Education in public health sciences is interdisciplinary and organized in collaboration with all faculties of the University of Iceland. The program's instructors come from the Center for Public Health Sciences and various departments of the University of Iceland and guest lecturers from domestic and international institutions that are leaders in their field.
The micro-credential consists of courses that are particularly suitable for those who want training in the methods used in epidemiological research. The micro-credential is also ideal for those considering applying for a master's degree in public health sciences, epidemiology, or biostatistics, who want to learn more about the program and/or need a better foundation in the subjects required for admission. Courses completed with first grades can be credited towards a master's degree in these disciplines.
The programme is 30 credits and is organized as part-time study over 1-3 semesters. Students must complete 18 credits in mandatory courses and 12 credits in specified elective courses.
Note that all mandatory courses and most elective courses are organized as on-campus daytime classes. Some courses are taught in blocks. Therefore, the program is not always suitable for full-time workers.
The micro-credential is completed with a certificate of completion.
BA, BS degree or equivalent qualification.
Students must complete 30 credits divided as follows: 18 credits in mandatory courses and 12 credits in electives.
Further information on supporting documents can be found here
Interdisciplinary programme.
Check below to see how the programme is structured.
This programme does not offer specialisations.
The course provides an overview of definitions, history, aims, legislation, methods and ethical considerations in public health and public health sciences. The course lays emphasis on global public health as well as on the Icelandic health care system, its administration and funding in comparison with health care systems in other nations. An overview is provided on Icelandic and international databases on health and disease and possibilities for their utilization in research and policy making for health promotion. In addition, current public health issues at each time are emphasized.
The course provides an overview of the main determinants of health in a westernized society (such as Iceland) and preventive interventions at different levels of such societies. With main emphasis on planning, implementing and documentation of the effectiveness of interventions aiming at general health promotion and primary prevention, the course also covers examples of secondary and tertiary prevention. The students get training in planning their own preventive interventions.
The course is an introduction to epidemiological research methods and causal inference. An overview is provided on measure of disease occurrence, measures of outcome (relative risks), and study design (experiments, intervention studies, cohort studies and case-control studies). Emphasis is on systematic errors and on methods to avoid such errors in planning (study design) and in data analyses. Students get training in reviewing epidemiological studies.
The aim of the course is to increase students' understanding of different areas within epidemiology, provide an introduction to area-specific methods, and to enhance students' ability to interpret results and assess the quality of scientific research in epidemiology.
The course will cover 4-6 specific areas or topics within epidemiology. Examples include perinatal, nutritional, pharmacological, and infectious disease epidemiology; featured topics may vary from year to year.
Students will perform traditional statistical analysis on real data sets. Special focus will be on regression methods, including multiple regression analysis. Students will apply sophisticated methods of graphical representation and automatic reporting. Students will hand in a projects where they apply the above mentioned methods on real datasets in order to answer research questions
This course is an introduction to statistics in the life sciences. The course covers the following topics. Types of data: categorical data, count data, data on continuous variables. Descriptive statistics; numerical statistics and statistical graphs. Probability distributions, the binomial distribution, the Poisson distribution and the normal distribution. The definitions of a random sample and of a population. Sampling distributions. Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Comparison of means between groups. Statistical tests for frequency tables. Linear and logistic regression with ROC analysis. Survival analysis with the methods of Kaplan-Meier and Cox. The course is based on lectures and practical sessions in computer labs. In the practical sessions exercises are solved with the statistical software package R and the RStudio environment.
This course is a continuation of Biostatistics I and constitutes a practical guide to statistical analyses of student's own research projects. The course covers the following topics. Estimation of relative risk/odds ratios and adjusted estimation of relative risk/odds ratios, correlation and simple linear regression, multiple linear regression and logistic regression. The course is based on lectures and practical sessions using R for statistical analyses.
