Global health questions will typically not fall under a single disciplinary heading. Rather the best ways to understand, or improve, global health issues will often require strategic engagement with concepts and methods from a variety of sources.
- Professor Ken Shadlen, Head of Department, Department of International Development
Research training to enhance your career in global health
A PhD offers the chance to undertake a substantial piece of supervised work that is worthy of publication and which makes an original contribution to knowledge in a particular field. Research programmes (leading to a PhD) are designed to produce professional social scientists well versed in a range of social science techniques and methods, in addition to having an in-depth knowledge of a particular area in global health.
The information on this page summarises the Research programmes LSE offers with relation to global health. Programmes are organised within the host Department. If you are interested in applying, you are encouraged to contact the Departments directly for more information.
Research programmes offered in the 2025/2026 academic year:
The MPhil/PhD Health Policy and Health Economics at LSE covers the choice, design, analysis, and evaluation of health and social care policies, institutions and practice in low-, middle- and high-income settings. This is an interdisciplinary programme, drawing on disciplines relevant to the research topic, and the health-specific and social care-specific application of an array of social sciences.
The programme trains students to undertake research that employs the tools of policy and economic analysis and qualitative and quantitative empirical techniques in order to understand, critically appraise, and evaluate the complexities of health and social care policy and practice in a global context. More details can be found here.
This is a vibrant MRes/PhD programme that uses a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary methods from across the social sciences to explore questions of global development. You’ll have the chance to undertake a substantial piece of work that is worthy of publication and makes an original contribution to international development. You’ll begin on the MRes, and once you’ve met certain requirements, you’ll progress to the PhD.
The Department of International Development promotes interdisciplinary graduate teaching and research on processes of social, political, and economic development and change. The department is dedicated to understanding problems of poverty and late development within local communities, as well as national and international political and economic systems. You’ll have the opportunity to study across several broad themes, including: complex emergencies, security, and humanitarianism in war-torn societies; comparative politics of development; and governance, civil society, and informal politics. The programme also explores development management; development economics; and the demography of developing countries and the politics of global health. More details can be found here.
An MRes/PhD in Anthropology at LSE offers you the chance to undertake a substantial piece of innovative research that drives forward debates within the discipline.
The programme is built around long-term participant observation fieldwork in your chosen research setting. You'll begin on the MRes, where you're trained in research methods and develop a detailed research proposal. You'll need to meet certain requirements to progress to the PhD. Upon completing that, you'll normally undertake fieldwork for around 18 months. After fieldwork, you begin work on your dissertation.
The MPhil/PhD Programme aims to foster your scholarly and career interests and to prepare you for the world of academic and policy research in the form of courses, workshops, and professional training experience over your first three years. You will receive core gender theory, epistemology and methodology training in your first year to prepare you for research and writing, and ongoing training across the period of your studies in and outside the Department. More details can be found here.
The MPhil/PhD in Environmental Policy and Development aims to provide a rigorous, research-based approach to the social scientific study of environmental change and development. The doctoral programme provides you with advanced and up-to-date teaching in environmental governance and development studies as well as tailored research skills training. Moreover, the doctoral experience at LSE exposes you to an international, vibrant and multidisciplinary research environment. More details can be found here.
Drawing on LSE’s interdisciplinary strengths, the MPhil/PhD Social Policy offers wide-ranging research opportunities in areas such as education, migration, crime and social inequalities.
You’ll have the chance to complete original research in the social policy field, guided by leading academics, and develop highly transferable research skills for your future career.
The MPhil/PhD Sociology programme offers you the chance to undertake a substantial piece of research that is worthy of publication and which makes an original contribution.
Broadly, our research covers five key areas:
economic sociology
politics and human rights
social inequalities
social studies of knowledge, culture and technology
More information on funding and studentships are available .
The PhD Academy is a dedicated space and services hub for doctoral candidates studying at LSE. Current students are enouraged to contact the PhD Academy for any further queries.
