In this course, students will develop a practical public health research project.  Each student will work with a supervisor who can offer expert guidance on the literature review and development of the research project. Students can work in pairs on their project if they wish.

We expect only a minority of students who take this course will go on to conduct the research project (eg as an elective in the MPH or a proposal for a PHD). Those not intending to actually conduct the research will develop a hypothetical project.

Students will cover the following topics:

•    Public health problem solving through research
•    Literature review
•    Phrasing research questions
•    Research project design and methodology
•    planning the analysis of results
•    research ethics
 

At the end of this course students will have demonstarted:

•    Ability to search for and summarise the literature relevant to a public health problem
•    Ability  to formulate a public health research question
•    Ability to identify suitable methods for investigating a public health research question and formulate a research plan

• Preparation of a literature review and formulation of a research question 40%
• Preparation of a practical public health research project proposal in the form of an ethics application 60%

Undergraduate degree in the health or medical sciences, science, the humanities or social sciences, of an acceptable standard.  Students who have a combination of education and relevant experience in the health sector or related area will also be considered.