Training Recommendations

The SSPH+ Inter-university Graduate Campus (IGC) offers structured training recommendations to support PhD students in building a globally competitive academic profile in public health sciences. These recommendations align with:

Note: SSPH+ IGC does not award doctoral degrees. Degree conferral is the sole responsibility of the student’s home university, based on its academic regulations.

Key Documents & Resources

Overview of the Training Program

The IGC promotes comprehensive, interdisciplinary education in public health. Its training framework encourages students to:

  • Develop deep expertise in their chosen research field
  • Build broad knowledge across core public health disciplines
  • Acquire transferable skills that support academic and non-academic career paths

Each student is expected to create a personalized training plan in collaboration with their primary supervisor and doctoral committee. This plan should:

  • Reflect the student’s research focus
  • Address any knowledge or skills gaps
  • Ensure acquisition of essential public health competencies

Core Training Principles

1. Broad, Interdisciplinary Education

PhD students are encouraged to develop a strong foundation in key public health areas, even if their research focuses on a specific topic.

Recommended Areas of Competence:

  • Epidemiology: Determinants of health and illness, epidemiological study designs, bias and error sources, causal inference, risk factors, statistical analysis, public health surveillance and monitoring.
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences: Social determinants of health, health inequities, cultural and psychosocial influences on health behaviors, theories and interventions in health promotion and disease prevention, quantitative and qualitative research methods.
  • Health Systems Research: Effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of healthcare systems, outcome research, fundamentals of health economics, health policy, and health law.

2. Expert Knowledge in One Primary Field

Students should attain in-depth expertise in a field directly relevant to their dissertation while maintaining working knowledge in the other core areas.

Training plans should be agreed upon early in the PhD journey to ensure structured progress.

3. Individualized Training Plans

Plans should consider:

  • The student’s academic background
  • Current competencies across public health domains
  • The nature of their doctoral research project

Recommended ECTS Distribution

  • Minimum of 18 ECTS over the PhD period
  • At least 2 ECTS in each of the following:
    • Epidemiology
    • Social and Behavioral Sciences in Health Research
    • Health Systems Research
    • General Scientific Skills (e.g., research design, writing, ethics)

Note: SSPH+ IGC follows the Bologna Process. 1 ECTS = 25–30 hours of student work. Course certificates are issued upon:

  • Minimum 80% attendance
  • Successful completion of assessments

Training Activities and Course Offerings

The IGC offers a rich program of courses delivered by national and international public health experts, covering:

  • Core and advanced public health topics
  • Theory and methodology in relevant disciplines
  • Global and historical public health challenges
  • Transferable skills (teaching, advocacy, science communication)

Monitoring Progress and Competencies

Students are encouraged to maintain a PhD portfolio in collaboration with their supervisors. This serves as a tool for:

  • Tracking research and learning progress
  • Documenting acquired competencies
  • Reflecting on professional development
  • Identifying training gaps and adjusting plans accordingly

If the home university does not provide a portfolio format, students may use the SSPH+ Portfolio Template.

Developing Key Competencies

PhD training should equip students with the ability to:

  • Conduct ethical and responsible research in line with local and international standards

  • Formulate original research questions, grounded in scientific literature, conceptual frameworks, and real-world public health challenges

  • Select appropriate study designs and apply rigorous methodologies

  • Publish scientific papers and prepare competitive grant applications

  • Communicate effectively—to both scientific and general audiences—through writing, presentations, and teaching

  • Collaborate in interdisciplinary teams and work across cultural and academic boundaries

  • Demonstrate leadership and project management skills, including team coordination and time management

  • Translate research findings into practice, articulating policy implications to decision-makers and stakeholders

Key Self-Assessment Areas:

  • Public health domain competencies
  • Research methodology and scientific writing
  • Leadership and project management
  • Communication and teaching skills

Non-Academic Internships

Many PhD graduates pursue careers outside of academia. To explore career pathways and gain hands-on experience, a non-academic internship is strongly recommended, preferably during the final phase of the PhD or immediately after completion.

The SSPH+ Internship Program supports students in organizing such placements. Supervisors should initiate discussions about internship opportunities early in the doctoral journey.

Doctoral Committee Role

In accordance with university or graduate school requirements, each PhD student should establish a doctoral committee to support academic and professional development.

Committee Responsibilities:

  • Advising on training needs and academic planning

  • Reviewing annual progress and training achievements

  • Supporting the student's research direction

Students should schedule at least one meeting per year with their doctoral committee to review their progress and update training plans as needed.