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General welcome

Congratulations on your offer of a place on the MSc in Demography and Health. We are looking forward to welcoming you to LSHTM! 

LSHTM is a stimulating place to be, with a very diverse student population, a dedicated mission to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide, and with many opportunities to engage with cutting-edge research in global health.  

As an MSc student, you will be part of our Population Studies Group, within the Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health. Do take a look at the staff and research pages to familiarise yourself with the exciting work that is happening at the School. 

Throughout the year we will be very eager to hear your requests and suggestions. We want to ensure that your MSc journey supports you in your goals and ambitions, while also safeguarding your welfare and providing pastoral support. Please reach out to me or one of the teaching team with any questions, suggestions or worries which arise during your course. Please also familiarise yourself with the various student services which you can call on for advice and support during your studies. 

During Welcome Week we will assign you to a personal tutor. This is someone who will be your first point of call for pastoral issues and for academic support and advice. Please email me to let me know about your background and specific research interests, what you are hoping to gain from the degree, and your career ambitions if you have not already sent us this information. This will help us to match you to a suitable tutor. 

Please take a close look at the Welcome Week programme and ensure you attend the Programme-specific sessions where we will provide a full orientation to your MSc! 

Warm regards,  

Sarah Walters, Programme Director 

Welcome Week

Welcome Week timetable

Welcome Week (23-27 September) is a great opportunity for you to learn about the structure of your programme, to meet the other students on your MSc and more widely across LSHTM, and to meet the teaching staff. Please ensure you register on time and come along to the introductory session on Tuesday afternoon when I will outline the course, and I can answer any immediate questions you might have. You have an introductory R course on the Thursday which you should also attend as you will be using R in some of your modules. On Friday, we have a day trip to Kew Gardens together with students on three other MSc programmes. Please do come along! 

Overview of the MSc

Structure of term 1:

• Week 1 is Welcome Week (23 - 27 September)
• Week 2 is the start of the first half of Term 1 teaching (30 September - 4 October)
• Week 5 is Reading Week with no timetabled teaching (4 - 8 November)
• Week 6 is the start of the second half of Term 1 teaching (11 - 15 November)
• Term 1 ends on 13 December 

The MSc is modular, and you will have a lot of scope to select modules which speak to your interests and career ambitions. During the Programme introductory meeting on day 2 of Welcome Week we will discuss the choices you need to make. For term 1, this is straightforward and the only choice you need to make is between Basic and Extended Epidemiology. Choice of modules for terms 2 and 3 is more expansive and needs to be made by the middle of term 1. I will describe what resources you can use to help you choose your modules and you will be invited to discuss your options with me and your personal tutor early in the term. 

In term 1 the weekly timetable will include the following modules: Population Studies (Monday pm); Basic (Tues am) or Extended (Tues am and Weds am) Epidemiology; Statistics for Epidemiology and Population Health (Tues pm and Fri am); Demographic Methods (Thurs am weeks 1-5 and additionally Weds pm weeks 6-10). There will be an optional digital drop-in session for Demographic Methods during lunch time on Thursdays. 

There is a literature searching session delivered by the LSHTM Library for Demography and Health on Wednesday 16 October 14:00-17:00.  

We will also run R training for Demography and Health students on the following dates: 

• Either Wednesday 30 October or Friday 1 November (tbc), 2-5pm: Session 1
• Monday 11 November 9am-12pm: Session 2
• Friday 22 November 2-5pm: Session 3
• Friday 29 November 2-5pm: Session 4
• Friday 6 December 2-5pm: Session 5 

In term 2 you will undertake four modules, each running for 2.5 days per week over the course of five weeks, with a reading week in the middle. The C1 slot runs mon am – weds am and the C2 runs weds pm to fri pm. This is followed by D1 mon am-weds am and D2 weds pm-fri pm. After D2 there is a break before the start of term 3. In term 3 you take one module in the E2 slot which runs weds pm to fri pm for five weeks. Within these broad slots different modules vary in the amount of that time that you are required to be in class versus independent study or group work. I will outline the different module options in full in Welcome Week. 

Assessments usually take place at the end of each module. For Term 1 modules these assessments are either at the end of Term 1 or beginning of Term 2. I will go through this in more detail when we meet. 

Information for new part-time students

As a half-time student you study for half of each week throughout the course. If you are a split study student you will study full-time up to halfway through year 1, split for a year and resume at the point you left off in the course the following year.  

If you are studying half-time you need to give consideration to your module choices and your route through the MSc. Some modules in Terms 2 and 3 have pre-requisites (listed on the Module Specifications), so you will need to ensure that you have taken the necessary Term 1 modules if you want to undertake them in your first year. 

Term 1
You can choose which of the modules to undertake in year 1 and year 2. Students usually take Demographic Methods in year 1 as it is important background for the compulsory Population Dynamics and Projections module in Term 2. The Statistics and Epidemiology courses are also useful if you want to choose other methodological courses in terms 2 and 3. Please discuss your choices with your programme director during Welcome Week.  

Terms 2 and 3
The modules are structured into the first or last half of the week in five-week blocks. You would typically do one of the two module slots in each week in the first year and the other in the second year - so, you would attend either the first half of the week (2.5 days, Monday-Wednesday) or the second (2.5 days - Wednesday-Friday).  

