Health Science
*Subject to accreditation by the UAE Ministry of Education.
Further your career in the exciting area of health sciences. Learn from respected clinicians, academics, scientists and professionals. We offer a choice of specialist Masters programmes, each based on the teaching and research at our UK campus.
Why choose our programmes?
- The University of Birmingham is a renowned centre of international excellence for teaching and research.
- We’re members of the NIHR School for Public Health Research, which brings together a range of English institutions with excellence in the field.
- Study in a rich, collaborative environment that spans biology, medicine, mathematics, statistics, computer science and more.
- Learn from international experts whose research-informed teaching is based on the latest findings in your chosen field.
- Gain specialist knowledge and transferable skills to fit a wide range of employers – our graduates work in national healthcare, government and industry.
Graduate career destinations have included:
- National Health Services, including lab-based, frontline medical care and hospital management;
- Government regulation bodies, such as Public Health England in the UK;
- Johnson & Johnson;
- GlaxoSmithKline;
- Biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
How will you be taught?
Our taught modules will see you learn through a variety of lectures, workshops and laboratory teaching.
You’ll study 120 credits of taught modules, exploring the foundations of your subject. You’ll then enhance your learning with a 60-credit dissertation, researching a chosen area or problem in your chosen field.
Top 100
Ranked in the world top 100 for Life Sciences and Medicine
(QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024)
Advanced Practice in Healthcare MSc – 1 year full-time or 2-3 years part-time
What will you study?
This course is aimed at all allied healthcare professionals, nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists or pharmacists who wish to enhance their clinical expertise, research abilities and leadership skills. Here you will advance your practice and develop skills vital to the role of the advanced practitioners in your own specialist field.
This multi-professional programme has evolved from our UK based MSc Advanced Practice in Healthcare. Exploring and advancing your specialist area of practice, you’ll learn from experienced clinical academics and researchers through a mix of theory and practical teaching – all relating to global topics relevant to healthcare employers.
Your taught modules will explore current issues in health, the improvement and innovation of healthcare quality, teaching and learning for healthcare professional, plus health service management and leadership.
You’ll also complete a 60-credit dissertation on a research question, with the support of an academic staff member.
When you graduate you’ll then be ready to progress onto a senior healthcare management role, a role in education, healthcare quality or innovation or become a PhD student.
'My favourite aspect of the MSc Bioinformatics course is the hands-on experience it provides. This hands-on approach not only enhances my understanding of bioinformatics concepts but also prepares me for the challenges I may encounter in my future career.'
Ajab MSc Bioinformatics student
Bioinformatics MSc – 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time
What will you study?
Join one of the fastest-growing industrial and academic fields. Bioinformatics involves computational analysis, state-of-the-art statistics and machine learning to gain insights into complex systems.
Composed of seven taught modules and an independent project, this Masters course will give you a strong base of knowledge and skills, from computer programming and statistical machine learning, to molecular biology and other advance omics techniques. You’ll then be ready apply your broad skillset to the ongoing data science revolution in biology.
The course begins with a fast-paced overview of all the key principles, using both individual and group teaching. This caters for wet-bench biologists and clinicians interested in data analysis, as well as statisticians or computer scientists wishing to work in biology.
You’ll then be introduced to the latest sequencing platforms. These have reduced the cost of obtaining the human genome from over a billion US Dollars to less than a thousand, enabling countless applications in biomedical and environmental science.
Beyond DNA and RNA sequencing, you’ll learn how mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy have allowed protein and metabolome profiling – the study of all small molecules or metabolites present in a system. You’ll also learn how to integrate each data type with high-content imaging to map molecular changes onto four-dimensional representations of complex systems. These include the human nervous system and fresh water ecologies.
The global bioinformatics market is expected to grow massively as the technology and data science drive new clinical and biological services. Learning to handle the world’s most advanced biological and clinical datasets, you’ll be ready to further your career or seek new graduate opportunities in the omics-enabled biosciences.
After graduating, many students go on to study a PhD or carry out research for pharmaceutical companies, governmental institutions and medical publications.
Other potential roles include bioinformatician, data analyst, pharmaceutical scientist, biostatistician, medical data scientist and medical AI architect.
Health Data Science MS – 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time
What will you study?
This course covers artificial intelligence, health data and advanced computational approaches in the clinical and biomedical space. As we create the next generation of health data scientists, we’ll give you the skills to perform analyses, while developing novel tools and methods using diverse types of patient information.
