PGDip in Global Health Research

The Postgraduate Diploma in Global Health Research is embedded within the Oxford Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine.

The course aims to enhance knowledge and raise standards of professionals working in health research in a global context so they can lead successful and high-quality research studies should they be from organisations who fund, sponsor or regulate these studies or those working within sites and centres where research is conducted with study participants.

Students will discover best practices in global health research studies, the mechanisms, the methods and processes required to implement good quality, safe and ethical research, typically in low resource settings. Through practical case studies and applied tasks, you will gain sufficient experience to implement what you learn in order to resolve difficult challenges and become the next generation of leaders in your field of study.

The PGDip is an online four-term course that teaches the key steps required to carry out good research in the context of global health. As a student, you will learn to formulate viable research questions, you will consider target populations within your area of interest, create study plans addressing sample size and understand the variables that might affect your results. You will learn how to avoid errors in design and implementation, the most common reasons for getting wrong answers to research questions and where possible, you will be encouraged to implement your study.

The department's goal is to embed effective health research into the work of healthcare workers and allied professions. Whatever research one is planning, whether it is a randomised controlled trial, or an observational study, knowing what kind of information the study should collect is important, and so researchers may need to use epidemiology data, adapt to different social norms or utilise diagnostics to create valid, evidence based, outcomes. Whatever your research question, the PGDip will guide you from conception to execution and completion of a final report. Our graduates will conduct their research aware of the larger context within which research takes place, they will plan and implement their projects accordingly and communicate their reasoning and findings as effectively as possible, increasing the probability of successful research and turning that research into practice.

The PGDip will provide you with many transferable skills, not least higher-level critical-thinking and analytical skills to enable you to develop professionally as an independent learner during and after the course. At the end of the course, the aim is for graduates to be intellectually curious, improve global health, gather and analyse data, lead research projects, make good decisions and continue on a journey of life-long learning, like all Oxford graduates.

The course will support the attainment of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably the following goals with regard to SDG 3, ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing at all ages’:

• 3.B ‘Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non-communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries’;
• 3.C ‘Substantially increase…development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries’ and
• 3.D ‘Strengthen the capacity of all countries, particularly developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks’.

This PGDip is different from 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 applied course that covers the steps needed to set up studies across all types of health research

Course structure

The course consists of four terms, with eight teaching weeks per term.

• Term one, Research Design, will be taught during Michaelmas term
• Term two, Data Management and Analysis, will be taught during Hilary term
• Term three, Quality Systems, will be taught during Trinity term
• Term four, Research Implementation, will be taught the following Michaelmas term.

Core Modules

• What is Health Research?
• Outcome Measures & Protocol Design
• Ethics
• Community Engagement
• Study Populations
• Study Interventions
• Data Capture
• Data Management & Analysis
• Quality Assurance
• Safety and Pharmacovigilance
• Laboratories & Diagnostics
• Governance and Oversight
• Operations, including Project and Financial Management
• Leadership & Communication Skills
• Reporting
• Converting Research into Practice

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 over 7,000 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 course that focusses on the contextual necessities and operational realities of setting up ALL types of health research study in low-resource settings.

Balance of teaching

You are expected to engage daily from Monday to Friday with the interactive elements of the lesson week and you should help contribute to the evolution of class discussions.

Each week consists of an introduction, pre-recorded interactive lectures, structured discussion forums to help put theory into practice and a live lecture.

A typical lesson consists of an introduction, pre-recorded interactive lecture, discussion forum with tasks or questions to help put theory into practice. There is a live class using online video conferencing software, and asynchronous tutorials based on reflective practice. Additional resources include an online reading list. Students will quickly know what to expect and will only need to learn to navigate a lesson once, as all lessons will follow a similar pattern.

The PGDip is structured to be as flexible as possible for busy adults who have work and family commitments. Therefore, a lot of the activities can be completed to suit your schedule, and whilst most forums and tutorials are asynchronous, there will be a weekly live class using video conferencing software. This class will be recorded.

Attendance

The PGDip is conducted online and at no point are students required to attend in-person sessions in Oxford.

Resources to support your study

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Nuffield Department of Medicine and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Nuffield Department of Medicine.

For this course, the terms ‘supervision’ and ‘supervisor’ refer to an academic tutor that you will normally be assigned for the duration of the course.

Assessment

There will be four assessments in total, one per term. Each assessment carries equal weight and is worth 25% of your overall grade for the course. All assessments must be passed to ensure progression through the course. Some assessments will be on a team basis and some will be individual.

Assessment details will be published at the start of each term. This is also when teams will be formed. You will work on the assessment from then until submission in week nine of term. During week four, each team will submit a formative assessment on which you will receive feedback that is directly applicable to your team assessment. On a weekly basis, each individual shall complete a reflective diary, on which you will receive one-to-one feedback, which will help you prepare the individual section of your assessment.

The Global Health Network Professional Development Scheme

All students are required to join, free of charge, The Global Health Network Professional Development Scheme which is run in partnership with WHO. Membership of the scheme will enable you to measure your core research skills and competencies as you progress through the course and beyond into your subsequent career if you choose to remain a member.

The Professional Development Scheme’s competency framework covers five key areas:

1. Professional Skills
2. Scientific Thinking
3. Ethics, Quality & Risk Management
4. Research Operations
5. Study & Site Management

You will complete the framework at the start and end of the course to measure the impact of your studies. This will also give you an understanding of your strengths in key research skills, which will in turn boost your confidence and give you very specific talking points in interviews or with current employers.

Graduate destinations

Graduates will have a range of specialty areas to choose from following completion of the PGDip and would typically focus on further study in specific subjects with global health research, project and programme management including clinical research, health systems, climate change, urban and environmental health.

Transferable Skills include:

• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Interpersonal communication skills
• 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

Changes to this course

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