Summer research project
Full-time students work on this June-September. For part-time study, you can split the project over the two summers or restrict it to the second summer. If beginning the project in the first year you need to ensure you have completed the relevant modules to have the skills to undertake the work. If beginning the project in the second year, you will need to ensure your other commitments give you the space to work on the project full time during that period. 

Information for returning part-time students

Welcome back to LSHTM! Please get in touch with Sarah and your personal tutor on returning to your studies and to discuss your plans for the year. You will need to register for any Term 1 modules which you are yet to take during Welcome Week. Please do join in with the social activities in Welcome Week and meet the new cohort of D&H students! 

Personal Tutors 

Every student is allocated a personal tutor. This is for pastoral care and for academic advice and support. A tutor is someone who takes an interest in your progress and your future career plans, helps you plan module choices and your summer project, and with whom you can discuss problems, academic or personal. Allocation of tutors will be made during Welcome Week. It would be helpful if you could email Sarah with information on your background, interests and career ambitions, if you have not sent this already. 

Summer Project

During June-September you will be working on your summer project (dissertation) if you are registering as a full-time student. Your project can take the form of data analysis, literature review or policy proposal. You may already have an idea for your summer project, or you may decide to undertake a project within a wider research study at LSHTM. Either way we will support you to identify a topic, data and a suitable supervisor. We will begin discussing this more fully towards the end of term 1, and your personal tutor will also support you in your project planning. 

Computer Skills 

We use the statistical package Stata extensively during the programme and for some modules you will also be using R. All assignments must be typed and submitted electronically so basic word processing is an essential skill. You will use Excel for some modules also. Please do attend the introduction to R courses during Welcome Week and in the second half of term 1 to prepare you to use this programme during your studies. 

Pentacells 

When you arrive at LSHTM, your Programme Director will invite you to participate in a Pentacell, an activity that strengthens the School community, increases our wellbeing and forwards our goal of improving global health. The idea is deceptively simple – five students meet weekly for five weeks and listen to each other’s ideas and perspectives. It’s not compulsory but is strongly recommended by our School's Director, Liam Smeeth, Programme Directors, Student Support Services and former students. 

Feedback from previous students:

“It was nice to be able to connect with people on my programme that I wouldn't necessarily have spoken to otherwise and it was a good way to make friends at the beginning.” 

“Our Pentacell group chose not always to follow the exact guidelines for each session, and instead focused more on getting to know members of our programme better. I enjoyed the Pentacell experience we had, as it helped develop interpersonal relationships with those on my programme.” 

“It gave me an opportunity to meet people on my programme. It also helped me develop interpersonal skills.”  

“Very pleasant experience especially for me as an international student who moved to the UK for the 1st time.” 

Preparatory reading and resources 

You are not obliged to do any reading prior to arrival, and certainly not expected to purchase any texts, but if you are keen to get started, we suggest a few resources below which you may be able to find through a library or online repository. The best preparation for the course would be to engage with the vast amount of debate about population issues in the contemporary media and policy arena. Come prepared to share your insights!

These books written for a popular audience on demographic and health issues are recommended

Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling & Annal Rosling Rönnlund (2018) Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think 
Written for a general audience by a team of excellent science communicators about the state of global health, much of which focuses on demography

Jade Sasser (2018) On Infertile Ground: Population Control and Women’s Rights in the Era of Climate Change
A critique of population control narratives reproduced by international development actors in the 21st century

Danny Dorling & Stuart Gietel-Basten (2017) Why Demography Matters
Written by two British demographers for a general audience, highlighting the importance of demography to human affairs

Harper, Sarah 2016. How Population Change Will Transform Our World Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016
Discusses how population dynamics are changing rapidly worldwide, and the social and economic impact of these changes

Important texts on methods (Term 1)

These will be available from the LSHTM library once you have registered.

Holdsworth, Finney, Marshall & Norman (2011) Population and Society
Introductory demography textbook, which covers the basic concepts used in population studies. It tends to focus on measurement and methods though without great detail on the underpinning mathematics.

Preston SH, Heuveline P, Guillot M. Demography. Blackwell: Oxford, 2001

Roland DT. Demographic Methods and Concepts. Oxford, 2003

Kirkwood B. and Sterne J. Essential Medical Statistics. Blackwell (2nd edition, 2003)

Rowntree D. Statistics without tears. Penguin, 1991.
For those of you completely new to statistics this book helps with some of the basic concepts

Campbell M. and Swinscow T. Statistics at Square One. 2009. BMJ books.

Webb P., Bain C., Pirozzo S (ed.). Essential Epidemiology: An Introduction for Students and Health Professionals. Cambridge University Press. (2nd edition)

If you have access to them, recent issues of the main journals, especially Population Studies, Demography, Demographic Research and Population and Development Review, are worth browsing for articles that interest you.

Web resources

There are plenty of resources online which have material of relevant to demography and health, including:

1. Hans Rosling’s Gapminder website has many useful and entertaining resources on population and development issues, from hour-long documentaries to shorter videos and data visualisations: 

2. The Population Reference Bureau’s website provides a range of useful resources and reports, somewhat US-focused but it does cover global issues: 

3. Our World in Data has ‘Research and data to make progress against the world’s biggest problems’ and includes much demographic data: 

4. WorldPop maps world populations: 

5. The International Union for the Scientific Study of Population is an international organisation whose website has links to a range of population resources: 

6. Joel Cohen’s video ‘’ describes why people should study demography and gives an overview of the subject.

7. The BBC series ‘ consists of five programmes discussing how we might respond to population change around the world.

Page last updated September 2024