Research Department of Infection and Population Health

Led by experts at the UCL Centre for Sexual Health and HIV Research, the UCL program offers:

• A unique opportunity to study infections that make a major contribution to global mortality and morbidity
• A small and intimate Masters, offering close proximity to some of the world’s leading sexual health and HIV researchers to the student
• The opportunity to choose from a wide range of modules to meet your needs and interest, with everything from epidemiology and global health, to microbiology, and clinical training
• Benefits from UCL’s position as a global leader in biomedical research within the new Faculty of Population Health

Why study STIs and HIV at UCL?

Studying STIs opens up exciting and challenging career possibilities. STIs and HIV not only contribute a huge component of the global burden of disease, they have also driven some of the most cutting edge scientific developments of the past decade. These include areas as diverse as immunology, virology, vaccines for cancer, treatment as prevention, treatment of chronic diseases, structural drivers of disease, the role of community mobilization and disease control, to the science of aging.

This Masters provides Healthcare Professionals, Researchers, and those engaged in the public health aspects of STIs and HIV an opportunity to develop or refocus their careers, through advanced knowledge and skills training in all aspects of STI management and control.

Under the mentorship of the course organizer students tailor the course to their own learning objectives. Students can benefit from the close proximity to leading researchers in the field that a small and intimate course such as this Masters provides, whilst also benefiting from the academic and teaching resources than only a world renowned university such as UCL can provide. Students benefit from a varied approach to teaching, including lectures, seminars, group work, and self-directed learning as well as outside speakers from the WHO, HPA, global Fund and other global institutions.

A choice of learning pathways

UCL Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV programme is modular and can be studied either full time or part time, leading to a post graduate diploma (PGD) or Masters of Science (MSc). Full time study will be completed in one year. Part time it can be completed over two years. For those with work commitments it can be completed flexibly over 3-5 years

Step 1 (core modules) + Step 2 (optional modules) = PGD

Step 1 (core modules) + Step 2 (optional modules) + Step 3 (dissertation) = MSc

A wide range of modules

Students on our course come from a variety of different academic and professional backgrounds, and each wants something different out of the academic experience.

Accordingly students can build a personalized learning pathway based on a strong foundation of core principles of sexually transmitted infections (basic science, epidemiology and good clinical practice). The individualized pathways can range from a clinical or public health pathway, to one that focuses on global health, to one that builds the students research knowledge and skills as a foundation for a higher research degree (PhD).

Core modules are: Basic Science; Epidemiology; and Clinical STDs

Optional modules include:

• Advanced Statistical Modelling
• Anthropological perspectives on Global Health
• Basic Statistics for medical sciences
• Clinical Aspects of HIV Disease
• Concepts and Controversies in Global Health *
• Conflict, Migration and Human Rights
• Ethnicity Migration and Health
• Frontiers of Therapeutic Development in Infection & Immunity
• Global Health and Development: Emerging Policy Debates
• Global Justice and Health
• Health Management: Planning and Programme Design
• Healthcare Quality and Evidence Based Practice
• HIV Frontiers from Research to Clinics
• Key Principles of Health Economics
• Regression Modelling
• Research Methods in Social Epidemiology
• Research in Action: Qualitative approach
• Research in Action: Quantitative Approach
• Sexual Health: Designing Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs in Low and Middle Income Countries
• The Social Determinants of Global Health

For students working towards the MSc degree, the MSc dissertation runs as a long-term module supplementing academic supervision of the student's project with regular support sessions.

Students on all pathways through the Postgraduate Programme have access to a phenomenal range of intellectual, practical and support resources.

UCL - London's Global University

UCL - University College London - is the oldest and largest of the institutions that make up the University of London and has one of the highest ratings in the country for both teaching and research. Students benefit from all the facilities of a modern, internationally renowned university including three medical libraries, a careers service, sporting facilities, a theatre, and a lively students' union.

Students have access to the facilities and activities of the UCL Graduate School.

Facilities at Centre for Sexual Health and HIV research

The programme is based at the Mortimer Market Centre, just off Tottenham Court Road, in the heart of London and a stone throw away from the UCL main campus. The Mortimer Market Centre houses Europe’s largest clinics for sexually transmitted infections and HIV, as well as the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV research. The Centre, which is part of the Research Department of Infection and Population Health, was founded in 1979, as the Department of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, with the creation of the Duncan Guthrie Chair, the first in this specialty in the world. Since its foundation, the Centre has expanded steadily and is now staffed by a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists, clinicians, statisticians and behavioural scientists examining a wide range of issues relating to sexual health, STIs and HIV.

 Further information regarding UCL's facilities can be found here

The programme is academically rigorous and we recommend that students have at least an upper second-class honours degree or a medical degree from a recognized university. Applicants with appropriate technical or professional qualifications and/or considerable work experience in the field of sexual health or HIV, nationally and internationally are also welcomed.

The programme starts in September. Places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and early application is encouraged. Applications are made through UCL Admissions. For more information click here