public health phd london

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What do you want to do?

Find out about the research we do in public health and health promotion.

• Public Health and Health Promotion PhD

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Mode of study

3 years full-time

6 years part-time

International   £23,615

UK   £4,786

Entry requirements

Research profile.

Public Health and Health Promotion is a dynamic and cutting edge area of study. Our academics are research active and internationally renowned in their own specialist fields of public health, health promotion, health and social care and the social context of health and wellbeing.  We explore the ethical, political, societal and cultural dilemmas that arise in public health and health promotion and into health and social care. 

Applicants are welcome to contact us about their own specialist topics and projects. We particularly welcome proposals on :

• Creative methods for researching health and everyday life
• Loneliness and well-being across the life-span
• Cost-effectiveness or return on investment (ROI) analysis of healthcare interventions
• Econometric analysis to examine the impact of health policies/strategies/interventions
• Physical activity and its association with health outcomes
• Health inequalities and social determinants of health
• Behaviour change interventions to improve population health and well-being

Find out about the exciting research we do in this area. Browse profiles of our experts, discover the research groups and their inspirational research activities you too could be part of. We’ve also made available extensive reading materials published by our academics and PhD students.  

Learn more about research in this area.

You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour .

Our researchers create knowledge and advance understanding, and equip versatile doctoral researchers with the confidence to apply what they have learnt for the benefit of society. Find out more about working with the Supervisory Team .

You are welcome to approach your potential supervisor directly to discuss your research interests. Search for expert supervisors for your chosen field of research.

While we welcome applications from student with a clear direction for their research, we are providing you with some ideas for your chosen field of research:

• The impact of heat stress on human health, performance, and function across the lifecourse, supervised by Oliver Gibson

Research journey

This course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in January. Or this course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in October. Or this course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in April.

Find out about what progress might look like at each stage of study here:  Research degree progress structure.

Research support

Excellent research support and training

The Graduate School provides a range of personal, professional and career development opportunities. This includes workshops, online training, coaching and events, to enable you to enhance your professional profile, refine your skills, and plan your next career steps as part of the Researcher Development Programme . The researcher development programme (RDP) offers workshops and seminars in a range of areas including progression, research management, research dissemination, and careers and personal development. You will also be offered a number of online, self-study courses on BBL, including Research Integrity, Research Skills Toolkit, Research Methods in Literature Review and Principles of Research Methods.

Library services

Brunel's Library is open 24 hours a day, has 400,000 books and 250,000 ebooks, and an annual budget of almost £2m. Subject information Specialists train students in the latest technology, digital literacy, and digital dissemination of scholarly outputs. As well as the physical resources available in the Library, we also provide access to a wealth of electronic resources. These include databases, journals and e-books. Access to these resources has been bought by the Library through subscription and is limited to current staff and students.

Dedicated research support staff provide guidance and training on open access, research data management, copyright and other research integrity issues.

Find out more: Brunel Library

A training programme will be provided by the College to assist students with achieving targets.  The programme will include the underpinning principles such as philosophy of science, research integrity, ethics and specialist methodology.  Sessions in core, specialist and advanced research methods will prepare students for an independent research career.  The College research methods programme includes sessions from specialists with research expertise in qualitative, quantitative, reflexive, practitioner and insider research, and is aligned with the ESRC research methods expectations. 

Careers and your future

You will receive tailored careers support during your PhD and for up to three years after you complete your research at Brunel. We encourage you to actively engage in career planning and managing your personal development right from the start of your research, even (or perhaps especially) if you don't yet have a career path in mind. Our careers provision includes online information and advice, one-to-one consultations and a range of events and workshops. The Professional Development Centre runs a varied programme of careers events throughout the academic year. These include industry insight sessions, recruitment fairs, employer pop-ups and skills workshops.

In addition, where available, you may be able to undertake some paid work as we recognise that teaching and learning support duties represent an important professional and career development opportunity.

Find out more.

Following the completion of the course students may follow several career paths:

• Career path within academia starting as a University Lecturer
• Career progression within research institutes commencing as a post-doc researcher and progressing to senior researcher
• Careers in consultancies for Public Health and Health Promotion; Health and Social Care; Ageing
• Careers in government departments (e.g. Department of Health) and agencies (e.g. National Health Service)

UK entry requirements

The general University entrance requirement for registration for a research degree is normally a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree (1st or 2:1). 

An interview will be required as part of the admissions process and will be conducted by at least two academic staff members remotely via MS Teams, Zoom, or face to face.

Applicants will be required to submit a personal statement  and a research statement. Please contact your proposed supervisor, where possible, to receive feedback and guidance on your research statement before submitting it. Learn how to prepare a research statement  here .   

EU and International entry requirements

If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you must prove knowledge of the English language so that we can issue you a Certificate of Acceptance for Study (CAS). To do this, you will need an IELTS for UKVI or Trinity SELT test pass gained from a test centre approved by  UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and on the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) list . This must have been taken and passed within two years from the date the CAS is made.

English language requirements

• IELTS: 7 (min 6 in all areas)
• Pearson: 64 (59 in all subscores)
• BrunELT : 68% (58% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 98 overall (min 20) 

You can find out more about the qualifications we accept on our  English Language Requirements  page.

Should you wish to take a pre-sessional English course to improve your English prior to starting your degree course, you must sit the test at an approved SELT provider for the same reason. We offer our own BrunELT English test and have pre-sessional English language courses for students who do not meet requirements or who wish to improve their English. You can find out more information on English courses and test options through our  Brunel Language Centre .

Please check our Admissions  pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants. This information is for guidance only and each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Entry requirements are subject to review, and may change.

Fees and funding

2024/5 entry, international.

