Edinburgh: Extraordinary futures await.

Planetary Health (Online Learning) MSc, PgCert, PgDip

Awards: MSc, PgCert, PgDip

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time, Part-time Intermittent Study

Online learning

Funding opportunities

An innovative, interdisciplinary degree with Edinburgh Futures Institute

The different global crises that the world is facing are interconnected, and many are determined by the way that we have used the earth’s resources, and prioritised development and growth.

Planetary health is a new field of study which examines these factors and their consequences, and looks at ways in which redesigning, connecting and leveraging the interdependent health, environment and economic systems could offer new global solutions.

The challenge is how we can do this in a socially, economically and environmentally empathetic manner.

This interdisciplinary MSc programme has been developed with expertise from across the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science and the College of Science and Engineering.

It equips students with the critical and data skills required to understand and design solutions for global crises. In particular, crises at the intersection of the future health and wellbeing of people and our planet, including:

  • the climate crisis
  • environmental degradation
  • emerging infectious diseases
  • mass extinction/loss of biodiversity
  • malnutrition
  • extreme poverty
  • digital power concentration and inequality
  • conflict
  • cyber insecurity
  • livelihood crises

The MSc Planetary Health has a strong focus on engaging local governments, finance and industry, and in designing policies with action-oriented and context-sensitive solutions. Students will:

  • develop a robust understanding of planetary health concepts
  • interrogate the relationship between the socioeconomic, environmental and geopolitical determinants of health across the globe
  • access support to build careers focused on tackling climate collapse, health, and other inequalities

Postgraduate study at the Edinburgh Futures Institute

This programme is part of an interconnected portfolio of postgraduate study opportunities at Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI).

The Futures Institute supports interdisciplinary teaching, learning and research that is focused on complex global and social challenges. Our programmes are taught by academic experts from many different subject areas.

As a Futures Institute student, you should be proactive and motivated. You will be supported to develop creative, critical, and data-informed thinking that cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries. You will have the space to think deeply about questions linked to your own passions and professional goals and will develop a project based on an issue that you care about.

As well as knowledge specific to your area of study, studying at Edinburgh Futures Institute will give you the skills and understanding you need to become a creative, confident, and critical citizen in a fast-changing world.

These skills include:

  • the ability to interrogate issues of global scope using perspectives from across disciplines
  • creative and analytic approaches to knowledge
  • core data skills
  • data ethics

You can join us regardless of whether you already have experience or practical skills in the use and application of digital data.

The Futures Institute model (which we call ‘fusion’ teaching) allows students to study on a fully online basis, or to combine online with on-campus study.

Since online and on-campus students study together, and we want to provide flexibility to move between on-campus and online study where visa rules allow you to do so, we charge the same tuition fee levels for online study as for on-campus study.

For more information, see section on Studying at Edinburgh Futures Institute.

Students on this MSc programme study a range of compulsory and optional courses to complete 180 credits:

  • core courses specific to your programme
  • Edinburgh Futures Institute core courses (40 credits) which teach:
    • the essential, critical and hands-on data skills
    • climate change understanding (only applicable for Sustainable Lands & Cities, Future Infrastructure, Circular Economy and Planetary Health MScs)
    • enquiry methods
    • the ethical and creative capacities needed to underpin your programme-based studies
  • a choice of short optional courses (at least two of which must be on topics related to your programme, with scope to study across the entire portfolio)
  • a project (taking the form of a 20-credit ‘knowledge integration and project planning’ course, and a 40-credit final project)

Core courses

In addition to the Edinburgh Futures Institute shared core courses, you will take courses compulsory to your programme covering:

  • an introduction to concept of planetary health, defined as the interdependency between the health of humanity and the state of the planet's natural systems
  • discussion of the key effects of human disruptions to Earth's natural systems on human health
  • an exploration of narratives related to planetary health using data case studies, critically evaluating the evidence available to inform decisions on some of humanity's most pressing challenges

Edinburgh Futures Institute core courses

On our core courses you will work in cross-disciplinary teams with students from other Futures Institute programmes. You will learn:

