International Development (Masters in Public Health) MPH

The University of Sheffield

Explore the intersections of international development and healthcare policy and practice in the Global South, while developing the skills to work in health and development organisations around the world.

Course description

Our MPH in International Development combines expertise from development studies and public health to help you engage with the challenges of health and international development in today’s complex world. Working across the Department of Geography and the School of Medicine and Population Health, you'll develop an understanding of the interventions necessary to improve the health of communities in the Global South.

The course is rooted in principles of interdisciplinary learning, decolonising knowledge, connecting theory with policy and practice. You'll also have the flexibility to tailor the course to you own interests.

Through this approach it offers a unique combination of academic excellence, tailored professional skills teaching, an optional field class, and a research-based dissertation based on placements, research collaborations or independent research.

Core modules will teach you about changing ideas of ‘development’ since the mid-twentieth century and how these have translated into very different policy approaches and outcomes. You'll learn about poverty and how it has changed, about how development ideas and processes connect to questions of gender, culture and race, about how processes such as migration, urbanisation and technological evolution intersect with development, and about the global governance of international development.

You'll have the opportunity to build a range of professional skills, and will be trained in core research methods in order to undertake an individual piece of original research. Our placement-based dissertation option also enables you to gain valuable work experience.

Field class

An optional international field class in the Global South encourages you to engage with overseas development and community organisations through an intensive week of activities. We also offer a lower cost and more sustainable UK-based ‘hybrid’ field class as an alternative. International field class locations are subject to variation and subject to the number of students participating, but previous destinations have included Peru, Nepal and South Africa. The costs of optional field classes modules and placements are not included in your tuition fees. A limited amount of funding, accessed through a competitive process, is available to help finance field classes.

Placement

The dissertation with placement gives you valuable practical experience of working in a development organisation and engaging with development issues. You'll spend six to eight weeks in June or July based in a host organisation, where you'll carry out a research project identified by the organisation and approved by the University. Your project will have clear practical relevance and will generate findings that form the basis of your dissertation. Students may also spend time working directly on the organisation's core activities.

We currently work with over 30 host organisations in the UK and across the globe. Some have a wide remit, others have a specialist focus on issues such as conservation, education or health. Placements to overseas destinations are subject to the same potential constraints imposed by travel conditions and health risks due to Covid-19. The costs of the dissertation with placement module are not included in your tuition fees. A limited number of low-cost local placements are also available.

Intercalation

We accept medical students who wish to intercalate their studies.

Please see our University website for the most up-to-date course information.