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Paediatrics and Child Health: Community Child Health MSc

London, Bloomsbury

Interested in community paediatrics and child health? Join us on this specialist MSc at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, one of the leading centres for child health research and practice globally. You will benefit from the institute’s renowned position in UK paediatrics and our strong links to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2026/27)
£16,800
£8,400
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Overseas tuition fees (2026/27)
£39,200
£19,600
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Duration
1 academic year
2 academic years
5 academic years
Programme starts
September 2026
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 26 Jun 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 28 Aug 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

Medically qualified applicants should have post-qualification experience in paediatrics or child health.

Non-medically qualified applicants should have an upper second-class UK bachelor's degree or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard, and experience of working in hospitals, community child health or public health services for children and families.

The English language level for this course 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

Primarily for students looking to work in community paediatrics or child health, this multidisciplinary Master’s degree gives you a unique opportunity to build specialist expertise in paediatrics and child health, working with world-renowned experts from UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Launched in 1986, originally as the MSc in Community Paediatrics, this course is part of the longest-running paediatric health MSc in London.

You will gain a detailed insight into the key principles and practice of evidence-based paediatrics and child health, while also exploring more specific areas, such as acute and chronic paediatrics, immunisation, safeguarding, nutrition, growth and physical activity, and child public health.

Alongside this, you will build valuable research and transferable skills, and gain first-hand experience of the latest evidence-based practice.

Teaching takes place at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH) in close collaboration with experts from GOSH NHS Foundation Trust.

With diverse module choices available in areas including child public health, immunisation, safeguarding, ethics and law for child health, you can shape the course towards the areas most in line with your interests and career plans. 

Who this course is for

The course is intended for professionals specialising in paediatrics and child health. The Paediatrics and Child Health: Community Child Health course is aimed principally at health professionals with experience in child health or public health from countries with developed health services who wish to gain the skills necessary to become a community child health practitioner.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

  • Study a well-established and hugely popular paediatrics course at one of the world’s top ten universities (QS World Rankings 2026), ranked number one for research power and impact in medicine, health and life sciences (REF 2021), and 3rd in the world for public health (ShanghaiRankings 2024).
     
  • Learn through lectures, tutorials and workshops with national and international experts in paediatric research and practice. We continually evolve the course based on student feedback and changing demands in the health service and academia.
     
  • Gain insight into UCL’s world-leading research into topics ranging across molecular genetics to population health sciences. UCL GOS ICH is a leading multidisciplinary research centre, committed to enhancing the understanding, diagnosis, therapy and prevention of childhood diseases.
     
  • Benefit from our close links with GOSH, with much of our research and teaching carried out on a joint basis.
     
  • Study and network with students from all over the world as part of an inspirational postgraduate learning environment.
     
  • Study at UCL’s Bloomsbury campus, in the heart of a London district famous for its cultural and educational institutions.
     
  • Benefit from first-rate facilities in both laboratory and non-laboratory subjects including the UCL GOS ICH library.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

This Master’s degree will help you understand the core principles of evidence-based paediatrics and child health.

You will learn about current and future developments in paediatric medicine and child health and gain the skills necessary to critically appraise practice and policy, and carry out independent Master's-level research.

You will also have the academic and clinical skills you need to go into community practice. Medical graduates based in the UK can continue in their career pathway in community paediatrics.

Many of our graduates have gone onto begin or complete their specialist paediatric training, into careers as consultants in paediatrics or senior professionals in other related fields including with the NHS, government health departments, ministries of health and NGOs all over the world.*

* Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the cohorts 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23.

Employability

By the end of your Master’s degree, you will have the skills necessary to become a community health practitioner.

You will be able to assess the need for child health services, help plan services, and understand the rationale and organisation of preventive child health services. You will also have an understanding of the relationship between social conditions and health and how those insights can be used to improve services.

Networking

The UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health offers seven MSc courses as well as an MRes in Child Health encompassing a wide range of topics. Our students come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, from the UK and overseas providing great networking opportunities within and across courses. We hold social events throughout the year for the whole student cohort to enable networking between students. Students on the Master's courses have the opportunity to join events such as the Otto Wolff lectures hosted by the research and teaching departments. These cover a variety of topics and provide an opportunity to hear from national and international experts and to network at the social event that usually accompanies these events.   

Teaching and learning

Throughout this course, you will be taught subject-specific knowledge via a variety of methods including but not limited to lectures, discussion groups and external reading.

You will assimilate practical and transferable skills via teaching, self-learning and assessments through the various modules provided by this course. Between modules you will have time to work on your dissertation.

Assessment is through a combination of multiple-choice questions and short-answer question examinations, essays, posters, presentations, reflective portfolios, critical appraisal of literature. For the full MSc, a dissertation is required. 

Most modules are delivered as blocks of study, normally over four or five consecutive days from 9am - 5pm. Full-time students can expect to spend approximately 25 to 30 days on campus in module delivery in Terms 1 and 2, equal to approximately 12 to 15 hours of contact hours per week.

When you are not in a module delivery week, you can expect to spend 35 hours a week in self-directed study - reading, revising and preparing for assignments. Part-time and flexible students study at a pro-rata rate.

Modules that are taught on a weekly basis will have around three hours contact time per week and contact hours will vary depending on the choice of modules.

Estimated time in dissertation supervision is around 30 contact hours (including group sessions and supervisor meetings).

Modules

The course is taken over one full academic year and comprises three compulsory modules and a dissertation, with an additional five optional modules (eight modules in total).