  • to collect, manage and analyse computational datasets
  • to use emerging methodologies for mapping and designing possible futures
  • the fundamentals of data ethics
  • how to use creative skills in the analysis and representation of data-informed and qualitative inquiry

Optional courses

Edinburgh Futures Institute offers a wide range of optional courses taught by academic staff from many different discipline areas, including those associated with your programme. The exact courses offered vary from year to year. Optional courses from across the EFI postgraduate portfolio cover a range of themes and topics, such as:

  • narrative documentary in health
  • the inter-relationship of place, people and nature in urban regeneration
  • how the climate crisis is connected to health
  • critical perspectives on how new technologies are changing society
  • data, programming and research skills that advance the skills taught in the EFI shared core
  • how new and rapidly changing technologies and data sources are transforming the future of democracy
  • what the future of education might look like
  • how narratives drive the way we understand the world
  • service design and service management in a data-driven society
  • current challenges and futures for the creative industries

The project

In your final project, you will apply your learning in depth to a domain, issue or concern which drives you. Your final project can be:

  • based on your own personal or professional interests
  • defined by your employer
  • sponsored by one of the Futures Institute’s industry, government, or community partners
  • aligned to one of our research programmes

You will submit your final project as a written piece of work or combine text with other forms – for example:

  • video
  • visualisation
  • a digital artefact
  • performance
  • code

You will begin to identify your project topic relatively early in the programme, and work on it in parallel with the taught courses. We expect you to take an interdisciplinary approach to your project to connect with the creative, data and future-orientated nature of the Futures Institute.

Part-time and full-time options

Full-time students on the programme complete their full credit requirements in one year. Part-time students take the same number of courses as full-time students, over two years:

  • For two-year part-time study, you usually take 80 credits in Year 1 and 100 credits (including the project) in Year 2.

You can also study towards a Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma:

  • You have two years to undertake the Postgraduate Diploma, taking the same taught courses as students on the MSc, but not the project. You will take a total of 120 credits of courses across the two years.
  • You have one year to undertake the Postgraduate Certificate, taking 60 credits of courses, including:
    • a combination of the ‘shared core’ courses
    • at least 20 credits of programme-specific courses
    • the broader suite of Edinburgh Futures Institute optional courses

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

AwardTitleDurationStudy mode
MScMSc Planetary Health1 YearFull-timeProgramme structure 2024/25
MScMSc Planetary Health2 YearsPart-timeProgramme structure 2024/25
PgCertPlanetary Health9 MonthsPart-timeProgramme structure 2024/25
PgDipPlanetary HealthUp to 2 YearsPart-time Intermittent StudyProgramme structure 2024/25

On successful completion of this programme, you will be able to:

  • analyse and characterise the extent and dimensions of planetary health challenges in different geopolitical or socioeconomic contexts
  • draw on and combine different disciplines/viewpoints when analysing the planetary health challenges and designing solutions
  • work efficiently on complex projects centred around creative, sustainable and context-sensitive solutions to planetary health challenges together with teams that are diverse and values-driven
  • draw fully on relevant planetary health data in all above endeavours, maintaining a critical stance on data production and usage

Our changing global landscape is increasingly dominated by interlinked and emerging crises, including those driven by inequalities and social, economic, and environmental risk.

All sectors are seeking to move towards sustainable and responsible ways of working. Examples of such sectors include:

  • economy and business
  • health
  • energy
  • education
  • life sciences
  • environment
  • media

They require graduates with:

  • cross-cutting skills
  • demonstrable knowledge and understanding of:
    • data innovation
    • teamwork, critical and collaborative abilities

The core elements of the programme address the data and higher-order skills we know are important for the future of work, confident and critical citizenship, and a thriving, just society.

You will develop a robust understanding of data-driven decision-making and graduate ready to institute positive change:

  • Through practical skillsets, you will develop critical understanding of working with data and how to develop projects focused on creating sustainable solutions.
  • You will also develop a suite of core ‘soft skills’, ideal for those professionals who want to change careers, embark on new ones, or to change the institutions they are part of.

