Training Objectives Trans Global Health

This Trans Global Health Programme includes several objectives, which are based on, or embedded in, transdisciplinary approaches and trans global expertise.  

Specific Programme Objectives

  1. To enable students to develop an understanding of global health in terms of the interaction of global, national, regional and local forces, processes, and conditions.
  2. To ground training in disciplinary perspectives and engage in inter/transdisciplinary research.
  3. To offer mentorship opportunities by committed and experienced professors with a diversity of theoretical, operational and methodological perspectives on global health.
  4. To engage with health-related policy-making in a broad range of sectors at local, national and international level.

Transdisciplinary Approach

PhD candidates will build expertise in a specific global health domain and work with professionals from different backgrounds to assess situations from numerous angles:

  • Scientific disciplines: biomedical and clinical sciences as well as social and behavioural sciences;
  • Cross-cutting healthcare and systems issues;
  • Multi-actor, multi-sector, multi-level;
  • Including experiential knowledge from societal actors.

The programme teaches a broad range of mixed methods. While societal actors are increasingly involved in research, it is often in an ad hoc manner; the current programme makes use of validated transdisciplinary methodologies that are transparent and reproducible. PhD research will result in new findings and hypotheses that are published in international peer-reviewed journals. A transdisciplinary approach is crucial for tackling most global health problems.

Trans Globe Expertise

The consortium brings together research institutes that reflect the commitment of the Trans Global Health Programme to global health. The consortium includes expertise in (I) application of innovative and transdisciplinary research tools; (II) development of improved biomedical technologies; (III) design of lifestyle and community support interventions; (IV) analysis and improvement of national and global policies; and (V) preparation of innovations in healthcare systems. Alongside its strengths in interventions, the consortium includes expertise on health determinants, such as infectious and non-communicable diseases, in the context of environmental and system changes. This set-up allows a learning environment in which selected global health themes, issues and interventions can be studied in the context of the broader field and from different angles.