Two of the compulsory modules: Evidence-based Child Health and Applied Statistics for Health Research I are usually taken in the first term and provide the foundational skills for your dissertation.

Depending on your module choices, most modules are taught in one-week blocks dispersed throughout the year and you must complete all components of the course within one year unless extenuating circumstances are approved by UCL.

The dissertation is a major part of the course and this can be completed over the year with the bulk of work usually taking place in the final term. It is submitted in early September.

You will take 180 credits, made up of eight taught modules and a dissertation. 

This course is available in a part-time mode of two years with eight taught modules plus the project to be taken in this period.

As a part-time student you will take the course over two years. You can complete this in a variety of ways: taking all the taught modules in the first year or spreading them over the two years. The dissertation is usually completed in the second year.  

This course is available in modular flexible mode of up to five years with eight taught modules plus the project to be taken during this period.

As a modular flexible student you are able to complete the course in anything up to five years. You can complete this in a variety of ways by spreading modules out over the five years, or even having a year when you take no modules. It is advisable to take the modules that provide the foundational skills for completing the dissertation for example Applied Statistics for Health Research later in the course if that is when your dissertation will be undertaken. 

Compulsory modules






Optional modules



























Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Paediatrics and Child Health: Community Child Health. Upon successful completion of 120 credits, you will be awarded a PG Dip in Paediatrics and Child Health: Community Child Health.

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences and mental health conditions. This list is not exhaustive. If you're unsure of your eligibility for reasonable adjustments at UCL, please contact Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Reasonable adjustments are implemented on a case-by-case basis. With the student's consent, reasonable adjustments are considered by UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services, and where required, in collaboration with the respective department.

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

For more information about the department and accessibility arrangements for your course, please contact the department.

Visit us

All open days and events

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Paediatrics and Child Health MSc (all routes) Information Session

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Studying at the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health you’ll gain the expertise to make a real impact in the field of child health. Join our virtual open events to explore our Master’s degrees in Paediatrics and Child Health and Paediatric Neuropsychology, meet the Programme Directors, and learn how to make your application stand out.

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Paediatrics and Child Health MSc (all routes) (Afternoon)

Join us at our virtual open events to learn about Master's degrees delivered by the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. Each session will provide a programme introduction and time for Q&A.

Watch on demand event

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2026/27) £16,800 £8,400
Tuition fees (2026/27) £39,200 £19,600

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.

Postgraduate Taught students benefit from a cohort guarantee, meaning that their tuition fees will not increase during the course of the programme, but UCL reserves the right to increase tuition fees to reflect any sums (including levies, taxes, or similar financial charges) that UCL is required to pay any governmental authority in connection with tuition fees.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Where the course 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

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a fee deposit will be charged at 2.5% of the first year fee.

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

For modular/flexible offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a £350 deposit will be charged.

For modular/flexible offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a £500 deposit will be charged.

There is no fee deposit required for PG Dip and PG Cert applicants.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

There are no additional costs for this course.

For in-person teaching, 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 £119.90. This price was published by TfL in 2025. 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

The Peter and Loek Wheeler scholarship  enables students from low and middle-income countries to undertake the MSc in Paediatrics and Child Health (one year) at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. The scholarship is an individual award that will cover the international tuition fees of one student per year.

The Michelle Zalkin Scholarship offers exceptional students with a proven career pathway in Child Protection £10,000 to study for a Master's degree in Paediatrics and Child Health.

Visit the funding and studentship pages of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH) website for details of funding available to students, including the UCL GOS ICH bursary.

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

Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health Bursary

Deadline: 17 August 2026
Value: £3,000 (1 year or 2 years part-tim)
Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

Michelle Zalkin Scholarship

Deadline: 30 June 2026
Value: £10,000 (Duration of programme)
Criteria Based on academic merit
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

Peter and Loek Wheeler Scholarship

Deadline: 30 June 2026
Value: International full fees (Duration of programme)
Criteria Based on academic merit
Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this course of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

  • Why you want to study Paediatrics and Child Health: Community Child Health at graduate level.
  • Why you want to study Paediatrics and Child Health: Community Child Health at UCL.
  • What particularly attracts you to this course.
  • How your academic and professional background meets the demands of this challenging course.
  • Where you would like to go professionally with your degree.

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this course match what the course will deliver.

Frequently asked questions

Question: Is this course suitable for non-clinicians or students without a medical degree?
Answer: Yes, we welcome students from related disciplines (e.g., nursing, public health, psychology, social work), but you may have different entry pathways or module recommendations.

Question: What support is available for research projects? 
Answer: All students have a project supervisor, and in addition, we run monthly project support meetings to discuss progress. 
  
Question: Are students allocated with projects and what kind of projects do they do?  
Answer: Each year we put out a call for projects to academics and clinicians at GOS ICH, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and colleagues at University College Hospital London. Students can either choose a project from these or come with their own ideas, these maybe from their workplace or on a topic they are particularly interested in. There are a range of possibilities for the type of project from a laboratory-based project to a systematic review on a range of topics including everything from basic science to a clinical question to a population health issue. Students are provided with support to identify a project.

Question: What are the opportunities for clinical exposure at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) during the course? 
Answer: The MSc is a theoretical course and there are no scheduled opportunities to gain clinical experience at GOSH. Students who are keen to do this need to apply separately, directly to GOSH.   
  
Question: What opportunities are available to continue my studies with a PhD after completing the MSc?  
Answer: UCL GOS ICH offers 3-year Child Health Research PhD Studentships through a competitive application process. 

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate courses (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: 2026-2027

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL GOS Institute of Child Health

ich.paediatrics@ucl.ac.uk

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