle of a research study, from data gathering to analysis, presentation and sharing.

• Practice research with consideration of its broader community and societal impact.

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

The Postgraduate Diploma in Global Health Research will provide students with many transferable skills, especially higher-level critical-thinking and analytical skills to enable them to develop professionally as independent learners during and after their programme of study. They will develop analytical, evaluative and reflective skills that will prove invaluable to their future professional research practice.

Transferable Skills include:

• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Interpersonal communication skills (oral and written)
• Time management/planning/organisation
• Team working and leadership
• Academic writing skills
• Research and report writing skills
• Capacity to work in diverse settings
• Advocacy, influencing and communication skills