PhD Courses in Denmark

Welcome to Population Health Science: Principles for Research and Action

Program: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Description:

Profound inequities in health persist globally, shaped by social, economic, and environmental conditions that extend far beyond individual behaviors or biology. Addressing these challenges requires a shift in perspective - one that considerers the broader forces influencing health across populations.

Population health science offers such a perspective. As an interdisciplinary field, it examines how health is distributed within and across groups, and what drives these patterns. By moving beyond individual-level risk factors, it provides a framework for understanding the societal conditions that produce health and disease.

Purpose and scope:

This course introduces population health science as a conceptual and methodological foundation for understanding how health is produced and distributed across populations. The course encourages students to critically examine how research questions are framed, how evidence is generated, and how findings can inform action. Emphasis is placed on designing research that is not only scientifically rigorous but also capable of informing policy, guiding programs, and shaping public health practice.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course, PhD students will be able to:

• Apply the nine foundational principles by Galea and Keyes to the design and interpretation of population health research
• Formulate and identify relevant research questions with potential for improving population health
• Critically assess how health and disease are distributed across populations and the factors that shape these patterns
• Understand key conceptual models in population health, including multilevel frameworks, life course perspectives, and dynamic systems approaches
• Evaluate the social determinants of health, including social, economic, environmental, and structural influences, and health inequity
• Apply a causal architecture approach to identify and prioritize the most impactful causes for population health
• Understand the principles of prevention and assess their relevance to population-level health improvement.

For additional information, updates, and registration, please refer to AAU PhD Moodle via the link provided on the right side of this page.