Postgraduate Diploma Course Content

TERM 1

Term 1 focuses on research design and includes the following four subjects:

• What is Health Research?
  This subject will help students ask scientifically valid research questions in the context of global health. It will also give a grounding in basic statistics that help design and analyse research programmes.
• Outcome Measures & Protocol Design
  Students will learn how to turn their research question into an operational protocol.
• Ethics
  This subject will examine some of the major ethical challenges in global health research including vulnerable populations, compensation, questions of autonomy.
• Community Engagement
  Students will learn the importance of Community Engagement in global health research

TERM 2

Term 2 focuses on data management and analysis in global health research and includes the following four subjects:

• Study Populations
  Students will consider study populations in health research. They will plan for challenges based on location, demographics and whether there are vulnerable groups in the population.
• Study Interventions
  Students will learn what study interventions are and examine the different types of interventions possible, depending on the research topic.
• Data Capture
  This subject will introduce students to data capture and analysis in health research. We will explore how to ensure the data being collected is accurate and why good data management is important.
• Data Management & Analysis
  This module will examine data management and sharing, explore why it is important and ask important questions, for example, ‘Who can access your data?’

TERM 3

Term 3 focuses on quality systems and includes the following four subjects:

• Quality Assurance
  This module will give students the skills to design and implement compliant QA systems during their research.
• Safety and Pharmacovigilance
  Students will evaluate the key safety and regulatory issues pertaining to research with respect to safety and surveillance issues.
• Laboratories & Diagnostics
  This subject will give students a thorough understanding of the role of laboratories and diagnostics in current and future global health research projects.
• Governance and Oversight
  This module will introduce students to the major regulatory bodies and governance committees needed for approval, during execution and reporting of research projects

TERM 4

Term 4 focuses on research implementation and includes the following four subjects:

• Operations, including Project and Financial Management
  This module will examine operational planning and delivery in health research studies
• Leadership & Communication Skills
  Supporting the entire program, this module will give learners the tools and skills to master a set of practical leadership and communication skills.
• Reporting
  This subject will help students identify and implement the key steps to write up research findings
• Converting Research into Practice
  We will ask what are the key characteristics of impactful research? Students will develop a communication plan and dissemination plan using research findings to help implement evidence-informed policies that improve global health

These subjects were identified as the key subjects required in global health research by a large-scale Knowledge Gap Analysis and E-Delphi study and workshops, involving 7,167 participants from 153 countries across the globe. Participants included academics, trialists and researchers, as well as representatives from stakeholder organisations such as the European Commission, the World Health Organisation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP).

These data have driven the creation of this unique and much-needed programme that focusses on the contextual necessities and operational realities of setting up ALL types of health research study in low-resource settings.

What will a typical week look like?

Each term, students study four subjects; two for the first half of term, and two for the second half of term.

This means students have two lessons to study each week. Each lesson lasts from Monday to Friday.

A lesson consists of:

• Introduction and Learning Objectives;
• Pre-recorded Interactive Lecture;
• Discussion Forum Tasks to help put theory into practice in the student’s own context;
• Live Class via Zoom or similar;
• One-to-one Asynchronous Tutorials based on reflective practice;
• Additional Resources, including a reading list and access to the University’s libraries online.

Students are expected to actively participate each week. This ensures a dynamic, interactive and enjoyable learning environment, where discussion, questioning, listening and reflecting are key to learning from the expert teachers, from the theory presented and from the experience of classmates.

Tutors will encourage students to make connections between all the subjects they study, such that by the time they complete the course, students should show a holistic understanding of what high quality global health research entails and that they have clearly thought through how best to apply the knowledge skills and approaches they learned in the postgraduate diploma.

Teamwork may form part of our teaching and assessment methodology as it reflects the reality of working life, and this gives students a safe space to plan, negotiate and execute team projects with all the related challenges that need to be overcome, but students are doing it in a safe, academic environment with support. This helps develop key transferable skills and build confidence in their ability to put theory into practice in their own professional context. It helps internationalise discussions, encourages collaboration and support, especially as we mark against learning outcomes, so students are not in competition against each other.

Assessment

Assessment details will be shared the week before the first week of term, with the assessment due to be submitted in week 9. During term, students will receive support and guidance from their tutor and the wider postgraduate diploma team to ensure that they are well prepared for assessment.

Students will receive high-quality formative feedback on a draft of their assessment early in the term (week 3). This ensures they will understand what they are doing well and what they need to do in order to improve their work.