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Population Health Leadership

MSc
Population health

Course details

In a pioneering course, the MSc in Population Health Leadership at RCSI aims to equip leaders in this space with the broad knowledge to speak to the wide variety of components affecting the health of populations, whilst providing them with the leadership skills to implement change.

This new Masters NQF Level 9 major award is designed to deliver highly skilled leaders in population health.

Graduates will have a broad comprehension of population health science and leadership, with the ability to leverage critical understanding, decision-making and applied actions to inform policy, systems design and practices for positive population health outcomes.

Integral to the education planned is the appraisal, synthesis and application of core population health principles, methods, and applied leadership skills as set out in the WHO-ASPHER Core Competency Framework for the Public Health Workforce.  

Mode of delivery 

This part-time course is delivered in a digital format via our online teaching platform, making it accessible to busy professionals, wherever they may be working. 

Please note that synchronous "live" content for the MSc Population Health Leadership will be delivered weekly on Thursdays between 2.30-4.30pm; candidates should ensure their availability on this day.

Who is this MSc course for?

The course will suit healthcare professionals requiring an understanding of population health given reform trends in healthcare delivery; system administrators and managers requiring understanding of general population management; policy makers and local government officials responsible for population health policy; as well as community workers and patient advocates. 

This programme will provide you with the skills and knowledge to: 

  • Synthesise the principles of population health science and demonstrate how these are applied in complex health, social and community care ecosystems for better health outcomes 
  • Critically appraise and evaluate the core rationale and research designs of population health sciences; and apply appropriate methods drawing from the following population health disciplines: social and behavioural sciences; epidemiology; biostatistics; environment health sciences; health policy, economics, systems and management 
  • Interpret and critically appraise the implications and outcomes of the social determinants of health on vulnerable populations, including applying the principles of equity in public health promotion and provision 
  • Critically evaluate the feasible application pathways for innovative approaches and solutions for population health 
  • Deliver strong leadership through skills in critical analysis, advocacy, communication, management, community and cultural orientation, and professionalism and ethics (ASPHER Education Committee Core Competency Model in Public Health) 
  • Successfully manage and complete an academic learning journey and award, using online educational and production tools and methods. 
  • Module 1: The overarching aim of this module is to introduce the learner to the key elements of the understand-decide-act framework set out here. The module will sequentially connect the key attributes and aims of a population-health approach, the primary avenues of action, the scientific steps to guide its decisions, and the key strategies and skills to implement programmes effectively. As a ‘framer’ this module will orientate learners for the overall course and approach.
  • Module 2: The aim of this module is to prepare future leaders in population health by understanding how to plan a population health research project using quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods research methodologies, and to develop the skills required to appropriately interpret and communicate research findings.
  • Module 3: Gain an appreciation of global health challenges and solutions and be able to engage in leadership and evidence-based decision making to contribute effectively to improving public health.
  • Module 4: The aim of this module is to provide students with skills to critically evaluate the evidence in relation to intervention design, implementation and evaluation that maximises the effectiveness of individual and population health interventions.
  • Module 5: The aim of this module is to ensure students develop a holistic, systems and network-based understanding of population health generation that also takes account of operational drivers and the importance of an enabling and distributed leadership approach – including their own. The module will enable students to critically appraise and connect different system levels, organisational drivers and leadership values and strategies – reinforcing the holistic and pragmatic idea that population health is ‘generated’ through leadership on a broad range of mechanisms.
  • Module 6: The aim of this module is to ensure students consider and address the challenges of implementing evidence-based population health policies, programmes and interventions and develop a strategic perspective for evidence-based action drawing on the sciences of implementation, health economics and outcomes research, knowledge translation and organisational learning, and including participative designs for community engagement such as realist evaluation, PPI and Community-Based-Participatory-Research (CBPR).
  • Module 7: This module will provide the skills needed to carry out a health needs assessment, taking into account the impact of social determinants on health. It will also focus on decision-making regarding allocation and prioritisation of resources to meet public health need.
  • Module 8: The aim of this module is to apply a comprehensive framework for integrating diverse scientific disciplines and sources of evidence to prioritise decisions for resource allocation and action in population health.
  • Module 9: The aim of this module, building on introductory modules, is to cultivate awareness of ethical considerations in relation to population health, teach students how to synthesise existing evidence on a population health topic relevant to their practice or interest, develop a knowledge translation plan to communicate the findings of the evidence synthesis to relevant stakeholders, and create an implementation strategy which will outline a plan to facilitate the effective adoption or scale-up of an intervention relevant to the evidence synthesis topic.
  • Applied Research Project: This project supports scholars to either (a) undertake the evidence synthesis developed in Module 9 relevant to a specific population health topic or where feasible, (b) to execute a project, for example, primary data collection, secondary data analysis, process evaluation related to the protocol developed during Module 9 given the necessary ethical approval and data governance is in place prior to data collection/analysis.
Module number Module name Duration Credits Delivery
Year 1 - Semester 1 (six-week module blocks)      
  Orientation week 9 September 2024   Online
1 Optimising Population Health Leadership: Understanding, deciding, acting 16 September-25 October 2024
5 Online
2 Exploring Approaches to Research and Data for Population Health 28 October-6 December 2024
5 Online
3 Fundamentals of Public Health 9 December-31 January 2024 (two-week break for Christmas; finish Friday, 20th December, resume Monday, 6 January 2025) 5 Online
Year 1 - Semester 2
       
4 Applying Psychology and Behavioural Sciences to Population Health 3 February-14 March 2025 5 Online
5 Leadership, Governance and Policy in Population Health Ecosystems 18 March-9 May 2025 (two-week Easter break: finish Thursday, 17 April; resume Tuesday, 6 May) 5 Online
6 Implementing Population Health – Translating Evidence and Outcomes 12 May-20 June 2025 5 Online
Year 2 - Semester 1
       
 7 Assessing Health Needs and Prioritising Resources 8 September-28 November 2025 10 Online
 8 Decision-making for Population Health 1 December-6 March 2026 (two-week Christmas break) 10 Online
Year 2 - Semester 2
       
9 Population Health in Action 9 March-12 June 2026 10 Online
Applied
research
project
Individual supervised project January-July 2026 30 Online