Program Overview

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Society the world over is faced with mounting public health challenges, from pandemics to forced displacement, to rapidly depleting planetary resources. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the complex links between population health, and the wider economic, social, political, environmental, and commercial determinants that shape human and planetary health in the globalised world we inhabit. Our MSc Global Public Health will challenge you to investigate these intersecting issues, critically appraise health and public policies, and engage in innovative research to drive forward change that contributes to a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy future. Globally, most nations have committed to the international human rights framework and the UN Sustainable Development Agenda pledge to “leave no one behind”. However, progress on these promises requires an understanding of the root causes of mounting global inequity as well as the role intersecting crises play in driving increased inequity and distracting from the necessity of structural reform. Developing a deeper understanding of interlinkages will help you develop a foundation from which you’ll explore the increasingly political role of multinational corporations and other powerful actors (such as charitable foundations) in influencing global and national decision-making. This course will equip you with the academic knowledge and skillset to analyse the impact of structural forms of discrimination including racism and colonialism, both in the UK and internationally, so that you can contribute to addressing the roots of the ensuing social injustice this discrimination perpetuates. Through a combination of interactive lectures, intensive seminars with practitioners and leading experts, and our unique externship opportunities with research and policy institutions of global repute, this course will help you develop a comprehensive and critical understanding of:

• what factors determine our health;
• what drives decision-making and priority setting in global health?
• who governs health, how (i.e. policies and mechanisms) and with what effects at individual, societal, national, and global levels;
• how people, illnesses, and drugs/ therapies travel in a globalised world? How these movements relate to the movement of capital and trade?
• how wider inequalities (based on class, gender, sexuality among others) and systems of oppression interact to shape people’s life chances and ability to thrive?
• And importantly, what skills, approaches, interventions, actions can help resist the detrimental forces that undermine health and well-being and realise the promises of “health for all” and “leave no one behind” to achieve fairer, equitable, and healthier societies?

You’ll benefit from the opportunity to pursue this course through one of two specialist pathways. Each pathway will share some core modules but allow flexibility for you to select modules that are in line with your interests and employment. You can either opt to follow our ‘Policy and Systems’ pathway which has been designed with an emphasis on preparing you for entering the workforce with strong evidence-based research and planning skills, or our ‘Intersectional Inequalities and Determinants’ pathway which will advance your interdisciplinary skills in examining and tackling inequalities in the distribution of determinants of health and diseases. Both pathways offer the unique opportunity to undertake a project-based ‘externship’ with selected UK or international policy-setting or research organisations to work on a specific health problem. The externships allow the opportunity to apply theoretical concepts to real-life public health challenges; helping to consolidate your learning, enhancing your ability to apply a range of research methods to answer important, relevant public health questions and build a network. The School of Health and Social Care is proud to work closely with our Service User Reference Group (SURG). SURG is made up of service users, carers, and volunteers who generously share their first-hand experiences of health and social care. We work collaboratively with SURG to design our courses to ensure that we truly are putting the needs of patients and clients at the heart of what we do. SURG are involved as part of our course application processes and often form part of our interview panels. This helps us to be confident that we are selecting the right applicants for the course and their future careers. SURG members also support the delivery of our teaching sessions and research activity, which means you’ll benefit from an insight into their lived experiences of living with a diagnosis, health condition, or circumstance. You’ll find that not only does your clinical knowledge expand, but your empathy, compassion and ability to advocate develops also. You can find out more about SURG by reading their blog here . Why we're great.

• You’ll gain practical knowledge and transferable research and evaluation skills necessary for pursuing a career in public health policy & practice, the health and social care sector, the humanitarian and development sector and/or academia in the UK or internationally.
• You can opt to engage in an externship to enhance your research skills, apply theoretical & methodological learnings to real life public health challenges and develop your network.
• You’ll develop the analytical and methodological skills necessary for applying an innovative intersectional lens to examine policy and health inequalities

Our expert staff

Essex is home to wide-ranging methodological, disciplinary, and subject area expertise. The degree will be located in the Interdisciplinary Research & Practice Division within the School of Health & Social Care. It will draw on eminent scholars from diverse subject areas within the School and across, including the renowned Human Rights Centre, the Law Faculty, and the ISER institute. You will also benefit from the dynamic networks of academic, policy, and practitioner communities that our staff work closely with, in the UK, Europe, and internationally. Equality, social justice, and social activism are part of the DNA of the School of Health and Social Care here at the University of Essex. The course both builds on and extends these values offering distinct opportunities to contribute to these goals. The programme is directed by Professor Kapilashrami , an Interdisciplinary social scientist of international repute with expertise in health policy and systems research, and a particular interest in the interface between equity, rights, and social justice. Professor Kapilashrami has longstanding research experience in the academia and the civil society/ development sector in the UK and internationally. Her current work focuses on advancing intersectional approach, conceptually and empirically, to examine health inequalities and structural determinants of contemporary health problems (including pandemics). Professor Kapilashrami will be joined by other leading experts in the University (including Professor Ewen Speed , Professor Linsey McGoey , Dr Judith Bueno de Mesquita ) and beyond with speakers representing diverse sectors and geographies.

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Specialist facilities

The School of Health and Social Care is located at two sites; in the Kimmy Eldridge building at our Colchester campus and in the Gateway Building at our Southend campus. We offer excellent physical and online resources in terms of libraries, computer labs, datasets, archives, and other research materials.

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Your future

This course will prepare you to evaluate and support the development and implementation of evidence-informed and rights-oriented local, national and global public health policies and programmes. It, therefore, is likely to be of interest to you if you are already working in or are keen to develop a career in: public health policy & practice; the health and social care sector; the humanitarian sector; the development sector, and academia.