Course summary

An innovative, interdisciplinary degree with Edinburgh Futures Institute The different global crises that the world is facing are interconnected, and many are determined by the way that we have used the earth’s resources, and prioritised development and growth. ‘Planetary Health’ is a new field of study which examines these factors and their consequences, and looks at ways in which redesigning, connecting and leveraging the interdependent health, environment and economic systems could offer new global solutions. The challenge is how we can do this in a socially, economically and environmentally empathetic manner. This interdisciplinary MSc programme has been developed with expertise from across the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science and the College of Science and Engineering. It equips students with the critical and data skills required to understand and design solutions for global crises. In particular, crises at the intersection of the future health and well-being of people and our planet, including:

• the climate crisis

• environmental degradation

• emerging infectious diseases

• mass extinction/loss of biodiversity

• malnutrition

• extreme poverty

• digital power concentration and inequality

• conflict

• cyber insecurity

• livelihood crises

• develop a robust understanding of Planetary Health concepts

• interrogate the relationship between the socioeconomic, environmental and geopolitical determinants of health across the globe

• access support to build careers focused on tackling climate collapse, health, and other inequalities

• core data skills

• data ethics

• the ability to interrogate issues of global scope using methods from across disciplines

• creative and analytic approaches to knowledge