Edinburgh secures scholarships to tackle global health and environmental challenges

The University has won £600,000 of scholarship funding to enable 35 students from low-income countries to study for a part-time, online master’s qualification.

Applicants to the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships programme, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), come from low and middle-income countries around the world, including Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

The successful applicants will be able to choose from a broad range of courses, under four headings: One Health, One Medicine; Global Health Innovation; Surgical Sciences; and Carbon Management.

Students will benefit from the University’s Global Academy network – a unique cross disciplinary approach to learning which brings together experts from a wide range of subjects to tackle global challenges.

The courses are structured to embed many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to address mankind’s primary challenges, by 2030. These include ending hunger and poverty, providing clean water and sanitation, and tackling climate change.

Enabling people to be change-makers

As the courses are delivered online, students save money by not having to travel to Edinburgh, as well as enabling those with caring and work responsibilities to undertake part-time study which they would otherwise be unable to consider.

“These scholarships are life-changing. Brilliant students who would not otherwise have the means to study at this level will now have the opportunity to gain new skills and knowledge to improve health in their communities. We believe that education is the change-maker needed to enable people to respond to complex global challenges.”

- Liz Grant, Assistant Principal, Global Health, The University of Edinburgh

Training surgeons

10 of the scholarships will be to train surgeons in a programme which has so far seen more than 1,000 medics from over 70 countries qualify with an Edinburgh degree.

The impact of this online programme, established in 2007, has been considerable with much-needed doctors gaining skills and knowledge in some of the poorest areas of the world.

“These new scholarships will allow us to train even more surgeons, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where these is a pressing need for medical expertise. By working in partnership with local people in countries such as Malawi and Sudan, as well as in East Asia and Latin America, we can help provide solutions to urgent problems.”

- James Garden, Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery, The University of Edinburgh

Tackling climate change

In addition to courses in health and medicine, funding is also available for applicants wishing to study for a master’s in Carbon Management.

This online course uses innovative teaching methods, including live role-play where students play the part of a doctor or teacher faced with an imminent natural disaster.

“This course integrates the science, business, economics and policy of climate change which is of critical relevance in many of the students’ home countries. The new students will join a thriving global network of more than 500 'Carbon Masters' working in more than 60 nations. This new funding will enable Edinburgh to reach even more great students and help to deliver climate-smart development around the world”

– Dave Reay, Professor of Carbon Management & Education, School of GeoSciences

Edinburgh secures scholarships to tackle global health and environmental challenges

Applicants to the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships programme, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), come from low and middle-income countries around the world, including Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Enabling people to be change-makers

Training surgeons

Tackling climate change

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