The course focuses on statistical analysis using the R environment. It is assumed that students have basic knowledge of statistics and will learn how to apply statistical methods they know in R. Main topics are loading data, graphical representation, descriptive statistics and how to perform the most common hypothesis tests (t- test, chi-square test, etc.) in R. In addition, students will learn how to make reports using the knitr package.
The course is taught during a five week period. A teacher gives lectures and students work on a project in class.
The course focuses on statistical analysis using the R environment. It is assumed that students have basic knowledge of statistics and the statistical software R. Students will learn to apply a broad range of statistical methods in R (such as classification methods, resampling methods, linear model selection and tree-based methods). The course on 12 weeks and will be on "flipped" form. This means that no lectures will be given but students will read some material and watch videos before attending classes. Students will then work on assignments during the classes.
This course describes trauma in childhood and adulthood, including violence, accidents, disasters and life-threatening illness and their association with mental and physical health. Emphasis will be placed on introducing the scientific foundation of the trauma field and understanding scientific articles in this area. The main topics of the course include:
The course is intended for students who want to increase their scientific knowledge of the relationship between trauma and health. It is only intended for postgraduate students. The course consists of lectures by the main supervisor and selected guest speakers who are experts in the field of trauma. Emphasis will be placed on discussions and active participation of students.
The course gives an overview of various models for defining mental disorders. Students are introduced to methods of current interventions and the results of outcome research. In addition, health will be defined and how thoughts are believed to influence health and health behaviour. The basic theory of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) will be introduced and a theoretical overview of CBT, models, concepts and methods presented.
The course provides an overview of public health in a global perspective. A special emphasis will be placed on the United Nation‘s Sustainable Development Goals and the Icelandic government’s plan of implementation. Additionally, specialists from different sectors will cover selected topics which may include health predictors, determinants of health and burden of disease in low income countries, social inequality, as well as policies that might improve primary health care and public health in those areas; the effects of conflict, insecurity and natural disasters on health; and relief worker experiences working in disaster areas.
The course may include a field trip to an institution in the fields of foreign policy, aid work or refugee resettlement in Iceland.
The course covers methods for analysis of cohort studies using methods for time to event or survival analysis. It is based on the course Biostat III – Survival analysis for epidemiologists in R at the Karolinska Institutet: See (https://biostat3.net/index.html): "Topics covered include methods for estimating patient survival (life table and Kaplan-Meier methods), comparing survival between patient subgroups (log-rank test), and modelling survival (primarily Poisson regression, Cox proportional hazards model and flexible parametric models). The course addresses the concept of 'time' as a potential confounder or effect modifier and approaches to defining 'time' (e.g., time since entry, attained age, calendar time). The course will emphasise the basic concepts of statistical modelling in epidemiology, such as controlling for confounding and assessing effect modification."
The aim of the course is to increase students‘ understanding of advanced methods in epidemiology and to enhance students‘ ability to interpret results and assess the quality of scientific research in epidemiology.
The course will cover positive and negative confounding, matching, propensity score, effect modification and interaction, instrumental variables, causal diagrams, and missing data. Scientific articles in epidemiology will be studied and discussed.
Course description:
The course introduces the main topics and challenges of public health nutrition, but also methods and approaches in the field of health promotion. Emphasis will be placed on health promotion projects in the field of nutrition in the West but also in developing countries. Nutrition is placed in the context of other health-related behaviors, people's situations and lifestyles. The main theories about health-related behaviors will be introduced, which factors control consumption behavior and what can be important if changes are made to health-related behaviors. The main nutrition-related prevention and health promotion projects in Iceland as well as foreign projects will be presented. Students gain skills in organizing public health projects in the field of nutrition and how research results can be used for prevention and measures aimed at improving health. All the main steps in shaping and preparing a project, its implementation and evaluation of results will be discussed.
We try to answer following questions as well as others:
Do we really control what we eat - or do we have limited choices?
Is public health determined solely by politics?
Is nutrition literacy an important concept?
