EURODOC: Developing a European Doctorate in Health Promotion and Public Health

The concept for the development of a European Doctorate in Health Promotion/Public Health Programme has evolved over the last six years among a European Working Party consisting of a number of European higher education institution representatives, out of growing interest to develop higher education programmes of study, which align themselves with the recommendations set out within the Bologna Process.

Within the field of health promotion and public health, this work builds upon the European Masters in Health Promotion Project (EUMAHP, Phase 1 and 2, 1998-2004) and Public Health Training and Education in an Enlarging Europe Project (PHETICE, 2005-2008). The changing emphasis to the third cycle of the Bologna process is in part to fill a recognised gap in programmes of study in the field of health promotion and public health with a European focus at doctoral level.

Project timeframe

The project commenced in 2008 and ended in 2012.

Project objectives

The European working party has made recommendations for a three-stage approach to this work:

Stage 1: Scoping study (completed)

This entailed scoping of relevant academic and grey literature of the European PhD programmes in health promotion and public health which exist in Europe and recommendations for ongoing collaboration between institutions seeking to develop a quality-assured doctoral programme in this field.

Stage 2: Feasibility study for a European PhD in Health Promotion 

Establishing network of committed partners; developing core entrance criteria; analysis of the European dimension; study of research methodology for health promotion; application of findings within core curriculum; analysis of fees structures and credit transfer possibilities; consideration of professional doctorates versus traditional doctorates.

Stage 3: Programme implementation

Project impact

Stage 1 of the work was carried out in 2011/12. The scoping study was completed in September 2011 (Jeffery and Elegbe, 2011) and was used as a basis for carrying out a qualitative research, involving key stakeholder interviews as a way of building evidence for the specific areas required in developing a European Doctorate in Health Promotion and Public Health (Gugglberger, 2012). Continuation of the work now requires larger scale funding and the continued involvement of interested partners.

Research team

Caroline Hall

Professor John Kenneth Davies

Dr Lisa Gugglberger

Contact: Dr Nigel Sherriff

Outputs

Gugglberger, L. and Hall, C (in press) Is there a need for a European doctorate in health promotion and public health?, Health Education Journal, DOI: 10.1177/0017896914530584

Gugglberger L (2012) European Doctorate for Health Promotion and Public Health (scoping study report). Brighton: University of Brighton.

Jeffery A and Elegbe K (2011) Scoping Study: Developing a European Doctorate in Health Promotion and Public Health (draft report). Brighton: Zest Consultancy.

Presentations

Gugglberger, L, Hall, C and Davies, J.K. (2012), Establishing a European Doctorate for Health Promotion and Public Health: a scoping study presented at the Competencies in Health Promotion Conference, Galway, Ireland.

Hall, C. and Gugglberger, L. (2012), Developing a European Doctorate for Health Promotion and Public Health, presentation to the doctoral college, University of Brighton.

Davies, J.K. and Hall, C., (2010) The Feasibility of a European PhD/Professional Doctorate in Health Promotion, Workshop presented at the 20th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion, 11-15 July 2010, Geneva, Switzerland

Partners

University of Girona, Spain

University of Athens, Greece

Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

University of Magdeburg, Germany

University of Leuven, Belgium

Vestfold University College, Norway

University of Bergen, Norway

University of Cagliari, Italy

University of Debrecen, Hungary

University of Southern Denmark, Denmark