Our Programmes and Activities

We have a range of online global health programmes for students based around the world. Our world-leading, flexible approach brings together disciplines from across the University and makes it easy for people living in low and middle income countries to access these programmes.

Since the Global Health Academy started in 2009, we have welcomed hundreds of students to our online programmes, securing over £1million in Commonwealth Scholarships to enable more people to access these courses.

We led the way in establishing key principles to enable online study from within low and middle income settings, these include:

• Typically delivered parttime – to enable ongoing professional work
• Structured over 3 years with staged accreditation after each year (certificate, diploma and masters).
• Designed for low internet bandwidth – to make it easy to access the material where internet access is limited
• Community formation and opportunity to attend an in-person Summer School.

To deliver these programmes and our annual summer school, we work with our colleagues at the Usher Institute, the Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security, the Library and Edinburgh Global. 

Our annual Summer School is delivered in partnership with the University of Rwanda and Makerere University in Uganda.

Our longstanding relationship with the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) and UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) help us deliver high-quality teaching and galvanise the community of scholars who are leading responses to global challenges.

• Visit our ‘Study with Us’ page for our list of online courses

• Learn more about the Commonwealth Scholarships and access testimonial videos

‘Palliative care in a changing climate’ brings together planetary and human health in low and middle income countries, and fragile communities.

We have developed a multi country hub-and-spoke approach with four pillars of integration, namely: 

• effective policy and engaged policy makers, 

• capacity building for existing health care workers, 

• improved access to essential medicines, and 

• ongoing mentorship. 

Our work extends to teaching materials, modules and curricular development, as well as the training of medical and nursing staff, and health workers. We have also led an innovative and European award winning leadership fellowship programme in Palliative Care.

• Our PallCHASE page – a network of partners working to support palliative care in humanitarian settings and emergencies

The Edinburgh Futures Conversations are a series of events to promote global understanding and cooperation, and to contribute action-oriented thinking to the public debate about the world’s response to Covid-19.

The first event, the Future of Health (March 2021), saw experts from around the world share their perspectives of the pandemic and explore how to change and reshape public health systems to transform outcomes.

The opening session featured:

• Dr Anthony Fauci - leading infectious diseases expert and chief medical advisor to the Biden Administration
• Dr Nanshan Zhong top respiratory diseases expert who led investigations into the COVID-19 outbreak in China.
• Discussion was charied by Professor Sheila Tlou, Co-Chair of the Nursing Now Global Campaign, and former Botswanan Minister of Health.

Other contributors at the event included:

• Chelsea Clinton – Global Health Advocate
• Peter Singer – Assistant Director General and Special Advisor to Director General, WHO
• Dr John Nkengasong – Director, Africa Centres for Disease Control
• Professor Devi Sridhar – Chair of Global Public Health, University of Edinburgh
• Professor Shannon Vallor – Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh
• Sarah Brown – Chair of Theirworld and Executive Chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education
• Students participating in the Student Leaders programme run in conjunction with this event.

Insights from this global conversation have been distilled into a 'Declaration of Principles'. It highlights actions needed to advance better health through strengthened primary, public and planetary health systems, and the crucial role Universities and Colleges can – and must – play.

• The Edinburgh Futures Conversation page
• Programme and videos of all sessions
• The Declaration of Principles

Context:

• Advacing Planetary Health is at the centre of the global health agenda. The health of people is entirely entwined with the health and wellbeing of the planet, and vice versa. 

• Each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals seeks to improve the health of people and the planet. This is only possible with a multidisciplinary approach. 

• Across the university, a number of disciplines contribute to global and planetary health research – including biomedical, clinical, social and political science, geography, geoscience and engineering, veterinary science, divinity and law. 

Our contribution: 

• At the Global Health Academy we preference and support multidisciplinary studies and those that cut across traditional institutional functions and boundaries. 

• We provide tools, advice and input that helps all our research to align with the values of the University’s 2030 strategy and vision. This includes convening partnerships globally, mentoring researchers working in low and middle income contexts and developing resources to support ethical global research.

The research we lead and promote is aligned with key approaches including:

• Research agenda initiated by LMIC partners

• Located in, co-designed and benefiting LMIC

• Rooted in partnership

• Orientated towards impactful action

• Creating communities of practice

Global and planetary health at the University delivers to one or more of these themes: 

1. Planetary Health, One Health and the Determinants of Health
2. Care Pathways and Care at Life Stages
3. Illness Specific (Infectious Diseases; Non Communicable Diseases and Co-morbidities; Mental Health)
4. Technical Innovation and Big Data
5. Global Surgery
6. Health Systems and Global Health Governance
7. Compassion, Wellbeing and Ethical Health Care

• Read about our University of Edinburgh 2030 Strategy and Vision

• Visit our SDGs and Planetary Health section

• Read more about our Global Health Academy values and approach

• Learn more about our global and planetary health research themes

• Access our Global Ethical Research toolkit and pocket guide

• See examples of current and past research

• Read about how we are advancing Sustainablity and the SDGs within the University

More children are living in situations of conflict than at any time in history. Our ‘Children in Conflict’ work is rooted in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and underpinned by commitment to help secure children’s rights globally.