You’ll study a broad range of health data science and its applications. Taught how to design, perform and enhance analyses with the relevant technology, you’ll learn how to address practical medical and clinical questions at population and patient level. You’ll also train in areas such as clinical bioinformatics, health informatics, statistics, AI and statistical machine learning, epidemiology, integrated multimodal data analysis, genomics and other omics analytics.
All these topics will prepare you for a health data science career as an academic, or in industry and national health services.
The programme also includes an interdisciplinary health data science research project. Here, you’ll work on solving real-world problems, collaborating with one of the Principal Investigators’ labs at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. Providing a rich, diverse and real-time environment, you’ll be ready to shape the future of health data science.
Mental Health (Clinical) MSc – 2 years full-time
What will you study?
This degree is for aspiring professionals allied to psychology and wanting to pursue a career in clinical psychology. Through drawing upon our world-leading expertise in mental health practice and clinical research, you’ll develop an understanding of mental health and mental illness, at an individual and societal level.
Taught on campus using a blended learning ‘flipped classroom’ model, you will use our online e-learning platform to study at your own pace. You will work through bespoke training and exercises each week, and undertake individual study and reading.
By applying your learning from first year, our dual focus on practice and research comes to life in your second year. You’ll gain hands-on exposure to a suite of practical skills as part of a competency-based clinical placement programme.
Research is a cornerstone of understanding mental health difficulties, and which treatments may alleviate them. A research dissertation at the end of year one will enable you to produce a significant piece of independent research in the field of mental healthcare. With guidance from your expert faculty, you will build your research and applied psychology skills.
Subsequent supervised practice and exams are required for licensure. The university bears no responsibility for the successful licensure of graduates. However, we anticipate that the placement programme will provide you an appropriate springboard for this process.
Your invaluable experiences gained throughout this course, aligns to the professionally recognised qualifications in mental health and clinical psychology including, the professional qualification’s standards for licensing clinical psychologists in the UAE.
'The MSc Mental Health (Clinical) is a prestigious programme offering students a unique opportunity in Dubai. Our curriculum is designed with a blend of excellent taught modules, a comprehensive research dissertation, and hands-on clinical practice.'
Dr Jigar Jogia PhD Programme Director, MSc Mental Health (Clinical)
Microbiology and Infection MSc – 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time
What will you study?
On this course, you’ll develop the skills needed to build a career in healthcare, microbiology and biomedical research. Gaining a strong foundation in molecular microbiology, you’ll learn how it underlies the increasing challenge of microbial infectious disease in healthcare, diagnosis and treatment.
Hands-on laboratory experience will give you experimental skills and the ability to handle a range of microorganisms. You’ll also conduct your own research project.
You’ll also conduct your ow research project and benefit from the research expertise of our institute of Microbiology and Infection. Featuring experts in a wide range of microbiology areas, it studies the fundamental and translational aspects and model organisms of key human, plant and veterinary pathogenic microorganisms.
Ongoing developments in infection include the increasing resistance of pathogens to antibiotics, the emergence of ‘superbugs’ such as Clostridium difficile and E. coli O157 and the rise of tuberculosis as a global killer disease. This all shows the need for graduates in this urgent field, now and into the future.
Our module themes include:
- Core Concepts and Skills in Microbiology,
- Medical Microbiology (Practice and Applications),
- Antimicrobials and Resistance,
- Host-Pathogen Interactions
- Microbial Physiology and Virulence
- Omics of Pathogens.
'Choosing this program has been one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made! It offers a mix of theory and practical learning. The academic staff are not only experts but also passionate mentors who know how to make complex topics interesting and engaging. If you’re passionate about microbiology, this program will truly transform your academic journey!'
Hamda Alhamdani MSc Microbiology and Infection (Dubai Campus)
Health Data Science MS – 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time
What will you study?
Our Master of Public Health (MPH) attracts people from a wide range of professional backgrounds. Whether you want a career in public health, or to learn more about epidemiology and statistics for research or health service evaluation, it’s designed to get you ready for the future.
If you’re a practising clinician or looking to move into a leadership role, the course will prepare you for senior management in healthcare and other public services. Covering most aspects of population health, it teaches epidemiology and biostatistics, along with the planning and evaluation of health and public health services.
Giving you a broad academic training in public health and epidemiology, the course covers the full range of public health topics. It also provides a strong base of knowledge in applied health research methods and health information.
You’ll study the key areas of public health practice, such as health promotion, population approaches to healthcare planning and delivery, plus health protection.
You’ll also develop your skills in statistics, research and systematic reviews and evidence synthesis. Completing a 60-credit dissertation, you’ll choose an area of public health to explore in greater depth.