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Institute for Global Health MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

This is the programme information for 2025 entry

If you require details of the previous year's programme, Institute for Global Health MPhil/PhD (2024), click here

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2025/26)

£6,215

£3,105

Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)

£33,000

£16,500

Duration

3 calendar years

5 calendar years

Programme starts

October 2025

February 2026

May 2026

Applications accepted

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis but should be submitted at least three months prior to your preferred start date.

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor’s degree and a Master's degree in a relevant discipline from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard is required. Applicants who do not hold a Master's degree but who have extensive relevant work experience should contact IGH Research Degrees: igh.researchdegrees@ucl.ac.uk.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

The UCL Institute for Global Health (UCL IGH) provides unique, cross-disciplinary training in global health for students from a wide range of academic and professional backgrounds. Drawing on UCL's strength as a multi-faculty university, it brings together disciplines such as anthropology, economics, geography, law, philosophy, politics, clinical sciences and epidemiology to analyse complex health issues and identify solutions. Our programmes allow you to explore your interests in global health, broadening your horizons for your future career and giving you knowledge and a range of skills that are useful in the job market. Institute staff are experienced in many types of global health work, including research, programme management, policy advice and advocacy, and work closely across these areas in many different countries and global health institutions.

Who this course is for

The UCL Doctoral School Values candidates with a desire to challenge the status quo openly and freely but rigorously; an openness to pushing frontiers of disciplinary knowledge within and beyond conventional disciplines; a desire to make an impact with the fruits of research; to work with integrity; to be sensitive to diversity; and to engage with society beyond academia.

Read about what it takes to become a UCL graduate research student

What this course will give you

The UCL IGH research degree programme aims to provide excellent and challenging training for exceptional students so that they may successfully pursue careers in research, medicine, and other domains of global health.

Please note that you must identify a supervisor before applying and include a research proposal in your application. Visit our department webpage for information about how to apply and contact potential supervisors.

Find out how your research could have an impact

The foundation of your career

The institute offers a unique environment for cross-disciplinary study as well as the opportunity to engage with peers and staff with professional experience in many different domains of global health, including research, programme management, policy and advocacy. This exposure and the innovative and multi-faceted approach taken during the PhD programme will enable you to tackle complex problems which will in turn foster skills and contacts useful for your future career.

Employability

PhD students enter a range of careers, from academia (postdoctoral studies) to research or policy in governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry.

Networking

As a student within the institute, you will benefit from proximity to the extensive international networks developed by UCL IGH staff.

Teaching and learning

A PhD at UCL IGH will provide you with excellent training related to a number of disciplines related to global health. Through the Doctoral School, you will have access to an outstanding research and transferable skills development programme, with training provided to support your personal, professional and career development.

You will have the opportunity to become involved in teaching, leading to an application to become an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. You will be in an environment which encourages sharing research ideas with fellow students and colleagues through seminars and symposia, as well as student events such as the 3-Minute Thesis and poster competitions.

You will be expected to attend and present your research at national and international conferences providing you with opportunities to develop networks with peers and research leaders in academia, medicine, and industry.

The UCL Doctoral School Skills Development Programme provides a broad range of free training for PhD students across UCL. For further information see the Doctoral Skills Development Programme page.

You are initially registered for an MPhil, upgrading to a PhD typically towards the end of the first year of your studies (full-time), subject to satisfactory academic progress. For a successful upgrade to PhD, you must prepare a written report, give an oral presentation, and pass an oral examination. Further details of the upgrade process can be found here. The final assessment of your PhD is based on written thesis which is examined by independent experts in the field during a viva exam. Examiners may ask you to make corrections to your thesis, which will be published in the UCL library once approved.

You should expect an absolute minimum of one meeting with your supervisors per month and you are expected to attend regular group meetings and departmental seminars. Core working hours are 10am to 4pm and a full-time working week at UCL is normally 36.5 hours per week. Contact hours and hours of self-study are agreed between you and your supervisors at the beginning of your research degree and should be reviewed on a regular basis. With agreement of your supervisors, contact time can be on-site or remote working depending on the nature and stage of the project. In line with staff, full-time Research students should take 27 days of annual leave, plus eight days of Bank holidays and six UCL closure days. For part-time students, annual leave is pro rata.

Research areas and structure

Climate change, migration, conflict and health
Clinical research
Disease modelling and evaluation
Infectious diseases including HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis
Molecular epidemiology and translational research
Population sexual health
Gender and global health
Economics of global health and development
Methodology of global health trials
HIV epidemiology
Non-communicable diseases
Maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health

Research environment

The MPhil/PhD programme we offer at the UCL Institute for Global Health (UCL IGH) is relevant to a variety of disciplines in global health. Our programme aims to provide you with interesting, challenging and excellent training so that you may successfully pursue a career in research, medicine, health services, laboratory science, policy, or public health.

UCL IGH is a world-leading centre of research and teaching excellence in global health. Our unique approach combines interdisciplinary work in the real world with community engagement to develop and implement practical solutions to global health problems. Our strategy sets out to use research, teaching and enterprise to address the broad determinants of health and the major causes of deaths and ill-health. Our priorities and Centres therefore focus on a broad range of areas in which we are particularly strong. At the same time, our work is diverse enough to tackle issues affecting the most disadvantaged in society and the poorest settings, as well as major challenges affecting everyone, such as climate change. The strategy builds on our areas of methodological strength in global health in subjects such as maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, as well as sexual health and infectious and non-communicable diseases, clinical and population health research.
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MPhil/PhD research in UCL IGH is varied and may have an international dimension, including fieldwork carried out abroad, setting up a study within the UK, or using data from existing studies working with an UCL IGH-based Principal Investigator. The programme lasts three years if taken full-time. With help from your supervisors, you will finalise your research proposal during the first year, informed by current literature and practice. This may also require the collection of preliminary data, pilot questionnaires and so on.

You will investigate a relatively narrow topic but may be examined on a broad field of study. Should you need to spend periods of time collecting data from overseas, which will directly contribute to your thesis, study leave plans must be approved in advance.

You are expected to undertake 10 days of generic skills training each year over your period of study, which is logged and audited electronically. This will include, for example, courses on research design and statistics, ethical and legal issues, presentation skills, thesis production and career planning.

You are initially registered for an MPhil, upgrading to a PhD, subject to satisfactory academic progress. For a successful upgrade to PhD, you must prepare a written report, give an oral presentation and pass an oral examination.

MPhil/PhD research in UCL IGH is varied and may have an international dimension, including fieldwork carried out abroad, setting up a study within the UK, or using data from existing studies working with a UCL IGH-based Principal Investigator. The programme lasts five years if taken part-time. With help from your supervisors, you will finalise your research proposal during the first year, informed by current literature and practice. This may also require the collection of preliminary data, pilot questionnaires and so on.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time	Part-time
Tuition fees (2025/26)	£6,215	£3,105
Tuition fees (2025/26)	£33,000	£16,500

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

Attending and presenting your research at a national or international conference will be an additional cost.

Students can apply for some funding through internal funding and may be able to apply to professional societies to defray some of these costs.

Students on a studentship may be able to fund their attendance at a national or international conference through their studentship.

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

UCL offers a range of financial awards aimed at assisting both prospective and current students with their studies. At the institute we offer very limited funding opportunities, and many of our students secure funding from governments, research councils, and other agencies, or are otherwise self-funded.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

Research degrees typically start on 1st October but may also start on 1st February or 1st May. Prospective students should apply at least four months before their intended start date, but if you require a visa we recommend allowing for more time.

Please note that you must identify a supervisor before applying and include a research proposal in your application. Find out more.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This programme requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.