We examine the impact of armed conflict on children. We focus particularly on those living in fragile states and those displaced by emerging, current or past conflict.

The United Nations have identified six grave violations affecting children the most in times of war. These are:   

• Killing and maiming
• Recruitment and use of children in conflict
• Sexual violence
• Child abduction
• Denial of humanitarian access and assistance
• Attacks on schools and hospitals.

Our contributions include:

• SDG mapping: The Path to 2030: Achieving the SDGs for children living in conflict: This resource shows the impact, progress and change needed in relation to each of the SDGs for children living in conflict, and maps the path forward for achieving them. Download and read the resource here.

• A cross-disciplinary Children in Conflict Group at the University of Edinburgh that is working to advance the Sustainable Development Goals specifically in relation to children who are living in situations of conflict. Current and future projects include access to education (initially in Afghanistan), children’s rights and the impact of climate change. Learn more about the 'Children in Conflict Group' here. 
• ‘Protecting Children in Armed Conflict’ Report: This report calls for significant reforms to simplify the existing legal mechanisms. Led by Shaheed Fatima QC the report was produced by Theirworld, Save the Children and the Global Health Academy and builds on the Inquiry on ‘Protecting Children in Armed Conflict’ set up by former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown). Download the report here.

This work is highly collaborative. Externally we work closely with:

• UNICEF
• Theirworld
• Save the Children

We work with colleagues across the University, including:

• Colleagues in Public Health, Education, Law and Data
• The Edinburgh Futures Institute
• The Observatory of Children's Human Rights Scotland
• Political Settlements Research ProgrammeUNICEF Data Collaborative for Children
• The End Violence Lab
• College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine | The University of Edinburgh, including theUsher Institute  
• Edinburgh Global

• Children in Conflict
• Focus on Afghanistan
• The Path to 2030: Achieving the SDGs for children living in conflict (Resource)
• ‘Protecting Children in Armed Conflict’ Report (Resource)

TIBA aims to harness the expertise and technical capability in biomedical and social sciences at the University of Edinburgh and African partners to reduce the burden and threat of infectious diseases in Africa by informing and influencing health policy and strengthening health systems.

The aims of TIBA are:

• Improve the diagnosis and surveillance of infectious diseases in resource-poor settings

• Improve the deployment of existing drug treatments and enhance local capacity to develop new ones

• Improve the deployment of existing vaccines and enhance local capacity to develop new ones

• Improve the management of endemic and epidemic infectious diseases by:

  • Strengthening health systems, governance and ethics

  • Improving policy development and implementation

  • Enhancing capacity to respond to infectious disease emergencies

• Visit the TIBA website
• Watch this video – an overview of the collaboration and some of our projects

Our Global Compassion Initiative exists to catalyse, enable and embed the evidence and practice of compassion within the University and across our relationships in the city and the world.

The University of Edinburgh is committed to delivering impact for society – through our knowledge and how we lead. Without a compassionate framework underpinning our choices, we will not be able to deliver the advancements needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on a local or global level.

As a University – in our learning, teaching, research and in how we relate to each other – we have an opportunity to strengthen our compassionate practice. By doing this, we can be a stronger and more effective agency of transformation, with each person an agent of transformation.

The objectives of the Global Compassion Initiative are:

1. To support the University to be internationally recognised as a place of learning that is shaped and driven by compassion where our staff and students are known for their emotional and relational intelligence.
2. To support students to graduate from our university with a rich understanding of compassion and experience of integrating compassionate practice into learning, work and life.
3. To enable students and staff to be leaders in applying compassionate principles and practice
4. To be a resource for the city and the world in translating evidence and catalysing gaps in research and teaching.

We want the world to be a better place for everyone because compassion is woven into all our choices.

• Visit the Global Compassion Initiative Website
• Follow @CompassionEdi on Twitter
• Read about Compassion and the SDGs

RESPIRE aims to reduce the impact and number of deaths caused by respiratory diseases in Asia in partnership with collaborators from 4 Asian countries – Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Pakistan. 

Its main aims are to: 

• Map and collate continuing and emerging respiratory challenges; 

• Prioritise existing evidence-based interventions that have the potential to be adapted to reduce mortality/morbidity in the partner countries; 

• Support local adaption/tailoring of interventions for deployment in low-resource environments and catalyse developmental work in areas of unmet need; 

• Support local implementation efforts and evaluation of programmes of work; 

• Identify the best delivery mechanisms for long-term delivery/scaling-up.

• Visit the RESPIRE website