Public Health Nutrition – (M.Sc.)

Public health nutrition is a new interesting subject area that concentrates on achieving a sound knowledge in nutrition and public health providing participants with the expertise to work in a variety of settings to promote nutrition for the benefit of public health. A public health nutritionist influences food selection and eating behaviour of a population, based on research and national dietary guidelines. Public health nutritionists are expected to find themselves in advisory and policy/advocacy roles as well as engaged in research in the UK and internationally.

An understanding of the nutritional status of the individual is of key importance in the ongoing quest to develop a healthier population, both in the UK and the wider world.

QMU is a leading provider of courses in Nutrition and, with an established reputation for high-quality teaching and research with an ‘Excellent’ rating in the national assessment of teaching quality. Similarly, our achievements in research and other scholarly activities have been recognised in the national research assessments. Students are at the core of our priorities and we aim to enrich both the teaching and the academic environment for them. We emphasise development of independence and effective group-working in students while offering the academic and personal support to help individuals fulfil their full potential. We aim to be flexible and responsive to the requirements of our students.

Our location by Edinburgh positions us close to many of the leading players in both national and local government, as well as many large hospitals, companies and research laboratories and government offices. Regarding Public Health Nutrition, the high number of policy and decision makers that are found in the Edinburgh area, together with many local community nutrition projects, offers the ideal setting in which to provide a teaching environment for our Public Health Nutrition students.

Opportunities exist for public health nutritionists in the a wide range of areas including: public health; health promotion (specialising in nutrition); government advisory posts; food companies; research; health media and pharmaceutical industry.