Course summary
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. The 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, and this is particularly the case as we continue to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as we can.
Modules
Please check our website for details: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/postgraduate/health-studies/ma-global-health-society-culture-and-behaviour/
Assessment method
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.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| Republic of Ireland | £10600 | Year 1 |
| EU | £20500 | Year 1 |
| England | £10600 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £10600 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £10600 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £10600 | Year 1 |
| Channel Islands | £10600 | Year 1 |
| International | £20500 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
These tuition fees apply to students enrolled on a full-time basis. 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.
All postgraduate fees are subject to inflationary increases. Please be aware that tuition fees can rise during your degree (if longer than one year’s duration). This means that the overall cost of studying the course part-time will be slightly higher than studying it full-time in one year.
This figure is the fee for EU and international students starting a degree in the academic year 2024/25. Find out more (https://royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/fees-and-funding/postgraduate/tuition-fees/)
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.
Provider information
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
TW20 0EX