Master of Public Health (Health Research) MPH/PGDip

The Key Concepts Public Health module aims to introduce students to the wide range of topics covered in public health and ensure that students undertaking the Master of Public Health Course have a basic understanding of essential public health concepts.

The Key Concepts Public Health module aims to introduce students to the wide range of topics covered in public health and ensure that students undertaking the Master of Public Health Course have a basic understanding of essential public health concepts.

Within this module, we introduce you to a range of topics including health inequalities, determinants of health and health risk. The module also introduces the UK public health system, which is of particular importance to international students.

A focus of this module will be understanding the underpinning reasons for people’s health and their health behaviours, it will explore health concepts through a number of different lenses. The biomedical view of public health will be taught alongside sociological and psychosocial views of health. The module will provide you with an appreciation of both the science and the art of public health practice.

During this module you will learn some practical applications of public health by exploring how to understand and interpret public health data and attending two practical skills sessions. Some sessions are led by a senior public health practitioners and allow you to focus and engage with real-world examples of public health application across a number of settings.

Reflective practice and interprofessional working are key skills in public health, and this module will ensure you are able to develop your social skills alongside your academic skills. Introduction to theoretical concepts combined with practical skills sessions ensure that you understand the importance of different elements of public health, how they are linked, and how theoretical concepts are applied in public health practice. After completion of the module, you will have developed a broad core knowledge of population health, allowing you to successfully continue with your degree, particularly if your background is unrelated to public health.

Many of the topics covered in the Key Concepts in Public Health module are further explored in specialist modules that students take as part of their MPH/ Global Health / Health Research degree. However, for some students, some of the concepts covered in this module will be their only introduction to a particular topic. This is of key importance as all public health roles require a basic understanding of the key principles of public health covered in this module.

The module is taught by a range of outstanding academics and public health professionals who have extensive research and practical experience. The taught sessions include interactive elements such as small group discussions, quizzes, and analysis of public health scenarios. As our students come from around the world the module is also an excellent opportunity for knowledge exchange, particularly when it comes to understanding how public health works in different settings. The Key Concepts in Public Health module is usually the first module all our students take in the autumn semester and therefore it is an excellent opportunity for students to meet the teaching team and get to know their peers.

Your module convenors are:

Dr Ilze Bogdanovica– Associate Professor in public health

“I enjoy teaching on Key Concepts of Public Health as it gives me an opportunity to introduce students to the fascinating field of public health.”

Professor Jo Morling – Professor of Public Health

“I think the Key Concepts of Public Health module is a fantastic foundation on which to base the rest of the MPH/Global health teaching and learning. Seeing students gain an appreciation of how many components feed into the concept of public health and build on their passion is incredibly rewarding.”

Protecting and improving the health of the population are the key components of public health practice and delivery.

Health improvement is the multi-faceted approach to making population level changes to health, it includes behaviour change, legislation and policy change, organisation of the structure of society and the built environment as a contributor to health. It includes health education, communication theory, and the role of modifiable and non-modifiable lifestyle factors in determining life course health outcomes.

Being able to change and influence health behaviour is a key pillar of public health practice and is recognised as a key public health competency alongside health protection. Health improvement has the potential to fundamentally change population health outcomes which is the overall aim of global public health.

Health protection explores the way diseases and infections spread within communities and more widely across the globe is one of the fundamental backbones of public health practice. Health protection is not just concerned with the spread of infectious disease but also includes biological, chemical, radiation, and nuclear health hazards and environmental health. Being able to stop the spread of disease, predict and control disease outbreaks, and protect people’s health through chemical and environmental regulation is not only exciting and rewarding but centrally important to global public health.

Health protection brings together all the core public health competencies – epidemiology, data management, leadership, behaviour change, and many more. It is fast paced and critically can be the difference between life and death.

The module will take you on an exciting journey into improving and protecting the health of the population. There is overlap between the concepts and theories needed to improve and protect health and this module will draw out the key skills you will need for you daily public health practice.

We cover local, national and global health improvement initiatives including screening programmes and the role of taxation and legislation as drivers to improve health.

The module is heavily focussed on orientating health improvement and protection in the context of the wider societal, cultural, and structural barriers which prevent health improvement. Health improvement is all about meeting people where they are on their health journey and making the healthy choice the easier choice for people. Understanding these nuances and drivers for health behaviours in a population creates an immersive learning experience for students.

We bring together world-leading experts in health improvement and health protection who contextualise daily practice with academic theory. The world of public health is ever changing and our experts bring the most recent case studies to life for students with their real-life reflections.

We have a strong focus on communication skills that underpin the teaching and module delivery you’ll receive as a core skill required for public health practice. We enjoy teaching and sharing this module with our students because it covers fundamental core global public health priorities. In practice, it is fast-paced and exciting. The content is broad and covers many exciting topics which the public often takes for granted, and being able to offer students an immersive teaching experience in the world of health improvement and protection is a great privilege. We particularly enjoy hearing students’ experiences health in international contexts.

Your module leaders are:

Professor Liz Orton– Professor of Public Health Medicine

“As a public health consultant I have a lot of experience of health improvement in practice. Teaching the students how to improve the population’s health is so much fun seeing them develop from what they thought it was all about to a much wider understanding of the breadth of practice opportunities.”

Professor Emma Wilson – Professor of Public Health

“For me, improving population health is the fundamental priorioty of public health practice. I love teaching health protection and health promotion theory and helping students understand how to change behaviour”.

Jemma Orr – Associate Professor in Public Health and Nutrition

“As a public health nutrition expert this module allows me to share the best practice in public health promotion and protection in relation to food, nutrition, and physical activity.”

The research project is a substantial piece of independent work where you will have the opportunity to carry out in-depth original research or evaluation to address a real public health problem. The module enables you to integrate and apply skills gained throughout the Masters course, with a focus on further developing a particular quantitative or qualitative research method through its application to the full research lifecycle, from initial design to dissemination.

