Ewan Taylor

I chose to study Master of Public Health (MPH) at the University of Stirling because I liked the online and modular nature of the course, and it fit around my day job as a pharmacist.

I’ve had an interest in Public Health since my undergraduate days, but it was heightened during the COVID pandemic. I wanted to formalise my knowledge in this subject area so began looking at the options of undertaking a Master of Public Health, while still continuing to work full-time. I also believe that the Public Health consequences of the pandemic will be evident for many years to come, and I wanted to be suitably qualified to understand and positively impact on people’s lives from a more holistic perspective. 

I work as a pharmacist in primary care and throughout my career I’ve looked at healthcare almost entirely at patient level. Completing the MPH has given me a more rounded view of healthcare and I now also consider population-level determinants of health alongside patient-specific factors. I am quite experienced in offering pharmacological treatment options for patients, but I now feel confident supplementing this with other interventions and patient education/awareness, if the situation is appropriate. Completing the MPH has also opened up potential future career opportunities for me within the Public Health sector. The experience that I gained during the MPH at the University of Stirling has also been incredibly beneficial in helping me interpret journal articles and research papers related to Public Health topics, which is something I was not previously particularly good at!   

I enjoyed experiencing the diversity of the other participants on the course. The online nature of the MPH meant that many students were from abroad and everyone had different backgrounds, occupations and experience. This allowed for interesting peer discussions and varied perspectives on Public Health topics. I also enjoyed some lively debates on Teams during the midweek evening seminars!   

The MPH qualification will definitely give me a broader scope of career pathways to consider in the future. Within my profession of pharmacy, the traditional roles are in hospital, community or primary care, but the MPH will allow me the additional option of moving into a less patient-facing but more strategic type of role in the Public Health sphere, should the opportunity arise.  

I can’t recommend the University of Stirling highly enough. Throughout the three years of the course, I have been impressed with the quality of the tutors as well as the course content and delivery. Although the MPH is exclusively online, I’ve never felt isolated or unsupported, rarely would a week go by where I didn’t interact at least once with a member of the faculty. Canvas is a very easy platform to navigate and allows access to absolutely everything you’ll ever need during the MPH, including the university library. The best piece of advice I would give to prospective students is plan your time and enjoy it!