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Professional Doctorate in Health and Social Sciences

The Professional Doctorate in Health and Social Sciences provides the opportunity to produce doctoral level practice-based research based upon your professional expertise and the work of your organisation.

Course Overview

It supports the current policy drive toward research in the workplace, the development of expert practitioners, the expansion of collaborative working, and the emphasis on evidence-based practice in healthcare.

This degree is for senior practitioners, clinicians, team leaders, managers, and specialists working in the wide domain of health and social sciences. We are particularly interested in applicants who wish to study in the following areas:

1) Healthcare management and service delivery, for example:

  • Healthcare governance: clinical risk management, clinical audit, clinical and integrated governance
  • Management of healthcare services
  • Men’s health
  • Promoting positive community wellbeing including mental health promotion
  • Service evaluation within the healthcare community
  • Successful aging, health and well-being
  • The patient and service user experience

2) Public health nutrition, for example:

  • Health promotion and behavioural change
  • Programme evaluation
  • Nutrition and intestinal disease
  • Nutrition surveillance
  • Food security

Course Structure

The course comprises a taught and research component; the taught element builds your knowledge of research practice, each module contributing to your own research project.

The modules include:

  • Personal and professional development
  • Organisations: their structure and analysis
  • Research Design and Planning
  • Research Methods
  • Leading research and influencing practice

This is followed by a research dissertation.  Learning will be in multi-disciplinary cohorts.  

Download the postgraduate prospectus

Mode of Study

Start: October 2010.

Duration: 4 to 8 years, part-time 

Location: 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1W 6UW

Entry Requirements

Applicants will normally hold a Masters degree or acceptable equivalent and have at lease three years appropriate work experience.

If your first language is not English you should have an IELTS score of at least 6.5 in all components (or equivalent). During the induction stage of the course, students who do not have English as their first language will complete Academic English screening, and any resulting recommended Academic English support activity.

Fees 2011/2012

Part-time UK/EU fee - £2,720 (year fee)
Part-time Overseas fee - £5,445 (year fee)

Further information on fees, scholarships and bursaries

How to apply

Click here for guidance on how to make an application via UKPASS.

Course Team

Programme Leader:

Dr Patricia Maitland, P.Maitland@Westminster.ac.uk

Module Leaders:

Dr Alizon Draper, Dr Veronica Tuffrey, Sylvina Tate

For an informal talk about the course please contact the course leader Patricia Maitland on: p.maitland@westminster.ac.uk