The skills you’ll develop will be highly valuable and sought after to a range of employers from national health services, governmental and non-governmental organisations, academic institutions, and industry.

The module, accounting for over a third of the course credits, is a major component of the Masters, running over the whole year and culminating in the presentation of the project as a written academic research paper, a conference-style poster with oral presentation, and a short accessible summary aimed at communicating the research to a public audience.

You will work independently with support from our academic supervisors to guide you along the way and can integrate external supervision from professionals working in public health or other specialist areas relating to the project topic. Your independent work is also supported by interactive workshop sessions throughout the year and opportunities to present and obtain feedback on your research process from fellow students and facilitators with a wide range of research experience.

The research process initially develops an ability to systematically identify medical/public health information and relevant existing evidence in the literature, to critically evaluate or appraise this existing evidence, and use this in the process of developing an original research project. It then moves on to combining the public health and epidemiological theory with the research methodology learned in the course to carry out the project, deepening your understanding through application to the public health question. Based on your research findings, evidence-based recommendations on a health issue to inform public health risk, or need for change in practice, strategy or policy are made, as well as recommendations for further research.

Crucially, the interpretation of the research findings and recommendations are made in the context of the existing evidence and the ability of the researcher to apply critique to their own work. Finally, the module sessions and assessment method develop the ability to effectively communicate the evidence, problem and recommendations with peers, professionals, stakeholders, and the public.

As well as being fascinating and rewarding, the research project requires patience, determination and endurance. The research process is long and challenging and often has bumps in the road, yet our students tell us that ultimately, they learned a lot and were left with a great sense of achievement. Having first-hand experience in the process of leading research from start to finish is key for all public health graduates, itis not only important for those who embark on further research, but for all in public health, so they can fully understand with a critical hat on, what evidence underpins public health practice and policy.

Our students can be supported in developing their own research ideas or developing research within a wide variety of research areas in public health and epidemiology, many of which we have national and world-leading researchers. We feel extremely fortunate to see students develop through their research projects, which can result in valuable academic publications as well as launch them into higher research degrees and key professional public health roles.

Your module leaders are:

Professor Laila Tata – Professor of Epidemiology

“I am an epidemiologist with a particular focus on maternal and child health and quantitative research, but a love for exploring with students the variety of different research methods and how they can apply them to designing and carrying out projects that will answer important new public health questions. My teaching is particularly focussed on developing critical thinking skills through practice. I encourage students to seize the opportunity the research project gives to deepen their development of critical thinking, as one of the most important skills they will need to take forward as public health professionals.”

Professor Rachael Murray – Professor of Population Health

“I am a mixed methods researcher and much of my activity looks to change public health practice. Seeing students explore topics of particular interest to them throughout this module, and understand how they can use the methods they learn to answer a research question that is meaningful to them is really exciting. Watching students progress through the research process, and seeing them develop in confidence as they move through the stages to completion of the research project is incredibly rewarding.”

Previous projects include:

• What can be done to encourage women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds to attend breast screening? A qualitative synthesis of barriers and facilitators

• Mortality in people with coeliac disease: Long-term follow-up from a Scottish cohort

• Smoking in movies and smoking initiation in adolescents: systematic review and meta-analysis

• Systematic review of respiratory viral pathogens identified in adults with community-acquired pneumonia in Europe

• The prevalence of psychological comorbidity in people with vitiligo: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Exploring psychological consequences for BRCA+ women in the post-Covid era

• Role of lifestyle behaviours in the ethnic pattern of poor health outcomes in Leicester, England: analysis of a survey data set

• Reporting and management of fertility problems in general practice: Obtaining population-based estimates of the current clinical burden in the UK

• Do cravings predict smoking cessation? An investigation into the utility of the “urges to smoke” measures

• Why do parents use A&E: A qualitative interview study

• An evaluation of the Nottingham Breastfeeding Peer Support Programme for young mothers

• Expectations versus reality: couples' experiences of infant feeding

• Are mass media campaigns aimed at changing alcohol consumption effective: A systematic review

• The association between preoperative stroke and 30-day mortality following non-cardiac elective surgery

• Premature birth and respiratory health in adulthood

• A systematic review of epidemiological studies investigating risk factors for road traffic crashes in low and middle income countries

• A cross-sectional study of the impacts of standardised tobacco packaging legislation on University of Nottingham students

• Qualitative systematic review: views and perceptions of HIV

Understanding and applying research methods and techniques is a key skill for public health and global health practice. In our research methods module teaching we give you a broad overview of the types of research techniques which are applicable to global public health. Research is a centrally important component of public health and global health practice as it allows us to build a robust evidence base which helps to inform policy and practice to improve local, national, and global health outcomes.

The module will take you on a journey through the process of designing, developing, implementing, and disseminating quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research methodologies specifically applied to public health settings.

You’ll learn to embed evidence-based research practices across all their other public health and global health modules to create critical research-informed arguments which will support the development of an independent research project.

Having an understanding and appreciation of research methods is important across all graduate public health careers and forms a fundamental building block for all practice-based and academic public health.

We bring together world-leading academic experts and contemporary case studies to highlight the intricacies of performing local, national, and global public health research to inform and improve future health outcomes.

We have a strong focus on research impact, with research communication skills being embedded within all the learning emphasising how we ensure our research reaches the right people, in the right format, at the right time.

We build on our academic successes being rated as 4* for Impact in Global Research in REF, to deliver highly relevant research-informed teaching, supported by wider learning and practice-based opportunities.

We are dedicated to teaching and sharing this module with our students as it is always wonderful to see students immerse themselves into the world of public health research, for some, this may be their first interaction with research, and we love seeing our students grow into independent researchers. We are always amazed by the creative ideas students have for targeted dissemination of research to public audiences, and the breadth of global experiences within the student group.

Your module leaders are:

Sam Crossley – Associate Professor in Public Health

“I am a mixed methods and qualitative researcher and I enjoy doing both research and evaluation projects. I enjoy sharing this module with the students and seeing your learning develop in preparation for your independent research project.”