This programme will appeal to a range of students, including:

  • recent graduates
  • career professionals
  • executives in sectors most impacted by global shifts, such as:
    • the food sector
    • energy
    • education
    • housing
    • city planning
    • banking and finance
    • companies looking to extend their ESG strategies

Career opportunities are likely to range from roles that involve change-making, policy and advocacy, strategic planning for sustainability strategies, or to roles in diverse areas such as:

  • health tech
  • sustainability
  • inclusion
  • health finance
  • business development
  • sectoral agenda-setting
  • international and political engagement
  • energy
  • investment
  • transport
  • food and agriculture
  • urban planning and development

What does interdisciplinary study mean?

Interdisciplinary study is at the heart of Edinburgh Futures Institute’s programmes. It means the ability to synthesise and apply knowledge and skills from across different disciplines and is crucial to addressing many current complex challenges and planetary-scale issues.

We support you to develop interdisciplinary perspectives in different ways. For example, our shared core courses draw on diverse disciplines to support you to work creatively and ethically with all kinds of data. Each programme develops interdisciplinary perspectives in the ways most appropriate to their specific domain and focus.

And finally – because you have such choice in the optional courses you choose to take with us – you will have the flexibility to design your own disciplinary pathway through your studies, integrating your insights and reflecting on their interdisciplinary power through your project-related work.

Study choices

You will have some flexibility in how you choose to study at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

All the core and optional courses offered for this programme, and almost all the broader portfolio of optional courses, are taught in ‘fusion’ mode. This is our distinctive approach which allows some students to combine on-campus with online study. This approach brings on-campus and online students together as a single cohort employing a range of collaborative and creative teaching and learning activities.

Please note before you apply: while there is some self-directed work which students can complete in their own time, you should be aware of the requirement to join live classes between 9am and 5pm Edinburgh local time as a student on this programme.

Which mode of study should you apply for?

At Edinburgh Futures Institute you can choose to study full time or part time and with some flexibility between online learning and on-campus. However, this flexibility is dependent on your visa requirements. It is important to understand your situation and visa requirements before you apply.

Before applying for this programme please note the following:

  • If you are an international student studying on campus at the University of Edinburgh for longer than six months, you may need a Student Visa. The University of Edinburgh only sponsor full-time, on-campus programmes that require in-person engagement. For Edinburgh Futures Institute, this means applying to the full-time, on-campus programme.
  • Student Visa sponsorship is not available for part-time or online programmes and CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance to Study) requests for these modes of study will not be considered.
  • As a full-time student on a study visa you are required to attend all teaching on-campus.
  • As a full-time, on-campus student you will study all your courses on-campus: you will have some flexibility to choose to study some courses online if you do not require a Student Visa.
  • Full-time or part-time online students may also request to come to Edinburgh for some courses, subject to course availability and your visa requirements. Please contact Edinburgh Futures Institute to confirm course availability before booking any travel to Edinburgh. Please note that we cannot guarantee an in-person course place for any course unless you are registered on an on-campus programme of study.
  • All EFI courses require a combination of participation in the classroom, either physically or virtually, with a teacher in real time and independent study that you can fit in in your own time. Many courses require attendance at workshops that may be scheduled over two days from 9am-5pm Edinburgh local time, so full-time online study may be challenging for students based in significantly different time zones to the UK.
  • You can choose to study on a full-time basis over one year, or part-time over two years.
  • You can register for a full MSc, or for a Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate. Part-time students can choose to study either entirely on-campus, online or via a combination of the two.

How you will learn at the Futures Institute

Our approach to teaching connects global cohorts in new ways.

You will study in teaching spaces and digital learning environments designed to enable shared on-campus and online teaching and learning activity. Your classes and contributions will be recorded and livestreamed so that they can be shared – and so you can build a learning community – across modes and time-zones.

Students studying online have a presence in our on-campus classrooms (via video, audio and text), and students studying on-campus can work with diverse teams located across the globe. All students have a presence in the digital spaces where teaching happens, including:

  • video-based classes
  • real-time collaboration spaces
  • live chats
  • forums
  • shared exhibition and blogging spaces

All your courses require significant engagement in the classroom in real time, often working with other students in groups, and significant independent engagement online in your own time.

