Public Health Adelaide University

Overview

Throughout the Public Health course from Adelaide University you’ll explore key concepts underpinning public health – including the social, cultural, commercial and environmental factors that influence health across the lifespan. Learn about the determinants of health and the different frameworks that can be used to promote wellness, with specific attention paid to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Explore how public health initiatives prevent ill health and lead to longer, healthier lives.   

You’ll also gain hands-on, technical skills. Learn how to conduct research and analyse data, and how to communicate findings to everyday people and industry. Apply your skills in real-world practice while on placement in a public health setting. Learn how to engage with diverse groups of people in an ethical, socially responsible, and culturally responsive way. Choose optional topics of interest, from children’s and environmental health to international health promotion.   

You’ll graduate ready to work with both industry and community groups to encourage longer and healthier lives. You’ll discover how your skills can contribute to informed and easy-to-understand health policy that has a lasting impact. 

Career opportunities:

Public health practitioners are experts in supporting the health and wellbeing of communities and populations, with deep knowledge of health and inter-related systems, and in the experience of health across diverse population groups. You’ll graduate ready to join Australia’s growing and in-demand health workforce with broadly applicable skills in collaboration, communication, analysis, planning, and project management.   

You might work in government, communicating new research to the public and keeping people safe during health crises. You could collaborate on projects in remote Aboriginal settings, develop initiatives to support youth mental health, or contribute to improving access to health services for LGBTQIA+ communities. Perhaps you’ll lead major campaigns in Australia – whether it’s educating youth and parents on strategies for social media use that support better mental health or reducing the risk of skin cancer through a catchy jingle. 

You could also be a:  

• Public health research officer 

• NGO worker 

• Epidemiologist/data analyst 

• Clinical studies coordinator  

• Community development officer  

• Health promotion practitioner 

• Policy officer 

• Workplace health coordinator.