Course options
Key information
Duration: 1 year full time or 2 years part time
Institution code: R72
Campus: Egham
UK fees*: £10,600
International/EU fees**: £20,500
The course
Global Health: Society, Culture and Behaviour (MA)
The Global Health masters curriculum addresses existing and emerging health challenges of the modern age and offers two pathways, a social-science focused MA as well as a data, natural and physical sciences focused MSc as an exit route. Both will equip you with sound knowledge and understanding to navigate to a career that will intersect with healthy environments and healthy people and shape our shared future.
Study Global Health: Society, Culture and Behaviour MA at Royal Holloway and you will examine how culture, behaviour and governance, as well as environmental economic factors impact human and environmental health, affecting us all. Global health is an area that has come into even sharper focus in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has made more visible the need to understand the cultural and behavioural drivers of human and environmental health. Shaping the health of populations across our one world society has never been more important, calling for specialists with the knowledge and skills to build cooperation, innovate and influence change across boundaries.
This course will develop your ability to look beyond the immediate cause of ill-health to the underlying socioeconomic and environmental determinants. It connects knowledge to global health-related challenges and solutions. These solutions will be based around creative and flexible thinking and your interdisciplinary education will include experiential learning and placement-based trial and error experiences, alone and in teams, including interdisciplinary settings.
The Department of Health Studies is a hub for world-leading research, knowledge exchange and public engagement and you will be taught by international research leaders across a broad range of topics, with options to acquire real-world experience through projects and placements as part of an embedded approach to developing your employability and transferable skills.
You will benefit from individual attention, stimulating teaching to inspire and challenge you, and the flexibility to explore your own interests.
From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
Course structure
Core Modules
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This module will provide students with foundational knowledge of planetary and global health that underpin the Course. Students will critically appraise key literature, databases, case studies and journals to which they will refer for self-guided learning; explore the history of planetary health as an academic field and as an activism movement; appraise the conceptual framing that underpins a planetary health approach; and learn how to apply key methodologies and critical thinking to 21st century global challenges. The module will critically define the Anthropocene as an era of human-induced global environmental change that has grave impacts on human health; critically analyse the differences between public health, global health, OneHealth and Ecoheath; critically analyse academic theories including the Great Acceleration (the accelerating pace of environmental degradation since the mid-20th century), Planetary Boundaries (the limits to which the Earth can support changes to geo-biophysical states); the ‘Sixth Great Extinction’ and biodiversity; and explore novel ways of valuing and evaluating nature and ecosystem services’ impacts on health.
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This module will critically appraise how health systems are organised at local, national and international level, including how they are financed and regulated, both internally and as part of wider welfare, social and socioecological systems, and what treaties and regulations – at national and international level – are in place to protect them. This will be framed within the Planetary Health Alliance’s Educational Framework item 5: Systems Thinking and Complexity, and thus will consider human and environmental health as part of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). Particular attention will be given to critical appraisal of the 21st century as the Age of Re-emerging Infections, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and antimicrobial resistance; and individual vs community rights with regard to disease outbreaks. Students will appraise how and by whom health research and provision is funded and delivered. They will critically assess how health and health outcomes are measured and develop skills needed to interrogate and analyse key data bases, e.g. Global Burden of Disease study.
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This module will equip students with the knowledge, skills and capabilities needed to work independently and as part of an interdisciplinary team, taking a systems approach to Global and Planetary Health Challenges, in line with the PHA’s Educational Framework. The module will cover the value of and reasons for choosing a qualitative or quantitative approach, the advantages and challenges of mixed methods; critical appraisal; data analysis; and presentation. Students will be given opportunities to practice specific skills such as choosing a representative sample, interview techniques and observations through critical analysis of case studies. Students will start to identify, within this module, their chosen topic area for their independent project to draw in skills and knowledge related to their chosen area from early on in the programme.
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This module will provide students with the advanced knowledge needed to critique conceptual strategic thinking in the fields of planetary and global health. Students will critically appraise advanced concepts in key literature, case study repositories and journals and conference recordings to which they will refer for self-guided learning; critique the history of planetary health as an academic field and as an activism movement, and its impact; appraise the conceptual framing that underpins a planetary health approach; and discuss and critique how to apply key methodologies and critical thinking to 21st century global challenges. They will be encouraged to critique how they will utilise this knowledge as the global and planetary health leaders of the future and demonstrate critical awareness of how to embed planetary health thinking into policy and social action.
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This module examines the environmental conditions that impact human health, including access to and availability of nutritious food; the importance of clean water and sanitation as a major determinant of health; and critiques current movements to re-introduce nature and more natural diets, green space and natural ways of living into modern cities. The role of the Sustainable Development Goals in human health will be critiqued, including monitoring mechanisms.
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This module develops students’ skills in health communication, including how to critically appraise levels of health literacy amongst the target audience and accommodate differences to ensure messages are tailored appropriately and how to defend an evidence-based position during a briefing or strategy discussion. This includes how to communicate health information and evidence to diverse audiences, including the study population(s), academics, the public, policymakers and the media. Students will critically assess the implications of how health research can be perceived or misunderstood (particularly by populations who have been marginalised or abused), how the aims and findings of health research might resonate with or be misinterpreted by some audiences, and how special attention might need to be given to hard-to-reach and resistant audiences. Students will be encouraged to produce and disseminate their own work, to contribute to media, policy and activist blogs and to take an active role in student-led seminar discussions and debates that will be held weekly throughout the module. This will map onto item [4] in the Planetary Health Alliance Educational Framework: Movement Building and Systems Change.