£23,615 full-time

£11,805 part-time

£4,786 full-time

£2,393 part-time

Fees quoted are per year and are subject to an annual increase.

Some courses incur  additional course related costs . You can also check our  on-campus accommodation costs  for more information on living expenses.

Brunel offers a number of funding options to research students that help cover the cost of their tuition fees, contribute to living expenses or both. Recently the UK Government made available the Doctoral Student Loans of up to £25,000 for UK and EU students and there is some funding available through the Research Councils. Many of our international students benefit from funding provided by their governments or employers. Brunel alumni enjoy tuition fee discounts of 15%.

PhD studentships

• Funding for the Executive Dean’s PhD Studentship in Experience-based codesign for effective physical activity interventions with working age adults living with multiple long-term conditions

Scholarships and bursaries

• Dean’s International PhD Scholarship for Doctoral Researchers in Health and Life Sciences Terms and Conditions 2024

Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care

Research Degree: Epidemiology and Health Care

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• IEHC Research Degree Students
• Past PhD Titiles

Our PhD programme aims to equip the next generation of experts with the necessary tools to address major 21st century health challenges and deliver real-world impact

The Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care (IEHC) has an extremely active PhD programme which currently supports over 100 research students from all over the world including Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia and Asia.

The diversity of expertise across the Institute ensures that it provides a vibrant environment in which students can develop skills and forge careers within a wide range of national and international settings.

There are four Research Departments within the Institute (listed below) whose interests span the life course from childhood to old age, and research from the origins of disease to the development of innovative interventions.

• Department of Applied Health Research
• Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health
• Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
• Research Department of Primary Care and Population Health

View Studentships currently on offer

The Programme

PhD programmes within IEHC typically lasts three years full-time (or five years part-time). All students are initially registered for an MPhil, upgrading to a PhD, subject to satisfactory academic progress. For a successful upgrade to PhD, the student must prepare a written report, give an oral presentation and pass an oral examination. 

Students receive direct supervision from world-leading academics and they are allocated their own computer and desk space within our offices based on UCL's campus in the heart of London.

All MPhil/PhD students are expected to undertake 10 days of generic skills training each year. This will include, for example, courses on research design and statistics, ethical and legal issues, presentation skills, thesis production and career planning.

• View current PhD students within IEHC
• View past projects of PhD students within IEHC
• View a diagram of a PhD student journey [jpeg]

Why study a PhD at IEHC?

• UCL is the top-rated university in the UK for research strength in the  Research Excellence Framework 2014 . Students are embedded alongside the academics that enabled UCL to gain this great achievement. 
• UCL is among the world's top ten universities (QS World University Rankings 2018) with a reputation for high-quality research.
• Located in the heart of London, it is a stimulating and exciting environment in which to study.
• IEHC offers an international community of health research. It has strong national and international interdisciplinary research  collaborations  and its students come from all over the world.
• Students become part of an Institute dedicated to equality and wellbeing. We hold an  Athena SWAN Charter Bronze Award  in recognition of our commitment to advancing women's careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine. 
• All PhD students are supported by supervisory panels of multidisciplinary staff, as well as student mentors, and departmental graduate tutors.
• Core IEHC staff regularly feature on international media outlets:  watch a recent interview with Professor Andrew Steptoe on BBC news ;  listen to Dr Lion Shahab talking about e-cigarettes in an interview with ITV ; watch Professor Sir Michael Marmot
• 5th in the world for public health (Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2021)
• 8th in the world for life and medical sciences (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019)
• 8th in the world: among the top universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2022)

UCL can bring the full power of a multi-faculty university to bear on discussions of population health, involving academics from the wide range of disciplines necessary to tackle some of the most difficult issues in public health.

Useful links:

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Open days and events

• Find out about UCL postgraduate UK events
• Find out about UCL postgraduate overseas events

Studentships and funding

• View studentships and funding opportunities within IEHC
• View all studentship and funding opportunities within UCL

Quick links

• Accommodation and costs
• Living in London
• International Students
• UCL+ (register your interest)

Equality and support

Find out about the  wide variety of support and guidance available to staff and students throughout IEHC

Any queries related to the IEHC PhD programme can be directed to  [email protected] 

For more information, visit  Contact us

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Public Health PhD

Imperial college london, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, similar courses at different universities, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Subject areas

Health Promotion Environmental Health (General) Health Studies

Course type

Imperial is one of the world’s leading universities, with the School of Public Health being one of the UK's top institution in public health research. The School’s strength lies in being able to draw on the critical mass of research expertise found throughout its departments and across Imperial College London, in additional to its close links with the Imperial College Academic Health Sciences Centre and the Imperial College Healthcare Trust.

The School introduces and integrates its doctoral students into its research, teaching and evidence-led policy work to allow them to not only develop as researchers but to also work alongside experts from a wide range of backgrounds to gain new skills and expertise.

The School of Public Health’s PhD students work within six broad areas:

Research areas:

• Epidemiology and biostatistics
• Infectious disease epidemiology
• Primary care and public health
• Genomics of common diseases
• Neuroepidemiology and ageing
• Clinical trials and evaluation

These form the six departments that make up the School of Public Health, with the overall focus being on addressing the major public health challenges of the twenty-first century.

Students graduating in the last three years have secured employment within the World Health Organisation (WHO), ZSL, Medicins sans frontiers, Medical Journals, as well as research posts within the School or other Higher Education Institutes.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

For this course (per year)

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

Students should hold or achieve a Master's degree in addition to a Bachelor's degree at UK Upper Second Class Honours Level.

Public Health and Health Promotion, MSc / PGDip

Swansea university, education for the health professions, ma / pgdip / pgcert, public health, mphil, specialist community public health nursing (school nursing) with integrated v100, msc / pgdip.

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