Public Health PhD/MD

Our aim is to advance world-leading research and teaching that promotes health equity, addresses emerging health threats, and harnesses data-driven innovation to improve local and global population health.

PhD: 3-4 years full-time; 5 years part-time;
MD (Doctor of Medicine): 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time;

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Overview

Public health research plays a vital role in understanding the impact of biological, social, behavioural, economic, cultural and environmental factors on our health. Our interests span medical, environmental and social sciences and offer students an opportunity to train in a unique interdisciplinary culture and environment.

Core themes

Health, wellbeing, inequalities & social determinants
Health data science & artificial intelligence
Global health, climate & infectious diseases

Cross-cutting areas

Intervention design, evaluation & policy translation
Partnerships, collaboration, community engagement & advocacy
Innovation in data, statistics, epidemiology & social science methodologies
Teaching, learning, training, mentoring & culture

Our research aim is to advance world-leading research and teaching that promotes health equity, addresses emerging health threats, and harnesses data-driven innovation to improve local and global population health.

Our research objectives are to:

Advance health equity and improve population health across the life-course through research on social determinants, health inequalities, policy impacts, and chronic disease prevention and management.
Harness data-driven innovation through expertise in health informatics and disease modelling to develop and evaluate evidence-based interventions.
Address emerging global and local health threats by understanding climate-related health risks and tackling infectious diseases.

Our supervisors use a variety of approaches to understand complex problems including:

Advanced statistical analysis
Global health and infectious disease epidemiology
Analysis of intervention effectiveness and natural experiments
Data linkage, data science, and AI
Longitudinal and life-course epidemiology
Evidence synthesis and meta-analysis
Qualitative and social science methodologies

There is a culture of supporting innovative research ideas and our track record of interdisciplinary working supports students interested in reducing the global burden of disease. We have excellent engagement with the government, the NHS and local authorities, other statutory public organisations and third sector organisations, as well as global health bodies. Many of our project supervisors have strong academic connections with international collaborators in universities and research institutes across the world.

We work with four affiliated research groups who can also lead and collaborate with PGR:

The School of Health & Wellbeing provides a vibrant, interdisciplinary environment to study your PhD. Through university and school PGR training programmes, we will equip you with robust, transferable research skills that are relevant to a range of career options in academia and public, private and third sector organisations in the UK and globally.

Individual PhD/MD research projects are tailored around the expertise of Principal Investigators within Public Health and the wider School of Health & Wellbeing. Prospective students are encouraged to get in touch with individual academics to find out about opportunities in their areas of research and supervision.

Study options

PhD

Duration: 3/4 years full-time; 5 years part-time

Individual research projects are tailored around the expertise of principal investigators.

MD (Doctor of Medicine)

Duration: 2 years full-time; 4 years part-time (for medically-qualified graduates only)

Entry requirements

A 2.1 Honours degree or equivalent.

English language requirements

For applicants from non-English speaking countries, as defined by the UK Government, the University sets a minimum English Language proficiency level.

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic and Academic Online (not General Training)

6.5 with no subtests under 6.0
IELTS One Skill Retake Accepted
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

Common equivalent English language qualifications for entry to this programme

TOEFL (ibt, mybest or athome)

Tests taken up to 20 January 2026

90 Overall, no subtest lower than Reading 20; Listening 19; Speaking 19; Writing 21
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of programme start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test, this includes TOEFL mybest.

Tests taken from 21 January 2026

92 Overall, no subtest lower than Reading 22; Listening 20; Speaking 23; Writing 21
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of programme start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test, this includes TOEFL mybest.

Pearsons PTE Academic

59 with minimum 59 in all subtests
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

Cambridge Proficiency in English (CPE) and Cambridge Advanced English (CAE)

176 overall, no subtest less than 169
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

Oxford ELLT

7 overall with no subtest less than 6
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

LanguageCert Academic SELT

70 overall with no subtest less than 60
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

Password Skills Plus

6.5 overall with no subtest less than 6.0
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

Trinity College Tests

Integrated Skills in English II & III & IV: ISEII Distinction with Distinction in all sub-tests
Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

University of Glasgow Pre-sessional courses

Tests are accepted for 2 years following date of successful completion.

Alternatives to English Language qualification

Degree from majority-English speaking country (as defined by the UKVI including Canada if taught in English)
- students must have studied for a minimum of 2 years at Undergraduate level, or 9 months at Master's level, and must have completed their degree in that majority-English speaking country within the last 6 years.
Undergraduate 2+2 degrees from majority-English speaking country (as defined by the UKVI including Canada if taught in English)
- students must have completed their final two years study in that majority-English speaking country within the last 6 years.