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Students will plan, undertake and deliver an independent research project on a subject of their choice, drawing on the knowledge and skills they have gained throughout the course. Students will be expected to consider multi-disciplinary approaches to their dissertation projects, working in small teams (3-4 students) of mixed MA/MSc intended exit routes, to approach the same topic from different angles; they will discuss topics collaboratively but will produce independent project outputs on which they will be assessed individually.
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This module will describe the key principles of academic integrity, focusing on university assignments. Plagiarism, collusion and commissioning will be described as activities that undermine academic integrity, and the possible consequences of engaging in such activities will be described. Activities, with feedback, will provide you with opportunities to reflect and develop your understanding of academic integrity principles.
Teaching & assessment
A programme of lectures, seminars, workshops and independent learning, both online and in-person, will include a strong presence from visiting lecturers and guests from professions and the Global South, combined with practical experience and peer-group learning. You will be encouraged to work together in small teams from the beginning of the course to plan joint projects and to develop as both an individual, as a team researcher and as a project manager.
Throughout your studies you will develop career-focused skills such as preparing and presenting verbal and written briefings, visualising results, summarising key findings, project planning, advocacy and tactics for communicating with the public, media and policymakers.
The course has a project element which will involve students undertaking primary data collection outside of the classroom, when our team-oriented approaches will ensure that those for whom such activities are challenging, due to mobility or other physical challenges, family commitments or working patterns are not excluded. Secondary data analysis and desk-based research will be equally valued and will provide opportunities to hone skills that are valued by employers.
Your final research project in term 3 will be an opportunity to conduct independent research, supervised by experts from Royal Holloway and our international partners. This will be written up in the style of a scientific paper, policy brief or business plan, with the potential to be published in an academic journal or by an internationally renowned think tank. You will present your findings at a conference with other students and supervisors at the end of the course.
Entry requirements
We invite students from a wide range of social science and humanities backgrounds, from relevant careers or with related volunteering experience to be considered, whether they are coming from an undergraduate degree or returning to education following a career or other time out.
Eligible backgrounds include Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, Geography, Health Science, Psychology, History, Political Science, Epidemiology, Genetics, Medicine and Healthcare, Development Studies, Urban Studies, Land Economy, Management and Conservation Studies and Environmental Science. Applicants coming back to education from a career should have at least 5 years’ work experience or volunteering experience in a related field. Students from other backgrounds should contact the course leader to discuss.
Applicants coming straight from undergraduate studies will be expected to possess, or be expecting to attain, a UK 2:2 (Honours) degree or international equivalent in subjects listed above. Applicants coming back to education from a career, volunteering experience or other time out, should have at least 5 years’ work experience in a related field. Applicants with experience in other subjects, such as biology, agricultural science, biology, earth sciences or ecology, should contact the Course Lead to be considered, especially if they can demonstrate relevant training and/or professional vocational experience.
International & EU requirements
English language requirements
- IELTS: 6.5 overall. Writing 7.0. No other subscore lower than 5.5.
- Pearson Test of English: 61 overall. Writing 69. No other subscore lower than 51.
- Trinity College London Integrated Skills in English (ISE): ISE III.
- Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) grade C
- TOEFL iBT: 88 overall, with Reading 18 Listening 17 Speaking 20 Writing 26.
- Duolingo: 120 overall, 135 in Literacy, 135 in Production and no sub-score below 100.
Your future career
This exciting new masters has been designed to equip a new generation of global health practitioners with the skills to address social science and environmental challenges locally and globally.
A masters in Global Health develops a wide range of employability skills. They include:
- Communication skills: through writing essays, project and laboratory reports, and the final dissertation, as well as modules on communicating science to the public, media and policymakers.
- Presentation skills: from your participation in field trips, to presenting your ideas at seminars and tutorial groups, responding to questions and framing questions.
- Analytical skills: developed through your engagement with a range of materials including scientific evidence, government reports, and academic literature and media sources.
- Research skills: interpreting and locating sources from books to field environments around the UK and further afield, and using appropriate methodologies whether it is interviewing, data analytics or measuring biodiversity.
- Time management skills: organising your studies, working under pressing and fulfilling work-related commitments as part of your masters course.
- Team working: developed during field trips and collaborative projects
- Worldly experience: as a student of global health, you will gain extensive experience of different cultures and environments.
Fees, funding & scholarships
Home (UK) students tuition fee per year*: £10,600
EU and international students tuition fee per year**: £20,500
Other essential costs***: There are no single associated costs greater than £50 per item on this course
How do I pay for it? Find out more about funding options, including loans, grants, scholarships and bursaries.
* and ** These tuition fees apply to students enrolled on a full-time basis in the academic year 2024/25. Students studying on the standard part-time course structure over two years are charged 50% of the full-time applicable fee for each study year.
Royal Holloway reserves the right to increase all postgraduate tuition fees annually, based on the UK’s Retail Price Index (RPI). Please therefore be aware that tuition fees can rise during your degree (if longer than one year’s duration), and that this also means that the overall cost of studying the course part-time will be slightly higher than studying it full-time in one year. For further information, please see our terms and conditions.
** This figure is the fee for EU and international students starting a degree in the academic year 2024/25. Find out more
*** These estimated costs relate to studying this particular degree at Royal Holloway during the 2024/25 academic year, and are included as a guide. Costs, such as accommodation, food, books and other learning materials and printing, have not been included.
