Our Programmes and Activities
We lead and contribute to a range of programmes and multi-disciplinary activities. This page presents some highlights.
Advancing health for all
Health affects every aspect of our lives. Planetary health is at the centre of all global health activity – it is essential for the flourishing and wellbeing of people and planet.
Working across a range of partnerships – within and beyond the University – we lead and contribute to initiatives designed to improve global health.
All our work supports the University's commitment to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Some of this activity is highlighted below.
What is this? |
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. |
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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:
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Countries | Our courses are tailored towards the health needs of low and middle income countries |
Hosts |
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. |
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What is this? | The Global Health Academy delivers a programme of work called ‘Palliative Care in a Changing Climate’ and supports efforts to improve Palliative Care globally. This includes hosting PallCHASE – a network of partners working to support palliative care in humanitarian settings and emergencies. |
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‘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:
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. |
Countries | We work in partnership with colleagues across the world, including in Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Sudan, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria, Gaza, Israel, Bangladesh (Rohingya community in Cox’s Bazar), India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico and Colombia. |
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What is this? |
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. |
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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:
Other contributors at the event included:
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. |
Hosts | University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh Futures Institute and the Global Health Academy). |
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What is this? | We lead and contribute to research that is addressing major health problems affecting low and middle income societies across the globe; this includes studies designed to strengthen health systems and planetary health. |
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Context:
Our contribution:
The research we lead and promote is aligned with key approaches including:
Global and planetary health at the University delivers to one or more of these themes:
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Countries | We have a global focus – recognising that people in LMICs face the strongest challenges in relation to health. Planetary health and wellbeing for all is dependant on shared learning. Colleagues in LMICs bring essential insights to the global health agenda and the developments needed in high income settings. |
Partners | Collaboration and forging equitable partnerships is at the heart of all our work. It is those most affected and with the deepest understanding of local contexts that must be at the heart of research and solutions for change. |
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What is this? | The Global Health Academy delivers a programme of work focused on children in conflict situations. This includes hosting a University wide ‘Children in Conflict Group’ to advance research and knowledge related to the Sustainable Development Goals, children’s needs and the ways in which systems are impacting on their development. |
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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:
Our contributions include:
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Partners |
This work is highly collaborative. Externally we work closely with: We work with colleagues across the University, including:
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NIHR Global Health Research Unit Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa at the University of Edinburgh.
What is this? | Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA, which means “to cure an infection” in Swahili) is an Africa-led, wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary research programme that explores and draws lessons from the ways that different African health systems tackle infectious diseases. |
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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:
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Countries | Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe |
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What is this? |
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. |
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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:
We want the world to be a better place for everyone because compassion is woven into all our choices. |
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What is this? | Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), RESPIRE is a Global Health Research Unit at the University of Edinburgh focusing on respiratory health in Asia. |
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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:
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Countries | Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Pakistan |
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Quick links
- Study with Us: for information on global health courses – undergraduate, postgraducate, online and on campus
- Edinburgh Global Nursing Initiative: Our collaboration with Nursing Studies
- Ethical Action in Global Research: A toolkit to support ethical action in global research
- Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals: Our Global Academies provide multi-disciplinary responses to advancing global issues