For international students, the Home Office has confirmed that the University can choose to use these tests to make its own assessment of English language ability for visa applications to degree level programmes. The University is also able to accept UKVI approved Secure English Language Tests (SELT) but we do not require a specific UKVI SELT for degree level programmes. We therefore still accept any of the English tests listed for admission to this programme.

Pre-sessional courses

The University of Glasgow accepts evidence of the required language level from the English for Academic Study Unit Pre-sessional courses. We would strongly encourage you to consider the pre-sessional courses at the University of Glasgow's English for Academic Study (EAS) Unit. Our Pre-sessional courses are the best way to bring your English up to entry level for University study. Our courses give you:

direct entry to your University programme for successful students (no need to take IELTS)
essential academic skills to help you study effectively at University
flexible entry dates so you can join the right course for your level.

For more detail on our pre-sessional courses please see:

Pre-sessional courses

We can also consider the pre-sessional courses accredited by the below BALEAP approved institutions to meet the language requirements for admission to our postgraduate taught degrees:

Heriot Watt
Kingston Upon Thames
Middlesex University
Manchester University
Reading University
Edinburgh University
ST Andrews University
UCL
Durham.

Fees and funding

Fees

2026/27

UK: To be confirmed [25/26 fee was £5,006]
International & EU: £33,210

Prices are based on the annual fee for full-time study. Fees for part-time study are half the full-time fee.

Irish nationals who are living in the Common Travel Area of the UK, EU nationals with settled or pre-settled status, and Internationals with Indefinite Leave to remain status can also qualify for home fee status.

Fee status and policies

Alumni discount

We offer a 20% discount to our alumni on all Postgraduate Research and full Postgraduate Taught Masters programmes. This includes University of Glasgow graduates and those who have completed a Study Abroad programme, Exchange programme, International Summer School or Erasmus programme with us. This discount can be awarded alongside most University scholarships. No additional application is required.

Possible additional fees

Re-submission by a research student £540
Submission for a higher degree by published work £1,355
Submission of thesis after deadline lapsed £350
Submission by staff in receipt of staff scholarship £790

Depending on the nature of the research project, some students will be expected to pay a bench fee (also known as research support costs) to cover additional costs. The exact amount will be provided in the offer letter.

Sanctuary Scholarship

The University of Glasgow Sanctuary Scholarship has been created to support applicants with Refugee or Asylum Seeker status who are currently living in the UK.

External funding information

Support

The College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences Graduate School provides a vibrant, supportive and stimulating environment for all our postgraduate students. We aim to provide excellent support for our postgraduates through dedicated postgraduate convenors, highly trained supervisors and pastoral support for each student.

Our overarching aim is to provide a research training environment that includes:

provision of excellent facilities and cutting edge techniques
training in essential research and generic skills
excellence in supervision and mentoring
interactive discussion groups and seminars
an atmosphere that fosters critical cultural policy and research analysis
synergy between research groups and areas
extensive multidisciplinary and collaborative research
extensive external collaborations both within and beyond the UK
a robust generic skills programme including opportunities in social and commercial training

Resources

Public health at our School of Health and Wellbeing cuts across the College of Medicine, Veterinary and Life Sciences and the College of Social Science. This offers students an opportunity to train in a unique interdisciplinary culture and environment and to access the researcher training programmes in both colleges.

PhD students working with our supervisors are exposed to cutting edge methodologies relevant to public health research. There is a culture of supporting innovative research ideas and our track record of interdisciplinary working supports students interested in reducing the global burden of disease.

We work with data from world renowned datasets and longitudinal cohorts including MIDSPAN, UK Biobank, Scottish Coronary Revascularisation register, Heartstart.

There is an opportunity to work with colleagues from our internationally recognised research centres:

Centre for Research on the Environment, Society and Health
West of Scotland Cancer Surveillance Unit
Healthy Working Lives

We strive to achieve a global impact in terms of both health improvement and reductions in social inequalities of health. In order to realise this goal, we share knowledge through collaborations with academics and other partners in 73 countries across the world.

How to apply

Identify potential supervisors

All postgraduate research students are allocated a supervisor who will act as the main source of academic support and research mentoring. You must identify a potential supervisor supervisor from the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences and contact them to discuss your research proposal before you apply. Please note, even if you have spoken to an academic staff member about your proposal you still need to submit an online application form.

Supervisor search

Research projects

If you are interested in a research project listed above, please include the title on your application.

Gather your documents

Before applying please make sure you gather the following supporting documentation:

Final or current degree transcripts including grades (and an official translation, if needed) – scanned copy in colour of the original document.
Degree certificates (and an official translation, if needed): scanned copy in colour of the original document.
Two references on headed paper and signed by the referee. One must be academic, the other can be academic or professional. References may be uploaded as part of the application form or you may enter your referees' contact details on the application form. We will then email your referee and notify you when we receive the reference.
MVLS cover letter must be completed and uploaded with a copy of your CV.