Public Health MPH, PGCert

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our Academic experience page, which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2025-26.

See our terms and conditions and student complaints information, which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Module information is intended to provide an example of what you will study.

Our teaching is informed by research. Course content changes periodically to reflect developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback.

Full details of the modules on offer will be published through the Programme Regulations and Specifications ahead of each academic year. This usually happens in May.

To find out more please see our terms and conditions.

Optional modules availability

Some courses have optional modules. Student demand for optional modules may affect availability.

You can study the Master's programme full time for one year or part time over two or three years. 

The programme includes 120 credits of taught modules and a 60-credit supervised research project and dissertation. Your dissertation will showcase the practical research and analytical skills you develop throughout the course.

The Postgraduate Certificate comprises modules to a credit value of 60 and is studied part-time over 9 months.

You'll receive various methods of teaching including:

• lectures
• seminars
• practical sessions

We encourage active learning through discussion, problem-solving and group work. Some teaching sessions may involve student presentations, and preparation or further reading.

Some of the topics you'll cover include:

• why behaviour matters in public health and which behaviour change techniques contribute to effective interventions
• how advanced epidemiology and data science addresses emerging trends in the use of health data in public health
• the principles of public health protection and surveillance
• effective strategies in reducing health

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

• Case study
• Dissertation
• Essay
• Oral examination
• Oral presentation
• Report
• Written exercise

Throughout your studies, you’ll have access to support from:

• academic staff
• personal tutors and research supervisors
• our University Student Services Team
• student representatives
• peers

You'll also be assigned an academic member of staff, who will be your personal tutor throughout your time with us. They can help with academic and personal issues.

Your teaching and learning is also supported by Canvas. Canvas is a Virtual Learning Environment. You'll use Canvas to submit your assignments and access your:

• module handbooks
• course materials
• groups
• course announcements and notifications
• written feedback

Our staff are internationally recognised experts across fields such as:

• public health
• medical and applied health specialities
• applied epidemiology
• data science
• biostatistics
• health economics
• psychology and behavioural science
• political science
• anthropology
• law
• ageing

We are at the forefront of high-impact research within the Population Health Sciences Institute. The institute is renowned globally for its expertise in key areas such as:

• public health
• ageing
• nutrition
• epidemiology
• health inequalities
• behavioural science

Key focuses of our work are life course approaches to public health and understanding how factors from early life to old age influence health outcomes.

Our research drives innovation in tackling complex issues including:

• chronic disease prevention
• improving healthcare delivery
• addressing the social determinants of health

This expertise not only enriches our teaching, but also helps shape national and international health policy and practice. This helps make sure that interventions are effective across all stages of life.

We also have representation from many other key themes within the Faculty of Medical Sciences, such as :

• Ageing and Geroscience
• Behavioural Science and Psychology
• Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism
• Reproduction, Development and Child Health
• FUSE (the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health)

These diverse areas bring a wide range of expertise to enrich your learning experience.

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support. You may be eligible for a scholarship worth 25% off the international fee. Search our funding database. 

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here.

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See our searchable postgraduate funding page for more information. 

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section.

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.