Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course including information about course components or research areas, please visit the course page on the University of Oxford website. The MSc in Applied Digital Health is a taught, full-time course combining clinical, social, and technical perspectives to explore digital health tools, AI, diagnostics, ethics, and implementation in healthcare. The MSc is led by the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences (NDPCHS). The course combines front line clinical experience with theoretical and methodological expertise, capitalising on the breadth of internationally leading digital health research in the department. In addition, recognising the interdisciplinary nature of digital health, the MSc draws on the expertise of faculty from across the University, spanning medicine, social science, engineering, computing and data science. Digital Health is one of five themes in the department's research strategy. Applied Digital Health is also one of six themes in the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford & Thames Valley Applied Research Collaboration (ARC), led by Theme Lead John Powell, Academic Director of the MSc in Applied Digital Health. Academic staff in NDPCHS have world-leading reputations in researching a wide range of digital health topics: from applied social science and clinical researchers leading studies aimed at bringing a critical perspective to understanding the practices and processes of digital healthcare, to data scientists and software developers working on novel ways to access and analyse and share actionable insights from routine digital data. Aimed at early-career professionals, entrants to the MSc in Applied Digital Health come from a wide range of backgrounds, including (but not limited to) clinical medicine, medical sociology, psychology, statistics, computer science and engineering. No pre-existing knowledge is assumed, although you must have an interest in both the social and technical aspects of digital health. The breadth of content means that this MSc is not suitable for those who wish to focus their studies on only one component of the digital health field. Upon successful completion of the course you will usually be able to:

• assess and debate current issues for health systems seeking to harness digital health

• summarise the state-of-the-art in digital health tools – including digital therapeutics, digital diagnostics, learning health systems and those that facilitate automated care pathways or improved patient (self) management – and describe how they work

• identify and formulate a response to the ethical, policy, regulatory and practice challenges facing digital health

• identify and discuss the drivers, enablers, barriers and challenges to digital health innovation, both generally and for real-world examples

• explain the requirements for user-focused development, meaningful evaluation and successful implementation of digital health tools, and propose the actions and processes needed to meet these requirements

• understand the main qualitative and quantitative research methods used in the study of digital health, and identify the strengths and weaknesses of each use existing literature to explore a specific digital health topic and be able to contextualise that learning in terms of the wider digital health eco-system.