Professor Emma Wilson– Professor of Public Health

“I love teaching research methods to the public health students, my particular expertise is qualitative and mixed methods research, and I really enjoy sharing my love for public health related breast cancer research with students through this module. I really enjoy interacting with the students to hear about and build upon their research practice in their local contexts.”

Professor Jo Leonardi-Bee – Professor of Evidence Synthesis

“I have always enjoyed academic research and supporting student research. As the Director of the Nottingham Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare my particular expertise is in evidence-synthesis. I love supporting students to develop and perform systematic reviews and meta-analyses. I really enjoy seeing the students develop their research skills from this module into their own research project.”

Scarcity of resources means that choices need to be made about how resources should be used; Health Economics is the study of how those choices are made in relation to health and health care. More countries are moving to decision making using evidence-based medicine, with Economic Evaluation used to demonstrate which interventions provide good value for money a vital component of the decision making process. This is particularly important in Public Health as many of the interventions don’t have immediate health benefits and therefore risk being overlooked in favour of healthcare interventions that do. Health Economics can also be used to understand other health-related decisions, including individuals’ health-related behaviours, such as unhealthy lifestyle choices, and different approaches to funding healthcare.

In this module, you will learn key economic concepts and how they are applied to inform the funding and structure of healthcare systems and explain how people’s behaviour with regard to their health. For Economic Evaluation, you will discover the key stages of an evaluation, with the aim of being able to critically appraise an Economic Evaluation. In addition, we deliver two practical workshops on decision modelling and decision making which allow you to put the skills you have earned into practice.

Anyone involved with decision making in Public Health needs to be able to understand and interpret Economic Evaluations, therefore having these skills will be a major attraction for employers. Furthermore, students gain transferable skills in writing and critical thinking which are important for any role.

The module leaders are experienced Health Economists with different specialities, thus providing students an insights into multiple aspects of health economics. Our teaching is research-led, drawing on our own research in Health Economics.

We are passionate about teaching this module, especially the challenge of explaining a subject that is often seen as complex and very different from other health related subjects. It is always gratifying to see students develop the necessary skills to be able to critically assess an Economic Evaluation or be able to explain how and why a healthcare system is funded in a particular way.

Your module leaders are:

Dr Tessa Langley – Associate Professor in Health Economics

“Health Economics is an integral aspect of contemporary Public Health, and I believe that economics has a role to play in explaining and addressing most if not all public health problems. Health Economics doesn’t give us all the answers, but is like a toolbox that helps in decision making. I really enjoy teaching students how to view Public Health through the lens of Health Economics and how to apply economic theory in public health practice.”

Dr Matthew Jones – Assistant Professor in Health Economics

“Teaching Health Economics has always been a pleasant challenge. I have had many fascinating conversations with students about the rights and wrongs of Economic Evaluation, and decision making in healthcare and Public Health. Teaching on this module has improved my understanding of key aspects of Health Economics and helped me to become a better academic.“

A comprehensive understanding of statistical concepts and methods is essential for understanding current public health research and developing effective public health practice. Increasingly, knowledge of, and the ability to apply, more advanced statistical methods using statistical software, is key to being able to analyse and interpret the complexity of public health data. In the further medical statistics module, we introduce many of the more advanced statistical methods and analyses being used in the public health domain, and provide the skills needed to use these methods to analyse and interpret real-world data.

This module will provide you with the knowledge and skills in using a variety of regression methods which allow us to explore the effects of individual and multiple factors on different health outcomes in different study designs. You are introduced to the important statistical concepts needed to understand the theories underlying these methods, but the focus is on practical application to real-world datasets, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to try different methods and strategies of multivariate analysis in different public health contexts. We cover considerations of missing data and methods such as time series which is increasingly used for the evaluation of public health interventions. We use the freely available R statistical software throughout, building on the skills learned in the Medical Statistics module, and gaining confidence in the use of this software for managing and analysing complex data.

The ability to understand quantitative research findings and information, where more advanced statistical methods have been used, is important across all graduate public health careers, whilst the skills in analysing and interpreting complex quantitative data are crucial for careers as public health analysts, epidemiologists, or information specialists.

We bring together medical statisticians and epidemiologists working across a huge range of public health and clinical domains, with expertise in applying advanced statistical and epidemiological methods to a wide variety of national and international health datasets.

We thoroughly enjoy teaching this module and enjoy finding ways to stimulate your interest in statistics. We show how they can be used to address real public health problems, and we love to watch students, some of whom come to the module with innate trepidation about their ability to work with numerical data, gradually build their confidence in their ability to use the software and to apply complex methods. You will explore and generate new insights from data, and hopefully a genuine love of statistics.

Your module leaders are:

Dr Sonia Gran– Associate Professor in Medical Statistics:

“I thoroughly enjoy teaching this module as I see students appreciate the value of medical statistics in the field of public health and develop in their skills, knowledge and confidence. It is also great to see students choose career pathways that involve medical statistics after completion of this module."

Professor Tricia McKeever – Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics.

“I love sharing my passion for statistics and epidemiology and their application to areas of medicine from tobacco and alcohol research, to older people’s research. I enjoy watching students grow in confidence and appreciation of the subject.”

The qualitative research approach is increasingly being recognised as making an important contribution to understanding people’s behaviour and health. As such, understanding and applying qualitative research methods and techniques is central to public health and global health practice. Our teaching provides an overview of how the approach can both hold its own, as well as complementing the quantitative approach. By understanding how people think and act and how the various systems in public health operate, qualitative research allows us to build a robust evidence base, to inform policy and practice to improve local, national, and global health outcomes.

The module introduces the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research, followed by designing and appraising qualitative studies across the research process. You will be supported to think critically about sampling and bias, including how we navigate these challenges to ensure our outputs are trustworthy. We then explore data collection methods and analytical approaches that we can use to help manage, synthesise, and report data collected. The module provides you ample opportunities to learn and read about, and undertake practical exercises relating to commonly used and emergent qualitative methods relevant to public health.

