Postgraduate Course: From research ideas to transformative action: An integrated approach to global health projects (GLHE11089)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Human global health addresses complex health challenges that typically involve multiple disciplinary inputs within and beyond the health sciences, as well as multiple actors such as funders, governments, NGOs, service providers, communities, and policy-makers. Conducting research and developing projects across disciplines in global health enables the exchange of knowledge and experience and stimulates innovative responses to complex health challenges. This course explores the complexities of global health challenges, offering students innovative, sustainable, and pragmatic approaches to transformative, cross-disciplinary action, and opportunities for reflexive practice.
Students will consider a number of examples of interdisciplinary global health research and other projects, including through presentations by experienced researchers and other stakeholders, and develop skills in critiquing the design and management of projects, and in identifying key challenges and opportunities in conducting projects across disciplinary boundaries. They will also be encouraged to identify and reflect on a complex health challenge relevant to their specific professional or geographical experience and to formulate in some detail how an interdisciplinary project may address this problem in a sustainable and innovative way.
Whilst this course is primarily aimed at Masters students within integrated global health, it may also be an attractive alternative course for students from other disciplines interested in conducting cross-disciplinary research and/or global health-related research.
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| Course description |
Provide an academic description, an outline of the content covered by the course and a description of the learning experience students can expect to get.
This 20 credit online course explores enablers of and barriers to interdisciplinary research and other collaborative projects (which may at times also be expressed as that which falls broadly within the categories of cross-disciplinary, transdisciplinary and/or multi-disciplinary) in a global health context. The course defines interdisciplinary research as that which combines and/or integrates concepts, methods, or theories drawn from two or more disciplinary areas and that which within global health encompasses multiple stakeholders and actors. The course includes content that critically explores the journey from research idea to transformative action and the competencies essential to the conduct of research and other projects across disciplines.
The course begins by introducing students to a range of key questions regarding the design and implementation of interdisciplinary research and other projects in global health, including questions of design, choice of methodology/epistemology, working with funders and key stakeholders, project coordination, and key communication factors such as leadership and teamwork.
Students will be required to engage critically with the literature and draw on what they learn and what they bring from their professional experiences to the course as they actively take part in a series of presentations and/or interviews by researchers and other stakeholders working on interdisciplinary projects.
These sessions (which may be synchronous or asynchronous) will be interspersed throughout the course. In order for students to become immersed in their understanding of the process of working across disciplinary boundaries, each presenter will be asked to offer an overview of their interdisciplinary project, discuss how their team was selected and the reasons for their choices, and describe barriers and facilitators to the success of their work. The presentations are intended to be illustrative of both what interdisciplinary projects in global health can look like and the challenges involved.
Students will be required to interact with the literature and the presentations in two ways:
1. They will be asked to critique existing interdisciplinary projects (eg. those in the literature and from the presentations) by identifying key strengths and limitations, including areas such as project design, depth of interdisciplinary engagement, stakeholder engagement, effective delivery of outcomes, and communication strategies. This will be reflected in participation in mediated discussions and presentations.
2. They will be asked to reflect on their own professional, personal, and/or geographical experiences in order to identify a complex health challenge and to formulate in some detail how an interdisciplinary project may address this problem in a sustainable and innovative way. This will be reflected in participation in mediated discussions and a final assessment that may include, for example, individual presentations and/or a written essay, as well as a reflective piece.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Flexible |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 2,
Online Activities 70,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 10,
Formative Assessment Hours 10,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
92 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
(1) Participation in mediated online discussion group demonstrating a critical engagement with the course content over the duration of the course (formative and summative: 20%; LO1,2,4,5);
(2) Team presentation made to the class (synchronous or asynchronous to be discussed with lecturer) critiquing one of the projects considered in the course (formative and summative: 10%; LO1,2,4,5);
(3) An appropriate assignment (the exact format to be negotiated between the student and the lecturer) accompanied by a reflective and referenced written text addressing a complex global health problem and proposing an appropriate response which demonstrates the critical application of learning and theory covered in the course (summative: 70%; LO1, 2,3,4,5).
(4) A short (maximum 2 minute) individual presentation (eg. 'elevator pitch') that communicates the most important aspects of their project in the most effective and engaging way (formative: LO2,4).
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| Feedback |
Students will receive feedback on the extent to which the assignment:
- Demonstrates critical understanding and engagement with the topic.
- Demonstrates engagement with innovative and timely ideas and show careful attention to the production of the assignment, for example, the quality of the writing and the skilful expression of ideas and arguments.
- Shows an understanding of the ethical and practical challenges of developing an interdisciplinary project.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the theories, concepts and principles underlying successful interdisciplinary research and other projects in global health (SCQF ch1).
- Use critical reflective practices to integrate that knowledge with their own expertise or experience, and apply this to a real-world problem or challenge in global health (SCQF ch2).
- Develop original and creative responses to a complex global health problem or issue (SCQF ch3)
- Assimilate complex knowledge across relevant disciplines in order to communicate such knowledge effectively to multiple stakeholders (SCQF ch4).
- Engage in the course in ways which draw on critical reflection on own and others¿ roles and contributions (SCQF ch5)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course addresses the Graduate Attribute of Research and enquiry across a number of domains, most notably: knowledge integration and application and handling complexity and ambiguity. It also addresses the Verbal communication and presentation attribute.
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| Keywords | global health,integrated,transformative,research |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Suzanne Goopy
Tel:
Email: sgoopy@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Suzanne Newall
Tel: (0131 6)50 3237
Email: Suzanne.Newall@ed.ac.uk |
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