The MSc Women and Children's Health comprises three core taught modules, including ‘Fundamentals of Womens and Children’s Health’ which covers health and disease from the periconception period to birth and early childhood. Research led lectures will cover topics such as infertility, pre-pregnancy health, placentation, preeclampsia; immunology of pregnancy and autoimmune disease, metabolic disease in pregnancy, parturition and dysfunctional labour, miscarriage and preterm birth, lactation and infant nutrition, the developing brain and prematurity, childhood diet and dental health, premature infant and the neonatal lung, gut microbiome, obesity, childhood allergy, epigenetics and lifelong health, nutrition and global health and perinatal mental health.
The other required taught modules are Statistics and Research Governance, and Scientific and Clinical Research skills followed by an intensive six month required research project within a lab or clinical research group. Students can also select 1-2 optional taught module(s) to tailor the course to their developing interests, examples include Perinatal Mental Health, Ethics in Child Health, Regenerative Medicine, Principles of Implementation and Improvement, Science, Leadership and Management, Birth Defects, Assisted Conception, Regenerative Medicine and Global Women’s Health.
The course fosters the intellectual skills of students through:
-
Critical assimilation and appraisal of the research literature pertaining to Women and Children’s Health.
-
Production of original pieces of written work that explain, review and evaluate primary research literature and using this evaluation to develop ideas and hypothesises.
-
Understanding research governance and demonstrate compliance with research regulations.
-
Understanding and applying scientific and clinical study design and statistical analysis principles.
-
Recognising the moral and ethical issues of investigations and appreciating the need for ethical standards and professional codes of conduct.
-
Thinking critically about their own work/ research to input into the synthesis and design of future hypotheses and experiments.
-
Using subject knowledge and understanding to explore and solve familiar and unfamiliar problems.
-
Collecting, interpreting and analysing data with a critical understanding of the appropriate contexts for their use through the study of primary research articles and the student’s own data.
Regulating body
King’s College London is regulated by the Office for Students.
Location
This course is primarily taught at the King’s St Thomas’, Waterloo & Guy’s Campuses. Please note that locations are determined by where each module is taught and may vary.
Teaching
A typical week would have approximately 10-15 hours teaching with the remaining hours dedicated to self-guided learning. In the final semester, research projects are full time with hours dedicated to practical and data collection, data analysis and writing. You will study via a combination of lectures, journal clubs, group discussions, practicals, workshops and independent study.
Peer feedback, in course assignments such as data handling, research project and project report write-up, journal club, presentations and essays. All will be actively encouraged throughout the research project.
Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.
Assessment
We will assess you through a combination of coursework, seen/unseen written exams, essays, problem directed learning exercises, case studies, ethical problem debate, data- handling, creation of clinical study materials such as patient information sheets and consent forms, research proposal, oral presentations, and a final research project report.
The study time and assessment methods detailed above are typical and give you a good indication of what to expect. However, they may change if the course modules change.