An appreciation of the qualitative approach is important across all graduate public health careers. The module equips you with the skills to design, implement, deliver, and report qualitative research endeavours, which is fundamental for all practice-based and academic public health.

We bring together world-leading qualitative methodological academic experts and make use of examples from various settings and populations, highlighting the versatility and value of qualitative research. This spans local, national, and global spheres, to inform and improve future public health initiatives and thus health outcomes.

We have a strong focus on research impact, with research communication skills being embedded within all the learning emphasising how we ensure our research reaches the right people, in the right format, at the right time – and the importance of engaging the relevant populations in the work we plan and do.

We enjoy teaching and sharing this module. It is wonderful to see students who often come to us with limited prior knowledge and/or experience of the qualitative research approach, immerse themselves in the journey. You quickly see them applying their learning to real practice in public health; either through planning their own qualitative studies or in their ability to manage, analyse and report qualitative data. This is when the goal of the module is realised – students leave equipped with the skills to become independent researchers.

Your module leaders are:

Dr Manpreet Bains – Associate Professor in Qualitative and Mixed Methods Health Research

“I am passionate about teaching qualitative research methods to public health students. My expertise in qualitative research is vast and spans a variety of topics and settings in public health, spanning different global settings. Currently, much of my work centres on underserved and minority populations, and I thoroughly enjoy sharing my own experiences and hearing about students’ own experiences, which stimulates fantastic debates too!”

Dr Paul Leighton – Associate Professor of Applied Health Research

“Protecting and improving individual and community health is simply too complex to rely upon the numbers alone! We need to understand the context and specifics of peoples’ lives and appreciate the challenges and circumstances that they face. Qualitative methods provide the tools to do this, engaging with people in a way that offers the sort of specific, rich, and detailed insight that can help us think more broadly about the challenges of public health.”

Data is at the centre of everything that we do. The amount of data created, captured and consumed worldwide is estimated to increase 90-fold between 2010 and 2025. In healthcare, analysis of data is required for the purposes of healthcare planning and evaluation and in the analysis of research data. Data management is an important and time consuming initial phase of ensuring any data we make decisions based on is reliable and usable. Proper data management allows us to be certain that analyses have been conducted correctly and robustly in a reproducible manner.

The Data Organisation and Management in Epidemiology module is a comprehensive course which assumes only fundamental knowledge of the workings of the R software as a pre-requisite. We take you through all stages of the data management journey from exporting data created for an external package to combining information across multiple datasets, and using loops and iterations to perform tasks more efficiently. Much of this is done using the Tidyverse; a set of commands which share an underlying design philosophy, grammar, and data structures to enable consistent coding patterns across a number of common data management tasks.

Students who have completed the module in past years are fully equipped to complete dissertation projects which involve the analysis of large datasets or undertake PhDs in this field. Many more will have learnt a lifelong skill which will equip them to deal with a world where data and how to use it is becoming ever more important. Our evaluations of the module over the years have shown that we have been consistently successful in meeting these aims and playing our own small part in creating a data-literate society.

We love teaching this module, as the skills which you will acquire will be generically applicable in the future – we will teach you what is possible with data, and how to solve problems with data. You will become familiar with reproducible data analyses, and in how to set out data analysis steps when writing technical reports. You will become used to careful storage and management of data, which is central to working with data. You will be a team member who will be cognizant of the need to plan how you will deal with data. It’s great to watch you grow and learn how to deal with data – it’s a practical module and we love seeing students rapidly improve their data analytic skills over the course of the module.

Your module leaders are:

Dr Matthew Grainge– Associate Professor in Medical Statistics

“As a medical statistician, people often come to me for advice on how to analyse their data. However, it soon becomes apparent that what they really need guidance on is how to organise the data they have collected to that it is an acceptable state to proceed with statistical analysis tasks. This module highlights this important step in the research process. I love illustrating to students that playing with and manipulating data is a joyful challenge rather than a necessary evil.”

Dr Andrew Prayle

– Clinical Associate Professor in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine

“Data management is often seen as a somewhat dry topic which has little impact. However, in clinical medicine and public health, you frequently encounter projects which could have been massively improved if someone who is well versed in preparing data for analysis had been involved from the outset. In this module we will teach you how to work ‘magic’ on data – for example, combining multiple datasets together in a reliable way to allow novel analyses, identifying problems with data, and automating data analysis tasks. This will allow you to in the future be efficient and effective when working with data.”

Public health is an evidence-based discipline. Systematic reviews are an important type of evidence that public health practitioners use as they are regarded as the gold standard for supporting decision making. Systematic reviews comprehensively identify, collate, and summarise the body of knowledge on a particular topic or question to provide a complete interpretation of the research. This means that public health decisions can be made based on the best available evidence. Systematic reviews are important for decision making because their rigorous and explicit methodology promotes findings that are free of bias.

The methodology of systematic reviews enables students to link across many core public health topics related to study design, critical appraisal, data management, analysis skills, and library skills.

The module will take you on an exciting journey through the steps involved in conducting a systematic review. We cover the methods that apply to a range of different types of public health interventions, including those focusing on feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness, and effectiveness. We look at how to frame the question for the systematic review, searching and screening the evidence, critical appraisal of the evidence, synthesis of the evidence, and assessing the confidence in the findings of the review. Students learn the theory of these steps and have practical sessions throughout the module to apply their learning.

Understanding the theory and practical application of systematic reviews is a key aspect of public health. All public health professionals will need to be able to read and understand the findings from systematic review articles and critique the quality of a review. Additionally, some public health graduates may need to conduct their own systematic review of the evidence for a specific topic or area. Gaining knowledge of the process and experience in conducting the steps of a systematic review will provide the foundations for conducting your own systematic review.

The module convenors are Directors of the Nottingham Centre for Evidence Based Healthcare, which is a JBI Centre of Excellence. The Centre is internationally recognised as a leader in evidence synthesis, comprising of world-leading experienced academic researchers, information scientists, and clinical practitioners, all specialising in evidence synthesis. We are highly experienced in delivering accredited short courses and bespoke workshops locally, nationally, and internationally on all aspects of evidence synthesis, including systematic reviews and scoping reviews.

