Public Health - Online

Course Outline

To meet the increasing demand for highly trained public health specialists, we are offering this online version of our Master of Public Health programme. It is designed to prepare you to investigate, evaluate and address public health challenges, whatever your professional background. The programme will equip you with the core knowledge and specialised skills necessary to make a real difference in public health.



The online MPH is a fully asynchronous, 22-month part-time programme and students can self-pace within the structure of a given 4- or 8-week module.



Exemptions at point of entry

Applicants may be eligible for exemptions. If eligible, the relevant exemption paperwork must be completed immediately upon entering the programme. This application will be reviewed by the School of Public Health's Executive Committee. Please request an application form from the programme administrator.



Holders of UCC's Postgraduate Certificate in Health Protection or UCC's Postgraduate Certificate in Public Health will be exempt from certain modules if the MPH is undertaken within five years from the date of award of UCC's Postgraduate Certificate in Health Protection or UCC's Postgraduate Certificate in Public Health.



Holders of UCC's BSc in Public Health/Promotion or UCC's BSc in Public Health Sciences will be exempt from EH6094 Principles and Practice of Public Health if he/she undertakes the MPH within five years from the date of award of one of the above-mentioned degrees.

In total students take modules to the value of 90 credits as follows:

Part I - Year 1

Students take 50 credits of core modules and may select up to 5 credits of electives.



Core Modules

EH6088 Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (5 credits)

EH6094 Public Health Core Principles and Overview (10 credits)

EH6132 Health Economics for Public Health (5 credits)

EH6150 Introduction to Health Protection (5 credits)

EH6153 Quantitative Research and Epidemiology (10 credits)

EH6154 International Perspectives on Global Health (5 credits)

EH6157 Qualitative Research in Public Health (5 credits)

EH6158 Health Promotion I (5 credits)



Elective Modules

EH6063 Tobacco Control: National and International Approaches (5 credits)



Part I - Year 2

Students choose modules to the value of 20 credits (or 15 credits if EH6063 was taken in Year 1) from the following groups. A maximum of one module per group can be chosen.



Group A: EH6141 Psychosocial Epidemiology (5 credits) or EH6155 Migration and Public Health (5 credits)

Group B: EH6152 Principles and Practices of Screening (5 credits) or EH6156 Public Health in Humanitarian Crises (5 credits)

Group C: EH6000 Implementation Science in Health (5 credits) or EH6130 Critical Appraisal of Publications for Research and Practice (5 credits)

Group D: EH6140 Environmental Health: Principal Aspects and Burden of Disease (5 credits) or EH6151 Advanced Health Protection (5 credits) or EH6159 Health Promotion II (5 credits)

Group E: EH6101 Microbiology, the Environment and Infectious Diseases (10 credits) or EH6133 Advanced Quantitative Research (10 credits)



Part II - Year 2

EH6115 Master of Public Health Dissertation (20 credits).

1. All applicants will be required to write a 500-word statement demonstrating suitability to undertake a Master of Public Health.



2. All candidates are required to meet one of the following:

a. Possess a minimum Second Class Honours Grade I in a primary honours degree (NFQ, Level 8) in a relevant subject area Or

b. Possess a minimum Second Class Honours Grade I in a postgraduate diploma (NFQ, Level 9) in a relevant subject area





Relevant subject areas are biological sciences, medical and health sciences, public health, and social sciences.



Note: In some circumstances, applicants without a primary degree or applicants without a relevant primary degree may be recommended for entry to the programme under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) following a review of their individual qualifications and experience by the course committee. Such applicants may be called for an interview, and their admission will be subject to the School of Public Health's Executive Committee's approval.



For Applicants with Qualifications Completed Outside of Ireland

Applicants must meet the required entry academic grade, equivalent to Irish requirements. For more information see our Qualification Comparison page.



International/Non-EU Applicants

For full details of the non-EU application procedure visit our how to apply pages for international students.

• In UCC, we use the term programme and course interchangeably to describe what a person has registered to study in UCC and its constituent colleges, schools, and departments.

• Note that not all courses are open to international/non-EU applicants, please check the fact file above. For more information contact the International Office.



English Language Requirements

Applicants who are non-native speakers of the English language must meet the university-approved English language requirements.



Technical Requirements

This programme will be delivered wholly online. As such, there are specific technical requirements that you need to meet:

You will need access to a laptop or desktop (either Mac OS or Windows) running a relatively recent operating system (Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or Mac OSX 10.8, 10.9, 10.10). UCC supports access to the Canvas Virtual Learning Environment through IOS and Android apps, which are available from the respective App stores.



You will need access to a reliable broadband connection with at least 2MB download speeds. You can test your broadband or 4G speeds by visiting http://www.speedtest.net.



You must have a modern web browser installed. The most reliable options for use with UCC online learning are Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Download and installation instructions will be provided. Safari is not suitable.



You will require an Office suite of software (Microsoft Office 2003 or later or equivalent) and a PDF reader (preferably Adobe Acrobat Reader XI or later). Please note that registered UCC students have access to discounted software from Microsoft and Adobe.

Closing Date

Rolling deadline. Open until all places have been filled. Early application is advised.



Non-EU Closing Date

Open until all places have been filled or no later than 15 June. Early application is advised.



Please note this is the online Master in Public Health. If you wish to apply for the campus-based programme please visit the MPH (campus-based) page.

22 months part-time online.

Start Date 8 September 2025

Skills and Careers Information

Our graduates are currently employed in a range of careers in Ireland, Europe and in other developed and developing countries in diverse public health roles including health services, public health research, surveillance, environmental health and public health agencies.