The Postgraduate Diploma in Population Health and Health Services Research (PHHSR) is a wholly online taught programme jointly offered by UCC, TCD and the RCSI. The part-time programme is taken over 2 academic years from the date of first registration for the programme.

The programme is a skills building and career enhancing award for Irish Health Systems professionals.

Applicants must hold an NFQ Level 8 primary degree (or equivalent) in health, social science, medical sciences, statistics, economics or a related discipline. Applicants holding a cognate Master Degree may also be considered.

In exceptional circumstances, applicants without a suitable primary degree (NFQ Level 8) may be recommended for entry to the programme after a review of their qualifications and experience by the programme team. The admission of such candidates will be subject to the approval of the School of Public Health Executive Committee.

To access and interact with the course content, assignments and assessments etc., students will require access to a PC/Laptop running at least Windows 7 or later or a recent version of Mac OSX. Common plug-ins such as Microsoft Silverlight, Java and Flash will also be required. Students must have access to MS Office or an equivalent suite of applications such as Open Office.

Students must also have access to a modern standards compliant web browser. UCC recommends either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. A minimum of 1MB download speed and 500KB upload speed is required. To engage productively and successfully with the content, basic technical computer skills such as familiarity with word processing, web browsing and email is recommended.

Students complete 60 credits within 2 academic years of registering for the programme.

Year 1
Students take 30 credits as follows:
EH6116 Perspectives on Population Health and Health Services Research (PHHSR) (10 credits)
EH6117 Applied Research Methods (10 credits)
EH6118 Health Systems Policy and Management (10 credits)

Module Semester Information may be found here. Module Descriptions may be found here.

Year 2
Students take 30 credits as follows:
EH6119 Systematic Reviewing and Protocol Development (10 credits)
EH6120 Working with Health and Information Data (10 credits)
EH6121 Health Economics (10 credits)

Module Semester Information may be found here. Module Descriptions may be found here.

Examinations
Full details and regulations governing Examinations for each programme will be contained in the Marks and Standards 2020/2021 Book and for each module in the Book of Modules, 2020/2021.

Programme Learning Outcomes for Postgraduate Diploma in Population Health and Health Services Research (NFQ Level 9, Major Award)
On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

• Identify and investigate priority and topical research areas within population health and health services research within an Irish and international context.
• Critically appraise the challenges and approaches to conducting population health and health services research within an Irish and international context.
• Develop your capacity to understand, commission, interpret and undertake population health and health services research.
• Utilise and interpret a range of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, methods and tools appropriate to population health and health services research.
• Examine the importance of the multidisciplinary approach of population health and health services research and the benefit of respect for the diverse disciplines.
• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of population health and health services research and life-long digital literacy skills for general learning and practice.