As experts in evidence synthesis and systematic reviews, we enjoy teaching and sharing our knowledge, hints, and tips with our students. The content follows a linear format focusing on the steps of a systematic review and the delivery is split between the expertise of the two module leads, where we cover approaches to systematic reviews for quantitative and qualitative study designs. We particularly enjoy discussing the topic of the assignment with the students since choosing their own topic means that students apply the principles and practices of systematic reviews to a context which has meaning to them.

Your module leaders are:

Professor Jo Leonardi-Bee– Professor of Evidence Synthesis

“I love teaching students how systematic reviews can be used to help make the most of existing research evidence to help healthcare professionals, patients, and the public to make informed decisions about health. I work closely with JBI, which is one of the main organisations at the forefront of evidence synthesis, to develop systematic review methods.”

Professor Catrin Evans – Professor of Evidence Based Healthcare

“I am an enthusiastic and award-winning educator who enjoys supporting students to achieve their potential. I am passionate about working with health professionals to understand how to use evidence to inform policy and practice.”

The Key Concepts Public Health module aims to introduce students to the wide range of topics covered in public health and ensure that students undertaking the Master of Public Health Course have a basic understanding of essential public health concepts.

The Key Concepts Public Health module aims to introduce students to the wide range of topics covered in public health and ensure that students undertaking the Master of Public Health Course have a basic understanding of essential public health concepts.

Within this module, we introduce you to a range of topics including health inequalities, determinants of health and health risk. The module also introduces the UK public health system, which is of particular importance to international students.

A focus of this module will be understanding the underpinning reasons for people’s health and their health behaviours, it will explore health concepts through a number of different lenses. The biomedical view of public health will be taught alongside sociological and psychosocial views of health. The module will provide you with an appreciation of both the science and the art of public health practice.

During this module you will learn some practical applications of public health by exploring how to understand and interpret public health data and attending two practical skills sessions. Some sessions are led by a senior public health practitioners and allow you to focus and engage with real-world examples of public health application across a number of settings.

Reflective practice and interprofessional working are key skills in public health, and this module will ensure you are able to develop your social skills alongside your academic skills. Introduction to theoretical concepts combined with practical skills sessions ensure that you understand the importance of different elements of public health, how they are linked, and how theoretical concepts are applied in public health practice. After completion of the module, you will have developed a broad core knowledge of population health, allowing you to successfully continue with your degree, particularly if your background is unrelated to public health.

Many of the topics covered in the Key Concepts in Public Health module are further explored in specialist modules that students take as part of their MPH/ Global Health / Health Research degree. However, for some students, some of the concepts covered in this module will be their only introduction to a particular topic. This is of key importance as all public health roles require a basic understanding of the key principles of public health covered in this module.

The module is taught by a range of outstanding academics and public health professionals who have extensive research and practical experience. The taught sessions include interactive elements such as small group discussions, quizzes, and analysis of public health scenarios. As our students come from around the world the module is also an excellent opportunity for knowledge exchange, particularly when it comes to understanding how public health works in different settings. The Key Concepts in Public Health module is usually the first module all our students take in the autumn semester and therefore it is an excellent opportunity for students to meet the teaching team and get to know their peers.

Your module convenors are:

Dr Ilze Bogdanovica– Associate Professor in public health

“I enjoy teaching on Key Concepts of Public Health as it gives me an opportunity to introduce students to the fascinating field of public health.”

Professor Jo Morling – Professor of Public Health

“I think the Key Concepts of Public Health module is a fantastic foundation on which to base the rest of the MPH/Global health teaching and learning. Seeing students gain an appreciation of how many components feed into the concept of public health and build on their passion is incredibly rewarding.”

Protecting and improving the health of the population are the key components of public health practice and delivery.

Health improvement is the multi-faceted approach to making population level changes to health, it includes behaviour change, legislation and policy change, organisation of the structure of society and the built environment as a contributor to health. It includes health education, communication theory, and the role of modifiable and non-modifiable lifestyle factors in determining life course health outcomes.

Being able to change and influence health behaviour is a key pillar of public health practice and is recognised as a key public health competency alongside health protection. Health improvement has the potential to fundamentally change population health outcomes which is the overall aim of global public health.

Health protection explores the way diseases and infections spread within communities and more widely across the globe is one of the fundamental backbones of public health practice. Health protection is not just concerned with the spread of infectious disease but also includes biological, chemical, radiation, and nuclear health hazards and environmental health. Being able to stop the spread of disease, predict and control disease outbreaks, and protect people’s health through chemical and environmental regulation is not only exciting and rewarding but centrally important to global public health.

Health protection brings together all the core public health competencies – epidemiology, data management, leadership, behaviour change, and many more. It is fast paced and critically can be the difference between life and death.

The module will take you on an exciting journey into improving and protecting the health of the population. There is overlap between the concepts and theories needed to improve and protect health and this module will draw out the key skills you will need for you daily public health practice.

We cover local, national and global health improvement initiatives including screening programmes and the role of taxation and legislation as drivers to improve health.

The module is heavily focussed on orientating health improvement and protection in the context of the wider societal, cultural, and structural barriers which prevent health improvement. Health improvement is all about meeting people where they are on their health journey and making the healthy choice the easier choice for people. Understanding these nuances and drivers for health behaviours in a population creates an immersive learning experience for students.

We bring together world-leading experts in health improvement and health protection who contextualise daily practice with academic theory. The world of public health is ever changing and our experts bring the most recent case studies to life for students with their real-life reflections.

We have a strong focus on communication skills that underpin the teaching and module delivery you’ll receive as a core skill required for public health practice. We enjoy teaching and sharing this module with our students because it covers fundamental core global public health priorities. In practice, it is fast-paced and exciting. The content is broad and covers many exciting topics which the public often takes for granted, and being able to offer students an immersive teaching experience in the world of health improvement and protection is a great privilege. We particularly enjoy hearing students’ experiences health in international contexts.

