Foundations of Nutritional Epidemiology
This course explores the key aspects of the dietary and nutritional causes of disease at the population level, and the methods used to assess said causes.
In this five-week short course, students will learn the methodologies used to study diet-related health problems at the population-level. Diet and nutritional status are key contributing factors for the short- and long-term development of disease, including chronic disease, non-communicable disease, and infectious disease. Students will learn the methodologies used to study the connections between diet, nutrition, and health and how to critically assess the scientific literature in these fields.
Key topics include nutrition and diet assessment, measurement error, individual and population variability in food intake, energy intake adjustment, and study design and interpretation. Students will gain an understanding of how findings from nutritional epidemiology are relevant to health and social care.
This is an introductory/intermediate Masters-level course (SCQF Level 11). It develops your skills and/or provides a detailed overview of the subject – some foundational knowledge or experience is required. Please see the entry requirements for further details. Masters-level courses are relatively intensive and require independent learning, critical thinking, analysis, and reflection.
A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in any subject.
We may also consider your application if your background does not meet this criteria but you have relevant work experience.
If you are unsure whether you meet the threshold for consideration please send your CV to globalagriculture@ed.ac.uk
Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:
You must be comfortable studying and learning in English if it is not your first language.
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the principal theories, tools, and concepts of nutritional epidemiology
- Critically review and consolidate knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in nutritional epidemiology
- Undertake critical evaluations of a wide range of numerical and graphical data related to diet, nutritional status, and health
This is a five-week course, comprising a total of 100 hours study. Three lectures per week will be delivered online. Two of the three lectures will be asynchronus. An additional optional online session will be held live each week, TBC pending class availability. The live session will be recorded and uploaded to the Learn site on its completion.
Assessment is 100% a final research proposal design.
Optional formative assessments are provided throughout the course to enhance the students' learning and help them work towards completion of the research proposal assessment.
Course fees for 23/24 are £1065 but funded places are available for people employed or unemployed in Scotland (residency requirements apply).
Funding
Through the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) Upskilling Fund, a limited number of fully-funded places are available on Data Upskilling Short Courses at The University of Edinburgh.
Eligibility
Funded places are available to those who meet SFC fee waiver criteria:
“Courses/provision is open to all Scottish-domiciled/’home fee’ students, which is consistent with SFC’s policy for core funded student places. Students from the rest of the UK (rUK) are not normally considered eligible for SFC funding. If however a university is working with a Scottish/UK employer which has a physical presence or operating in Scotland, rUK employees of that employer would be eligible.”
If you are from outside Scotland, you need to have settled status in the UK and meet other residency criteria:
- be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years immediately before course start date, and
- have ‘settled status’ in the UK (as set out in the Immigration Act 1971) at the course start date, and
- be ordinarily resident in Scotland at the course start date.
You can find out more about residency criteria on the SAAS website or in this summary.
Funding eligibility will be assessed at the point of each application for each course; you may be asked to provide further information if you do not meet the general residence conditions. You can check your likely fee status here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/tuition-fees/fee-status/work-out Please email us at upskilling@ed.ac.uk if you would like to discuss your funding eligibility before applying.
Please note that full-time students (including full-time PhD students) are not eligible for funding.
You will receive a certificate of completion after the final assessment date if you have submitted your coursework.
Applications for February 2024 are now closed.
This course is offered as part of online OneHealth-focussed programming at the University. At present you can use credits achieved on this course towards postgraduate study in the Global Food Security and Nutrition MSc and the Epidemiology MSc, subject to the approval of the relevant Programme Director.
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