Is your diet ruining Mother Earth's health?
Do you get something to eat if there is a war abroad?
What is your responsibility for starving children in the world?
What really governs the world?
Do you want to be involved in changing the world?
Create health promotion projects of your choice.
The course provides an overview of definitions, history, aims, legislation, methods and ethical considerations in public health and public health sciences. The course lays emphasis on global public health as well as on the Icelandic health care system, its administration and funding in comparison with health care systems in other nations. An overview is provided on Icelandic and international databases on health and disease and possibilities for their utilization in research and policy making for health promotion. In addition, current public health issues at each time are emphasized.
The course provides an overview of the main determinants of health in a westernized society (such as Iceland) and preventive interventions at different levels of such societies. With main emphasis on planning, implementing and documentation of the effectiveness of interventions aiming at general health promotion and primary prevention, the course also covers examples of secondary and tertiary prevention. The students get training in planning their own preventive interventions.
The course is an introduction to epidemiological research methods and causal inference. An overview is provided on measure of disease occurrence, measures of outcome (relative risks), and study design (experiments, intervention studies, cohort studies and case-control studies). Emphasis is on systematic errors and on methods to avoid such errors in planning (study design) and in data analyses. Students get training in reviewing epidemiological studies.
The aim of the course is to increase students' understanding of different areas within epidemiology, provide an introduction to area-specific methods, and to enhance students' ability to interpret results and assess the quality of scientific research in epidemiology.
The course will cover 4-6 specific areas or topics within epidemiology. Examples include perinatal, nutritional, pharmacological, and infectious disease epidemiology; featured topics may vary from year to year.
Students will perform traditional statistical analysis on real data sets. Special focus will be on regression methods, including multiple regression analysis. Students will apply sophisticated methods of graphical representation and automatic reporting. Students will hand in a projects where they apply the above mentioned methods on real datasets in order to answer research questions
This course is an introduction to statistics in the life sciences. The course covers the following topics. Types of data: categorical data, count data, data on continuous variables. Descriptive statistics; numerical statistics and statistical graphs. Probability distributions, the binomial distribution, the Poisson distribution and the normal distribution. The definitions of a random sample and of a population. Sampling distributions. Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Comparison of means between groups. Statistical tests for frequency tables. Linear and logistic regression with ROC analysis. Survival analysis with the methods of Kaplan-Meier and Cox. The course is based on lectures and practical sessions in computer labs. In the practical sessions exercises are solved with the statistical software package R and the RStudio environment.
This course is a continuation of Biostatistics I and constitutes a practical guide to statistical analyses of student's own research projects. The course covers the following topics. Estimation of relative risk/odds ratios and adjusted estimation of relative risk/odds ratios, correlation and simple linear regression, multiple linear regression and logistic regression. The course is based on lectures and practical sessions using R for statistical analyses.
The course focuses on statistical analysis using the R environment. It is assumed that students have basic knowledge of statistics and will learn how to apply statistical methods they know in R. Main topics are loading data, graphical representation, descriptive statistics and how to perform the most common hypothesis tests (t- test, chi-square test, etc.) in R. In addition, students will learn how to make reports using the knitr package.
The course is taught during a five week period. A teacher gives lectures and students work on a project in class.
The course focuses on statistical analysis using the R environment. It is assumed that students have basic knowledge of statistics and the statistical software R. Students will learn to apply a broad range of statistical methods in R (such as classification methods, resampling methods, linear model selection and tree-based methods). The course on 12 weeks and will be on "flipped" form. This means that no lectures will be given but students will read some material and watch videos before attending classes. Students will then work on assignments during the classes.
This course describes trauma in childhood and adulthood, including violence, accidents, disasters and life-threatening illness and their association with mental and physical health. Emphasis will be placed on introducing the scientific foundation of the trauma field and understanding scientific articles in this area. The main topics of the course include:
The course is intended for students who want to increase their scientific knowledge of the relationship between trauma and health. It is only intended for postgraduate students. The course consists of lectures by the main supervisor and selected guest speakers who are experts in the field of trauma. Emphasis will be placed on discussions and active participation of students.