Your module leaders are:

Professor Liz Orton– Professor of Public Health Medicine

“As a public health consultant I have a lot of experience of health improvement in practice. Teaching the students how to improve the population’s health is so much fun seeing them develop from what they thought it was all about to a much wider understanding of the breadth of practice opportunities.”

Professor Emma Wilson – Professor of Public Health

“For me, improving population health is the fundamental priorioty of public health practice. I love teaching health protection and health promotion theory and helping students understand how to change behaviour”.

Jemma Orr – Associate Professor in Public Health and Nutrition

“As a public health nutrition expert this module allows me to share the best practice in public health promotion and protection in relation to food, nutrition, and physical activity.”

Understanding and applying research methods and techniques is a key skill for public health and global health practice. In our research methods module teaching we give you a broad overview of the types of research techniques which are applicable to global public health. Research is a centrally important component of public health and global health practice as it allows us to build a robust evidence base which helps to inform policy and practice to improve local, national, and global health outcomes.

The module will take you on a journey through the process of designing, developing, implementing, and disseminating quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research methodologies specifically applied to public health settings.

You’ll learn to embed evidence-based research practices across all their other public health and global health modules to create critical research-informed arguments which will support the development of an independent research project.

Having an understanding and appreciation of research methods is important across all graduate public health careers and forms a fundamental building block for all practice-based and academic public health.

We bring together world-leading academic experts and contemporary case studies to highlight the intricacies of performing local, national, and global public health research to inform and improve future health outcomes.

We have a strong focus on research impact, with research communication skills being embedded within all the learning emphasising how we ensure our research reaches the right people, in the right format, at the right time.

We build on our academic successes being rated as 4* for Impact in Global Research in REF, to deliver highly relevant research-informed teaching, supported by wider learning and practice-based opportunities.

We are dedicated to teaching and sharing this module with our students as it is always wonderful to see students immerse themselves into the world of public health research, for some, this may be their first interaction with research, and we love seeing our students grow into independent researchers. We are always amazed by the creative ideas students have for targeted dissemination of research to public audiences, and the breadth of global experiences within the student group.

Your module leaders are:

Sam Crossley – Associate Professor in Public Health

“I am a mixed methods and qualitative researcher and I enjoy doing both research and evaluation projects. I enjoy sharing this module with the students and seeing your learning develop in preparation for your independent research project.”

Professor Emma Wilson– Professor of Public Health

“I love teaching research methods to the public health students, my particular expertise is qualitative and mixed methods research, and I really enjoy sharing my love for public health related breast cancer research with students through this module. I really enjoy interacting with the students to hear about and build upon their research practice in their local contexts.”

Professor Jo Leonardi-Bee – Professor of Evidence Synthesis

“I have always enjoyed academic research and supporting student research. As the Director of the Nottingham Centre for Evidence-Based Healthcare my particular expertise is in evidence-synthesis. I love supporting students to develop and perform systematic reviews and meta-analyses. I really enjoy seeing the students develop their research skills from this module into their own research project.”

Public Health Interventions is an essential aspect of public health practice at local, regional, national, and international levels. Applying principles which are relevant across the full spectrum of public health interventions - from population-level interventions such as vaccination programmes and public information campaigns through to wider health determinants interventions such as speed limits - this module teaches students how to plan evidence-based interventions and take a rigorous approach to evaluation.

We take students through the full intervention cycle, from the identification of public health priorities in a given context and identification of evidence-based interventions through to how to plan the delivery of such interventions and how to evaluate whether such interventions have met their goals and how. The module covers techniques such as health needs assessment which are commonly used in public health practice to review health issues and agree on priorities and considers how to plan the delivery of interventions which are evidence-based and feasible given local contexts and through the active involvement of key stakeholders. The module equips students with the skills to answer essential evaluation questions: Did the intervention work in the given context? If yes, why was it effective, and can we improve it? And if not, why didn’t it work?

The module is delivered by academics who have experience in the development and evaluation of diverse public health interventions in the UK and international contexts, from local interventions such as falls prevention programmes for the elderly and national-level tobacco control policies through to international projects to prevent and manage non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries. The module includes practical workshops with public health experts from local authorities and international organisations such as the WHO and the UN who help to bring theoretical concepts to life, such as planning and evaluating public health interventions in global emergencies and as part of international development.

We enjoy teaching this module because it is highly interactive and develops a range of skills that will be relevant to all students, irrespective of their backgrounds and which areas of public health they go on to work in. Students complete the module with knowledge and skills which they can directly apply in their future public health practice. Much of the learning arises from discussions between the students themselves, and as module leaders, we learn a lot this way too!

Your module leaders are:

Dr Tessa Langley – Associate Professor in Health Economics

“Everywhere in the world public health practitioners have to identify and prioritise public health problems, identify solutions to those problems and assess whether those solutions work; helping students learn how to do this effectively is very rewarding. I particularly enjoy seeing students applying the concepts they learn to the public health problems that are most important to them.”

Dr Kaushik Chattopadhyay – Associate Professor in Evidence Based Healthcare

“I enjoy doing global health research to improve people’s health and well-being and translating my experiences into teaching. I believe this is one of the most pragmatic MPH modules - students learn how to solve a public health problem using an evidence-based solution, which ultimately will give great satisfaction to any public health practitioner.”

Scarcity of resources means that choices need to be made about how resources should be used; Health Economics is the study of how those choices are made in relation to health and health care. More countries are moving to decision making using evidence-based medicine, with Economic Evaluation used to demonstrate which interventions provide good value for money a vital component of the decision making process. This is particularly important in Public Health as many of the interventions don’t have immediate health benefits and therefore risk being overlooked in favour of healthcare interventions that do. Health Economics can also be used to understand other health-related decisions, including individuals’ health-related behaviours, such as unhealthy lifestyle choices, and different approaches to funding healthcare.

