Public Health and Health Promotion PhD

About the course

Research students are welcomed to Brunel as valued members of our thriving, research-intensive community. A research degree provides the opportunity to investigate a topic in depth, and contribute new knowledge to your discipline. A PhD involves demonstrating through original research or other advanced scholarship the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, a systematic acquisition and understanding of a substantial body of knowledge at the forefront of an academic discipline or professional practice, the ability to conceptualise, design and implement a project for the general of new knowledge, applications or understanding at the forefront of the discipline. Both full-time (3 years) and part-time (6 years) study routes are available.

Research profile

Public Health and Health Promotion is a dynamic and cutting edge programme of study within the Department of Clinical Sciences. Our academics are research active and internationally renowned in their own specialist fields of public health, health promotion, health and social care and the social context of health and wellbeing. We explore the ethical, political, societal and cultural dilemmas that arise in public health and health promotion and into health and social care.

PhD students can draw upon and focus on a wide range of research methods – that includes quantitative, qualitative, visual methods, arts based and digital methods.

Applicants are welcome to contact us about their own specialist topics and projects. However we particularly welcome proposals on :

Health promotion for sexual minority groups.
Creative methods for researching health and everyday life.
Sexual health promotion for young people.
Loneliness and well-being across the life-span.
Violence and the sociology of health’s contribution to tackling it.
Interprofessional interventions around FGM or other forms of gendered violence.

Applicants are invited to consider how their study might build on the research of a staff member or team, and to discuss their proposal with staff members informally before submitting.

Employability
Careers and your future

Paid work available to research students
Undertaking teaching and learning support duties represents an important professional and career development opportunity for postgraduate research students. Brunel offers two levels of paid work available to Postgraduate Research students. The first level post is as a Demonstrator and the second level post is as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA). Teaching and learning support duties will vary between Departments and research students should not rely on such opportunities being available. Find out more here.

Following the completion of the course students may follow several career paths:

Career path within academia starting as a University Lecturer
Career progression within research institutes commencing as a post-doc researcher and progressing to senior researcher
Careers in consultancies for Public Health and Health Promotion; Health and Social Care; Ageing
Careers in government departments (e.g. Department of Health) and agencies (e.g. National Health Service).