The science of epidemiology underpins public health policy, dental science and health services research, and employs a large number of researchers around the world.
Biostatistics is the science of collecting, analysing, presenting and drawing inferences from data for research in medicine and health. Understanding of context is vitally important as methods developed in one area of statistics can be misleading when unthinkingly applied elsewhere.
The MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics has been developed to meet the growing need for the research community to possess excellence in biostatistical analysis, especially for the analysis of observational data.
You’ll learn a wide range of contemporary statistical methods and, most importantly, when and where they should be applied.
Graduates of this course have a wide range of career options, and are in demand in universities, government, national health services, non-government organisations and industry.
More information
You'll be part of a world-renowned School and will be taught by internationally recognised scholars.
You can also study this programme part time over 24 months.
You’ll study modules totalling 180 credits. If you study this programme part time you will study fewer modules in each year.
You’ll take common core (compulsory) modules, including our innovative Professional Spine module, designed to give you the skills and experience to work effectively in research, public health or health services research. It includes, for example, ethics, academic writing for publication, consultancy, management and leadership skills.
Specialist themes
You focus on one of these specialist themes, selecting up to three modules within it:
Statistical Epidemiology – you specialise in the advanced statistical methods that play a crucial part in modern epidemiological research. This includes latent variable methods (allowing models to vary across different subgroups of the patient population and multilevel techniques) taking into account the complex hierarchy of patients treated by clinical teams within hospitals.
Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology – you specialise in the epidemiology of diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer and congenital anomalies that are a leading cause of death worldwide. As well as understanding the biology, causes and trends of these diseases, you will also explore exposures (such as diet, chemicals, radiation, toxicology and lifestyle factors) including measurement, validation and study design.
Applied Population Health – you specialise in understanding the core principles underpinning a population health perspective and the practical application of population health sciences for improving health. Students will explore the application of epidemiology in understanding health and well-being and designing, delivering and evaluating preventative interventions.
Research project
The programme culminates in your research project, supervised by leading researchers in their field. In collaboration with the teaching team, you’ll choose, design, conduct and write your research project, tailored to your chosen specialism. You, can design a project yourself or can choose from a range designed by the supervisors.
The final outcome will be to write up a paper, suitable for journal publication. We’ll encourage you to submit the article, using our experience and reputation to help you.
Compulsory modules
We blend face-to-face teaching with technology to enhance your learning experience. Self-directed online learning lets you study at a pace that suits you, whilst face-to-face support allows you to explore individual areas of difficulty and extend your understanding.
You’re likely to experience:
We understand the importance of assessment and feedback in your learning. We provide assessment in as many modules as possible so that you can gauge your understanding of the key concepts.
You’ll get feedback in a variety of ways: through informal discussion with tutors, written feedback from formative assessments, marks obtained in both formative and summative assessments and peer-review from presenting projects and data.
Each module contains a summative assessment component (a more formal evaluation). Some of these will be done via continuous in-course assessment, and some as end-of-module assessment.
Our assessment and feedback will use a number of methods:
The MSc in Medical Statistics combines in-depth training in mainstream advanced statistical modelling with a specialisation in medical applications.
This flexible degree programme allows you to blend theoretical and applied statistical disciplines, ideal for training in medical statistics. It combines compulsory and optional modules allowing you to train in a range of statistical techniques (and transferable skills) suitable for either careers in medical statistics and research-related professions, or for further academic research.
Options within the course vary from mainstream topics in statistical methodology to more specialised areas such as epidemiology and biostatistics.
You can also study this programme part time over 24 months.
If you do not meet the full academic entry requirements then you may wish to consider the Graduate Diploma in Mathematics. This course is aimed at students who would like to study for a mathematics related MSc course but do not currently meet the entry requirements. Upon completion of the Graduate Diploma, students who meet the required performance level will be eligible for entry onto a number of related MSc courses, in the following academic year.
Accreditation from the Royal Statistical Society is pending.
The first two semesters of your course will consist of taught modules, and in the third semester you’ll devote your time to a major dissertation in statistics or a research project in applied epidemiology and biostatistics. Within each semester you have the opportunity to choose from a range of optional modules, allowing you to specialise in the area of study of most interest to you.
You’ll be taught by experts from the School of Mathematics, The Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and The Clinical Trials Research Unit at Leeds, each bringing a different perspective to the subject of medical statistics.
You’ll be supervised for both your taught modules and your research project by professionals across the teaching units and you will be given the opportunity to utilise existing links with individual clinicians and medical research groups in the University of Leeds, Leeds NHS trust, and the Department of Health’s Information Centre in Leeds.
Throughout the course you’ll learn about new developments in statistics and be provided with the opportunity to undertake data analysis for a wide variety of statistical problems. You’ll build an appreciation of theoretical and practical perspectives on issues in medical statistics, whilst developing the ability to select and apply appropriate statistical methods for the analysis of medical data using suitably chosen software packages.
Compulsory modules
Optional modules
For more information on typical modules, read Medical Statistics MSc in the course catalogue
This course is taught by experts from the School of Mathematics, the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the Clinical Trials Research Unit at Leeds. You’ll study a mixture of modules taught by specialists in each area depending on your chosen optional modules. Teaching is done through a combination of lectures, small group workshops and a small number of practical exercises.
The taught course is primarily assessed by end-of-semester examinations with a small component of continuous assessment. The project is assessed by a written dissertation and a short oral presentation.
There is a shortage of well-qualified statisticians in the UK and other countries. Numeracy, in general, is an attribute keenly sought after by employers.
The emergence of data mining and analysis means that demand for statisticians is growing across a wide range of professions - actuarial, betting and gaming industries, charitable organizations, commercial, environmental, financial, forensic and police investigation, government, market research, medical and pharmaceutical organisations. The course is designed specifically to meet this demand.
As a graduate of medical statistics you will have specialist knowledge that will help you progress your career into areas such as medical or epidemiological research. There are several aims to medical research, all of which involve a significant amount of statistics, monitoring and surveillance of health and disease, establishing causes of disease or factors associated with death or disease, detecting disease, preventing death or disease and evaluating treatments for disease. Medical statisticians looking to follow a career in medical research are mainly employed by pharmaceutical companies, university medical schools, research units and the NHS.
A medical statistician could also go into consultancy giving advice to researchers looking to set up clinical trials and needing their project to be assessed before funding is granted.
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.