In this module, you will learn key economic concepts and how they are applied to inform the funding and structure of healthcare systems and explain how people’s behaviour with regard to their health. For Economic Evaluation, you will discover the key stages of an evaluation, with the aim of being able to critically appraise an Economic Evaluation. In addition, we deliver two practical workshops on decision modelling and decision making which allow you to put the skills you have earned into practice.

Anyone involved with decision making in Public Health needs to be able to understand and interpret Economic Evaluations, therefore having these skills will be a major attraction for employers. Furthermore, students gain transferable skills in writing and critical thinking which are important for any role.

The module leaders are experienced Health Economists with different specialities, thus providing students an insights into multiple aspects of health economics. Our teaching is research-led, drawing on our own research in Health Economics.

We are passionate about teaching this module, especially the challenge of explaining a subject that is often seen as complex and very different from other health related subjects. It is always gratifying to see students develop the necessary skills to be able to critically assess an Economic Evaluation or be able to explain how and why a healthcare system is funded in a particular way.

Your module leaders are:

Dr Tessa Langley – Associate Professor in Health Economics

“Health Economics is an integral aspect of contemporary Public Health, and I believe that economics has a role to play in explaining and addressing most if not all public health problems. Health Economics doesn’t give us all the answers, but is like a toolbox that helps in decision making. I really enjoy teaching students how to view Public Health through the lens of Health Economics and how to apply economic theory in public health practice.”

Dr Matthew Jones – Assistant Professor in Health Economics

“Teaching Health Economics has always been a pleasant challenge. I have had many fascinating conversations with students about the rights and wrongs of Economic Evaluation, and decision making in healthcare and Public Health. Teaching on this module has improved my understanding of key aspects of Health Economics and helped me to become a better academic.“

A comprehensive understanding of statistical concepts and methods is essential for understanding current public health research and developing effective public health practice. Increasingly, knowledge of, and the ability to apply, more advanced statistical methods using statistical software, is key to being able to analyse and interpret the complexity of public health data. In the further medical statistics module, we introduce many of the more advanced statistical methods and analyses being used in the public health domain, and provide the skills needed to use these methods to analyse and interpret real-world data.

This module will provide you with the knowledge and skills in using a variety of regression methods which allow us to explore the effects of individual and multiple factors on different health outcomes in different study designs. You are introduced to the important statistical concepts needed to understand the theories underlying these methods, but the focus is on practical application to real-world datasets, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to try different methods and strategies of multivariate analysis in different public health contexts. We cover considerations of missing data and methods such as time series which is increasingly used for the evaluation of public health interventions. We use the freely available R statistical software throughout, building on the skills learned in the Medical Statistics module, and gaining confidence in the use of this software for managing and analysing complex data.

The ability to understand quantitative research findings and information, where more advanced statistical methods have been used, is important across all graduate public health careers, whilst the skills in analysing and interpreting complex quantitative data are crucial for careers as public health analysts, epidemiologists, or information specialists.

We bring together medical statisticians and epidemiologists working across a huge range of public health and clinical domains, with expertise in applying advanced statistical and epidemiological methods to a wide variety of national and international health datasets.

We thoroughly enjoy teaching this module and enjoy finding ways to stimulate your interest in statistics. We show how they can be used to address real public health problems, and we love to watch students, some of whom come to the module with innate trepidation about their ability to work with numerical data, gradually build their confidence in their ability to use the software and to apply complex methods. You will explore and generate new insights from data, and hopefully a genuine love of statistics.

Your module leaders are:

Dr Sonia Gran– Associate Professor in Medical Statistics:

“I thoroughly enjoy teaching this module as I see students appreciate the value of medical statistics in the field of public health and develop in their skills, knowledge and confidence. It is also great to see students choose career pathways that involve medical statistics after completion of this module."

Professor Tricia McKeever – Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics.

“I love sharing my passion for statistics and epidemiology and their application to areas of medicine from tobacco and alcohol research, to older people’s research. I enjoy watching students grow in confidence and appreciation of the subject.”

The qualitative research approach is increasingly being recognised as making an important contribution to understanding people’s behaviour and health. As such, understanding and applying qualitative research methods and techniques is central to public health and global health practice. Our teaching provides an overview of how the approach can both hold its own, as well as complementing the quantitative approach. By understanding how people think and act and how the various systems in public health operate, qualitative research allows us to build a robust evidence base, to inform policy and practice to improve local, national, and global health outcomes.

The module introduces the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research, followed by designing and appraising qualitative studies across the research process. You will be supported to think critically about sampling and bias, including how we navigate these challenges to ensure our outputs are trustworthy. We then explore data collection methods and analytical approaches that we can use to help manage, synthesise, and report data collected. The module provides you ample opportunities to learn and read about, and undertake practical exercises relating to commonly used and emergent qualitative methods relevant to public health.

An appreciation of the qualitative approach is important across all graduate public health careers. The module equips you with the skills to design, implement, deliver, and report qualitative research endeavours, which is fundamental for all practice-based and academic public health.

We bring together world-leading qualitative methodological academic experts and make use of examples from various settings and populations, highlighting the versatility and value of qualitative research. This spans local, national, and global spheres, to inform and improve future public health initiatives and thus health outcomes.

We have a strong focus on research impact, with research communication skills being embedded within all the learning emphasising how we ensure our research reaches the right people, in the right format, at the right time – and the importance of engaging the relevant populations in the work we plan and do.

We enjoy teaching and sharing this module. It is wonderful to see students who often come to us with limited prior knowledge and/or experience of the qualitative research approach, immerse themselves in the journey. You quickly see them applying their learning to real practice in public health; either through planning their own qualitative studies or in their ability to manage, analyse and report qualitative data. This is when the goal of the module is realised – students leave equipped with the skills to become independent researchers.

Your module leaders are:

Dr Manpreet Bains – Associate Professor in Qualitative and Mixed Methods Health Research

“I am passionate about teaching qualitative research methods to public health students. My expertise in qualitative research is vast and spans a variety of topics and settings in public health, spanning different global settings. Currently, much of my work centres on underserved and minority populations, and I thoroughly enjoy sharing my own experiences and hearing about students’ own experiences, which stimulates fantastic debates too!”

