项目介绍

2021年8月4日

About the course

The DPhil in Population Health is a doctoral research programme intended to provide you with training in research, an in-depth knowledge and understanding of your doctoral research topic and will prepare you for a career in academia.

Research training will primarily be through day-to-day involvement in a research project and working with a research team. Research projects that students have worked on include ‘Can routinely collected data be used to accurately and completely follow-up participants in large randomised trials?’ and ‘Biological Ageing: Statistical analysis of physical and biochemical biomarkers in UK Biobank’. A typical day of a DPhil student varies through the course but will include literature reviews, data analysis, discussion with the research group and writing-up the research thesis.

Your supervisors will be the main source of your research training; you will also be encouraged to strengthen your research skills by taking relevant training courses. Research training will be within a multidisciplinary research environment which includes epidemiology, statistics, ethics, health economics, health promotion, health services research, and big data.

You will be encouraged to make use of the range of skills training offered by the Medical Sciences Division throughout your study at the Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH). This training includes statistics, epidemiology, data management, research ethics, writing academic papers and presentation skills. You are also expected to identify additional relevant external courses that will support your research training.

Further information about part-time study

A small number of part-time students may be admitted to the DPhil in Population Health. Candidates applying for admission to this part-time course are required to show that their DPhil research topic is suited to part-time study and the supervisors agree with the part-time schedule. The in-residence attendance requirement will be a minimum of 30 days University-based work per year. This will be spread across the academic year with a minimum of ten days based in the department each term. However, attendance is likely to be higher and will be determined by the demands of the individual DPhil research project.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Nuffield Department of Population Health and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. In some circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Nuffield Department of Population Health. Each student will be supervised by at least two supervisors. If one supervisor is from outside the department, a second supervisor will be appointed from within the department.

A supervisor should, at a minimum, meet with their student at least once every two weeks across the year.

Assessment

You will be admitted to the status of Probationer Research Student (PRS) in the first instance and you will then seek transfer to DPhil status by the end of your fourth term after admission. Confirmation of status will usually be carried out in the eighth term after admission as a research student, and no later than the ninth term. Both transfer and confirmation of status will require an oral assessment. Having successfully confirmed your status you will then be able to apply for the appointment of examiners, submit your thesis and complete the viva voce examination.

Graduate destinations

Most DPhil alumni progress to academic posts, while a few join other health-related professions.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic (including Covid-19), epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

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