Public Health

Public Health is offered as a major field of study in the Master of Environment degree.

The environments in which we live immediately impact on our health. The Public Health major is designed to ensure the creation and maintenance of environments that promote good public health. By collaborating with other disciplines and sectors, we work to identify and manage environmental health problems.

Study in this field will provide you with the tools used in environmental health practice, and by public health practitioners. These include surveillance, monitoring, observation, analysis, and selected techniques in biostatistics, epidemiology and health economics.

Other skills we develop are more specific to environmental health or environmental studies, such as environmental, social and health impact assessment and qualitative and quantitative risk analysis.

This major is a specialist companion program to the Master of Public Health which is offered at the University of Melbourne and at many other institutions. Students benefit from Melbourne's strong health sciences programs.

By studying in this area, you might expect to find employment in the health industry; government agencies, within the environmental and health sectors; consulting companies, and development agencies.

Students who complete the Master of Environment will have:

• Knowledge to undertake professional practice in environment or sustainability, including:
• Specialised knowledge in an environmental discipline or field of practice, including knowledge of recent developments in this field
• Knowledge of the cross-disciplinary nature of environmental issues and professional practice to promote sustainable futures
• Knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to specialist field of environmental inquiry
• Skills for collaborative and creative problem solving in environmental practice, including
• Ability to critically analyse and synthesise environmental knowledge
• Ability to envision environmental change and propose pathways to realise this change
• Ability to communicate complex environmental knowledge and research effectively to a range of audiences
• Ability to work effectively in cross-disciplinary teams
• Technical skills for professional practice and research in field of specialisation
• Demonstrated capacity to:
• Exercise well developed judgement, adaptability and responsibility as a practitioner in an environmental discipline or professional field
• Plan and execute a substantial project in an area of environmental research or practice

Upon successful completion of the Public Health specialisation, students will be able to:

• Analyse, assess and monitor the impacts of environments on public health;
• Propose strategies for creating and maintaining environments that promote good public health; and

Collaborate with professionals across disciplines and sectors to identify and manage environmental health problems.

Students will be required to complete the two core subjects, plus two compulsory specialisation subjects. Students must also take at least 25 points of subjects from the compulsory capstone subjects – these subjects enable students to complete an independent project related to professional practices in environment and public health. Students must also undertake electives to make up the balance of the award. The selection of electives is made in consultation with the Public Health major coordinator.

A full list of subjects available within this specialisation can be found at http://environment.unimelb.edu.au/courses/streams/public_health

Core Subjects

Students are required to complete the subjects:

Compulsory Specialisation

Students are required to complete the following two subjects:

Compulsory Capstone Experience

Students must complete at least 25 points from the following compulsory capstone subjects - please note that if you select either a 25 or 50 point subject that spreads across two semesters you must enrol into the subject in both semesters (your student centre will be able to assist with this).

Elective subjects

plus undertake electives to make up the balance of the award. The recommended list of electives includes:

Other subjects may be approved at the discretion of the coordinator.