Epidemiology

Are you interested in the health of populations? Have you ever wondered about the transmission dynamics of the COVID-19 virus? Whether diesel exhaust from traffic causes harm to humans? How global climate change affects health? And how we can best protect children from malaria?

The Specialized Master's degree programme in Epidemiology at the University of Basel is run by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH). The programme centres around teaching the basics of epidemiology and biostatistics, and the pursuit of an epidemiological research topic. Epidemiologists investigate the health of populations, study disease and possible risk factors, propose actions and then measure whether the health situation has improved. They also study disease outbreaks, conduct disease surveillance, identify possible health risk factors and propose measures for disease screening. To do this, epidemiologists design field studies to collect and analyse data, using a variety of methods and often as part of large multi-disciplinary teams.

The MSc programme in epidemiology at the University of Basel is run by Swiss TPH, an internationally recognised institute for public health excellence. The course language is English. The thesis work – which extends over a full year – is usually embedded in a research project in one of Swiss TPH’s units, most often within the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. The MSc thesis work is typically related to a field-based project in Switzerland or abroad.