Applicants to online programmes should be aware of the requirement to join live classes at particular times between 9am and 5pm Edinburgh local time before applying.

Teaching methods include:

  • group work
  • expert lectures (both live and livestreamed)
  • data skills and programming workshops (online and on-campus)
  • on-campus and virtual drop-ins
  • hybrid seminars
  • interactive journal clubs
  • external stakeholder challenges and code-alongs
  • data visualisation exercises
  • creative and collaborative whiteboard activities
  • online discussion
  • blogging

Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) uses a distinctive timetabling model in which the programme core and optional courses are delivered in short blocks, mostly over five weeks. Most of these weeks involve independent activities, interactions and tasks.

In the middle of the course, a short block of teaching activity is held in real time, building on the early weeks of the course and enabling the class to work together intensively to develop knowledge and skills that support the final weeks of course activity. Shared core courses are taught regularly throughout each semester.

These entry requirements are for the 2025/26 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2026/27 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2025.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in any discipline.

We will also consider your application if you have other professional qualifications or experience; please contact us to check before you apply. In particular, we welcome applications from professionals with experience (e.g. working in companies, government, or third sector organisations) designing or implementing projects, programmes, or policies that aim to diminish inequalities.

Students from China

This degree is Band C.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency which will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

  • IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
  • C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
  • Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
  • PTE Academic: total 73 with at least 65 in each component. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
  • Oxford ELLT: 8 overall with at least 7 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

AwardTitleDurationStudy mode
MScMSc Planetary Health1 YearFull-timeTuition fees
MScMSc Planetary Health2 YearsPart-timeTuition fees
PgCertPlanetary Health9 MonthsPart-timeTuition fees
PgDipPlanetary HealthUp to 2 YearsPart-time Intermittent StudyTuition fees

Funding for postgraduate study is different to undergraduate study, and many students need to combine funding sources to pay for their studies.

Most students use a combination of the following funding to pay their tuition fees and living costs:

  • borrowing money
    • taking out a loan
    • family support
  • personal savings
  • income from work
  • employer sponsorship
  • scholarships

Explore sources of funding for postgraduate study

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

  • Edinburgh Futures Institute
  • 1 Lauriston Place
  • University of Edinburgh
  • Central Campus
  • Edinburgh
  • EH3 9EU

Due to high demand, this programme operates a gathered field approach to admissions, with two application deadlines as noted below.

Each application round has a decision deadline, also listed below, but note that we may make offers to the strongest candidates on an ongoing basis, in advance of the published decision deadline.

We strongly recommend that you apply as early as possible, especially if you intend to apply for funding. Applications may close earlier than published deadlines if there is exceptionally high demand. If you are considering applying for our pre-sessional English Language programme, please make sure you apply in Round 1.

Please note that for an application to be reviewed, it must be a complete application by the deadline with all supporting documentation uploaded, including references and transcripts. English language documentation can be submitted later but if you have already met the English language entry requirements for your programme at the time of application, your application may be considered more competitive in selection than applications where an English language test still needs to be taken.

Selection deadlines

Round Application Deadline Places awarded
1 13 January 2025 17 April 2025
2 29 May 2025 30 June 2025

After Round 2, if there are still places available, applications will remain open. Applications will remain open no later than 30 June 2025 and may close earlier than this if the programme becomes full, so we strongly recommend you apply as soon as possible.

You must submit one reference with your application.

A place on the programme will be based on:

  • educational achievement
  • professional experience (where relevant)
  • quality of personal statement

Your personal statement should include why you are interested in studying on this particular programme and (if relevant) how it will support your career development.

The Edinburgh Futures Institute provides a space where students can pursue projects on issues they care about, so it would also be helpful (though not essential) if you could indicate the area on which you would most like to focus during your time in EFI.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

Further information

  • Edinburgh Futures Institute
  • 1 Lauriston Place
  • University of Edinburgh
  • Central Campus
  • Edinburgh
  • EH3 9EU