Public Health - Nutrition

The MPH Nutrition programme in UCD has been developed to offer multi-disciplinary training and development in Public Health Nutrition, emphasising the application of food and nutrition knowledge, policy, and research to the improvement of population health.



• Knowledge of the factors influencing health status.

• The epidemiological skills of study design and analysis.

• A proper understanding of the Public Health function.



What Will I Learn?

• Graduates will be able to identify and apply appropriate epidemiological methods for study design.

• Graduates will be able to identify and apply appropriate statistical analysis to analyse a public health problem.

• Graduates will be able to identify the occurrence and distribution of health and illness in populations analyse and to interpret health data to assess community needs and resources.

• Graduates will demonstrate critical appraisal skills.

• Graduates will demonstrate understanding of health promotion and disease prevention and the importance of advocacy as a public health professional.

• Graduates will demonstrate understanding of the breadth of the role of public health in the health services.

• Graduates will have a good understanding of nutrition related health problems including obesity and associated chronic diseases, micro and macro nutritional deficiencies and life stage nutrition.

Module/Trimester/Credits



Stage 1 Core Modules

PHPS40010 Principles of Epidemiology Autumn 5

PHPS40190 Biostatistics I Autumn 5

PHPS40370 Non Communicable Disease Epidemiology Autumn 5

PHPS40750 Quantitative & Qualitative, Data Management, Analysis & Reporting Autumn 5

PHPS40980 Introduction to Knowledge Synthesis, Systematic Reviews & Meta-analysis Autumn 5

PHPS40050 Nutritional Epidemiology Spring 5

PHPS40230 One Health Spring 5

PHPS40300 Health Promotion Spring 5

PHPS40850 Sociology&Social Epidemiology Spring 5

PHPS41300 Global Public Health Spring 5

PHPS41140 MPH Dissertation Summer 30



Stage 1 Options - A)1 of:

Choose one module from the list below.

PHPS40200 Communicable Disease Epidemiology Autumn 5

PHPS40040 Public Health Practice and Policy Spring 5

PHPS40460 Biostatistics II Spring 5

PHPS40880 Intro to Genetic Epidemiology Spring 5

PHPS40970 Design and Analysis of Clinical Trials Spring 5

PHPS40990 Systematic Reviews, Meta-analysis and Clinical Guidelines Spring 5

PHPS41120 Health Economic Analysis Spring 5

PHPS50010 Graduate Teaching Assistant Spring 5

This programme is intended for Graduates of Health Science degree programmes (Medicine, Dentistry, Public Health, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Nutrition, Nursing, or other), Science degree programmes (Biology, Biochemistry, Food Science, Physiology, Pharmacology, or other) or Social Science degree programmes (Psychology, Sociology, Economics, or other) preferably with a 2.1 Award or higher. Awards of 2:2 or less may be considered with additional suitability credentials. Applicants will be required to provide evidence of the highest level of mathematics achieved in prior education.



• Applicants to this programme should apply to the general MPH programme. Further information is available online.

• Applicants whose first language is not English must also demonstrate English language proficiency of IELTS 7.0 (no band less than 6.5 in each element), or equivalent.

• These are the minimum entry requirements – additional criteria may be requested for some programmes.



You may be eligible for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), as UCD recognises formal, informal, and/or experiential learning. RPL may be awarded to gain Admission and/or credit exemptions on a programme. Please visit the UCD Registry RPL web page for further information at: https://www.ucd.ie/registry/prospectivestudents/admissions/rpl/ Any exceptions are also listed on this webpage.

Online Application.



Who Should Apply?

Full Time option suitable for:

Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes

International (Non EU) applicants: Yes



Part Time option suitable for:

Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes

International (Non EEA) applicants: N

1 year full-time, 2 years part-time.

X299: Master of Public Health in Public Health (Nutrition) Studies Full-Time

Commencing September 2026

Graduate Taught



X300: Master of Public Health in Public Health (Nutrition) Studies Part-Time

Commencing September 2026

Graduate Taught

Career Opportunities

As UCD has a globally acclaimed reputation in the area of Public Health, you will gain the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in a wide range of careers in the Public Health sector. Many of our former students hold significant posts in Public Health in various parts of the world. MPH Graduates include, for example, Consultants in Public Health Medicine, University Professors and Ministry of Health Medical Officers.