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Institute for Global Health MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

Our MPhil/PhD programme offers students from a range of backgrounds the opportunity to explore topics within a broad global health agenda. The programme equips you for the diversity and demands of a career in global health.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2023/24)
£5,860
£2,930
Overseas tuition fees (2023/24)
£29,000
£14,500
Duration
3 calendar years
5 calendar years
Programme starts
Research degrees may start at any time of the year, but typically start in September.
Applications accepted
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Research programmes may start at any time of the year, but typically begin in September.

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.

If your education has not been conducted in the English language, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency.

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. International Preparation Courses

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 Institute for Global Health 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 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 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 research degree programme at UCL Institute for Global Health (IGH) 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.

MPhil/PhD research in IGH is varied and may have an international dimension, including field work carried out abroad, setting up a study within the UK, or using data from existing studies working with the respective IGH-based Principal Investigator.

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

Networking

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

Teaching and learning

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.

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 Institute for Global Health 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.

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 HIV clinical and population health research.

MPhil/PhD research in 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 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 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 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.

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.

Accessibility

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Pandemic Preparedness and Global Health Security

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In this webinar, we welcome Prof Dame Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency. Jenny works at the forefront of protecting the country from the impact of infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents and other health threats, to make the nation's health secure. During the pandemic, she was the UK's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, working alongside Prof Chris Whitty in his role as Chief Medical Officer.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2023/24) £5,860 £2,930
Tuition fees (2023/24) £29,000 £14,500

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

There are no additional costs for this programme.

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs.

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

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. However please note scholarship deadlines may dictate your programme start date.

Please note that you must identify a supervisor before applying and include a research proposal in your application. Find out more: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-health/study/research-degrees

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.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2023-2024

Year of entry: 2022-2023

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Institute for Global Health Department
Institute for Global Health Department

igh.researchdegrees@ucl.ac.uk

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