Dr Paul Leighton – Associate Professor of Applied Health Research

“Protecting and improving individual and community health is simply too complex to rely upon the numbers alone! We need to understand the context and specifics of peoples’ lives and appreciate the challenges and circumstances that they face. Qualitative methods provide the tools to do this, engaging with people in a way that offers the sort of specific, rich, and detailed insight that can help us think more broadly about the challenges of public health.”

Data is at the centre of everything that we do. The amount of data created, captured and consumed worldwide is estimated to increase 90-fold between 2010 and 2025. In healthcare, analysis of data is required for the purposes of healthcare planning and evaluation and in the analysis of research data. Data management is an important and time consuming initial phase of ensuring any data we make decisions based on is reliable and usable. Proper data management allows us to be certain that analyses have been conducted correctly and robustly in a reproducible manner.

The Data Organisation and Management in Epidemiology module is a comprehensive course which assumes only fundamental knowledge of the workings of the R software as a pre-requisite. We take you through all stages of the data management journey from exporting data created for an external package to combining information across multiple datasets, and using loops and iterations to perform tasks more efficiently. Much of this is done using the Tidyverse; a set of commands which share an underlying design philosophy, grammar, and data structures to enable consistent coding patterns across a number of common data management tasks.

Students who have completed the module in past years are fully equipped to complete dissertation projects which involve the analysis of large datasets or undertake PhDs in this field. Many more will have learnt a lifelong skill which will equip them to deal with a world where data and how to use it is becoming ever more important. Our evaluations of the module over the years have shown that we have been consistently successful in meeting these aims and playing our own small part in creating a data-literate society.

We love teaching this module, as the skills which you will acquire will be generically applicable in the future – we will teach you what is possible with data, and how to solve problems with data. You will become familiar with reproducible data analyses, and in how to set out data analysis steps when writing technical reports. You will become used to careful storage and management of data, which is central to working with data. You will be a team member who will be cognizant of the need to plan how you will deal with data. It’s great to watch you grow and learn how to deal with data – it’s a practical module and we love seeing students rapidly improve their data analytic skills over the course of the module.

Your module leaders are:

Dr Matthew Grainge– Associate Professor in Medical Statistics

“As a medical statistician, people often come to me for advice on how to analyse their data. However, it soon becomes apparent that what they really need guidance on is how to organise the data they have collected to that it is an acceptable state to proceed with statistical analysis tasks. This module highlights this important step in the research process. I love illustrating to students that playing with and manipulating data is a joyful challenge rather than a necessary evil.”

Dr Andrew Prayle

– Clinical Associate Professor in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine

“Data management is often seen as a somewhat dry topic which has little impact. However, in clinical medicine and public health, you frequently encounter projects which could have been massively improved if someone who is well versed in preparing data for analysis had been involved from the outset. In this module we will teach you how to work ‘magic’ on data – for example, combining multiple datasets together in a reliable way to allow novel analyses, identifying problems with data, and automating data analysis tasks. This will allow you to in the future be efficient and effective when working with data.”

Public health is an evidence-based discipline. Systematic reviews are an important type of evidence that public health practitioners use as they are regarded as the gold standard for supporting decision making. Systematic reviews comprehensively identify, collate, and summarise the body of knowledge on a particular topic or question to provide a complete interpretation of the research. This means that public health decisions can be made based on the best available evidence. Systematic reviews are important for decision making because their rigorous and explicit methodology promotes findings that are free of bias.

The methodology of systematic reviews enables students to link across many core public health topics related to study design, critical appraisal, data management, analysis skills, and library skills.

The module will take you on an exciting journey through the steps involved in conducting a systematic review. We cover the methods that apply to a range of different types of public health interventions, including those focusing on feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness, and effectiveness. We look at how to frame the question for the systematic review, searching and screening the evidence, critical appraisal of the evidence, synthesis of the evidence, and assessing the confidence in the findings of the review. Students learn the theory of these steps and have practical sessions throughout the module to apply their learning.

Understanding the theory and practical application of systematic reviews is a key aspect of public health. All public health professionals will need to be able to read and understand the findings from systematic review articles and critique the quality of a review. Additionally, some public health graduates may need to conduct their own systematic review of the evidence for a specific topic or area. Gaining knowledge of the process and experience in conducting the steps of a systematic review will provide the foundations for conducting your own systematic review.

The module convenors are Directors of the Nottingham Centre for Evidence Based Healthcare, which is a JBI Centre of Excellence. The Centre is internationally recognised as a leader in evidence synthesis, comprising of world-leading experienced academic researchers, information scientists, and clinical practitioners, all specialising in evidence synthesis. We are highly experienced in delivering accredited short courses and bespoke workshops locally, nationally, and internationally on all aspects of evidence synthesis, including systematic reviews and scoping reviews.

As experts in evidence synthesis and systematic reviews, we enjoy teaching and sharing our knowledge, hints, and tips with our students. The content follows a linear format focusing on the steps of a systematic review and the delivery is split between the expertise of the two module leads, where we cover approaches to systematic reviews for quantitative and qualitative study designs. We particularly enjoy discussing the topic of the assignment with the students since choosing their own topic means that students apply the principles and practices of systematic reviews to a context which has meaning to them.

Your module leaders are:

Professor Jo Leonardi-Bee– Professor of Evidence Synthesis

“I love teaching students how systematic reviews can be used to help make the most of existing research evidence to help healthcare professionals, patients, and the public to make informed decisions about health. I work closely with JBI, which is one of the main organisations at the forefront of evidence synthesis, to develop systematic review methods.”

Professor Catrin Evans – Professor of Evidence Based Healthcare

“I am an enthusiastic and award-winning educator who enjoys supporting students to achieve their potential. I am passionate about working with health professionals to understand how to use evidence to inform policy and practice.”