The course gives an overview of various models for defining mental disorders. Students are introduced to methods of current interventions and the results of outcome research. In addition, health will be defined and how thoughts are believed to influence health and health behaviour. The basic theory of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) will be introduced and a theoretical overview of CBT, models, concepts and methods presented.
The course provides an overview of public health in a global perspective. A special emphasis will be placed on the United Nation‘s Sustainable Development Goals and the Icelandic government’s plan of implementation. Additionally, specialists from different sectors will cover selected topics which may include health predictors, determinants of health and burden of disease in low income countries, social inequality, as well as policies that might improve primary health care and public health in those areas; the effects of conflict, insecurity and natural disasters on health; and relief worker experiences working in disaster areas.
The course may include a field trip to an institution in the fields of foreign policy, aid work or refugee resettlement in Iceland.
The course covers methods for analysis of cohort studies using methods for time to event or survival analysis. It is based on the course Biostat III – Survival analysis for epidemiologists in R at the Karolinska Institutet: See (https://biostat3.net/index.html): "Topics covered include methods for estimating patient survival (life table and Kaplan-Meier methods), comparing survival between patient subgroups (log-rank test), and modelling survival (primarily Poisson regression, Cox proportional hazards model and flexible parametric models). The course addresses the concept of 'time' as a potential confounder or effect modifier and approaches to defining 'time' (e.g., time since entry, attained age, calendar time). The course will emphasise the basic concepts of statistical modelling in epidemiology, such as controlling for confounding and assessing effect modification."
The aim of the course is to increase students‘ understanding of advanced methods in epidemiology and to enhance students‘ ability to interpret results and assess the quality of scientific research in epidemiology.
The course will cover positive and negative confounding, matching, propensity score, effect modification and interaction, instrumental variables, causal diagrams, and missing data. Scientific articles in epidemiology will be studied and discussed.
Course description:
The course introduces the main topics and challenges of public health nutrition, but also methods and approaches in the field of health promotion. Emphasis will be placed on health promotion projects in the field of nutrition in the West but also in developing countries. Nutrition is placed in the context of other health-related behaviors, people's situations and lifestyles. The main theories about health-related behaviors will be introduced, which factors control consumption behavior and what can be important if changes are made to health-related behaviors. The main nutrition-related prevention and health promotion projects in Iceland as well as foreign projects will be presented. Students gain skills in organizing public health projects in the field of nutrition and how research results can be used for prevention and measures aimed at improving health. All the main steps in shaping and preparing a project, its implementation and evaluation of results will be discussed.
We try to answer following questions as well as others:
Do we really control what we eat - or do we have limited choices?
Is public health determined solely by politics?
Is nutrition literacy an important concept?
Is your diet ruining Mother Earth's health?
Do you get something to eat if there is a war abroad?
What is your responsibility for starving children in the world?
What really governs the world?
Do you want to be involved in changing the world?
Create health promotion projects of your choice.
The timetable shown below is for the current academic year and is FOR REFERENCE ONLY.
Changes may occur for the autumn semester in August and September and for the spring semester in December and January. You will find your final timetable in Ugla when the studies start. Note! This timetable is not suitable for planning your work schedule if you are a part-time employee.
The University of Iceland collaborates with over 400 universities worldwide. This provides a unique opportunity to pursue part of your studies at an international university thus gaining added experience and fresh insight into your field of study.
Students generally have the opportunity to join an exchange programme, internship, or summer courses. However, exchanges are always subject to faculty approval.
Students have the opportunity to have courses evaluated as part of their studies at the University of Iceland, so their stay does not have to affect the duration of their studies.
An education in this area can open up opportunities in:
This list is not exhaustive.
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