Global Health and Infectious Diseases (Online Learning)
Provided by The University of Edinburgh Medical School
About the course
This postgraduate programme aims to address the challenges posed by infectious diseases by developing your expertise in surveillance, prevention, and control of infectious diseases.
You will explore and address local and global health challenges related to infectious diseases and their impact on public health. The programme explores the parallels that exist between infectious diseases such as malaria, influenza, TB, Covid-19, and neglected diseases such as leprosy and brucellosis. You will develop the skills to apply scientific research to help develop and implement strategies and programmes to help manage infectious diseases better.
What will you study?
Year 1 of the programme aims to develop your understanding of the transmission of infectious agents and their survival strategies, as well as look at strategies for disease control of the host. You will also explore the impact globalisation has had on our modern world and the challenges related to globalisation, such as population movement, food security, and disease surveillance.
In Year 2 we offer a range of optional courses in the programme, providing you with the opportunity to specialise in areas of interest, including:
- Emerging infectious diseases
- GIS and spatial data
- Neglected tropical diseases
- Newborn and child health
- Project management of development aid
- Reproductive and Maternal Health
- Water and sanitisation
- Zoonotic diseases
Please note elective availability is subject to annual academic review and demand.
Year 3 gives you the opportunity to research original and creative responses to a challenge of your choosing in the form of a dissertation project.
The programme normally takes three years (when studied part-time), beginning with a series of courses and followed by an individual project or dissertation.
Year 1 (certificate)
You will take courses that include:
- Global Health: Fundamentals
- Understanding Infectious Diseases
And you will choose one from the following two options:
- a single course in Applied Epidemiology and Public Health
- a course each in Global Citizenship and Globalisation and Health
Year 2 (diploma)
You will choose 60 credits from a range that may include:
- Global citizenship
- Project managing development aid
- Transdisciplinary policy approaches for addressing the public health and development challenges of the 21st century
- The Nexus of Food Security and Global Health
- Neglected tropical diseases
- Emerging infectious diseases
- Travel medicine and infectious diseases
- Globalisation and health
- Public health systems in high, low and middle income countries
- The communication of disease control
- Technological advances in diagnostics
- Water and Sanitation
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Newborn and child health
- Zoonotic diseases in a global setting
- Global health: mortality
- Zoonotic disease
- Introduction to GIS and spatial data analysis
- An introduction to vaccinology
- Reproductive and maternal health
Year 3 (MSc)
You will conduct a written reflective element of 10,000-15,000 words.
Intermittent Learning (ICL)
The programme is also available for intermittent learners, this differs from the part-time structure as students have up to six years to complete their MSc. Further, there is no assumption of sequential study, students inform the programme teams of the courses they wish to study, and enrolment is made following this instruction. Invoices are generated with each course enrolment.
Please note, that while this study pattern does introduce more flexibility, courses are available based upon the academic timetable – the timetable and assessment deadline are fixed. The compulsory elements of our exit awards must be met, although the order in which these courses are taken is no longer fixed.
Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD)
Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD) is aimed at working professionals who want to advance their knowledge through a postgraduate-level course(s), without the time or financial commitment of a full Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate.
You may take a maximum of 50 credits worth of courses over 2 years through our PPD scheme. These lead to a University of Edinburgh postgraduate award of academic credit.
Alternatively, after one year of taking courses you can choose to transfer your credits and continue on to studying towards a higher award on a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme.
Although PPD courses have various start dates throughout a year you may only start a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme in the month of September. Any time spent studying PPD will be deducted from the amount of time you will have left to complete a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme.
Please contact the programme team for more information about available courses and course start dates.
Find out more about compulsory and optional courses
We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.
Enquire
| Start date | Venue | |
|---|---|---|
| 08 Sep 2025 | Distance learning | Book now |