Global programme for environmental health and risk analysis
The global programme on environmental health and risk analysis (GEHRA) is a Master of Science program educating students to challenging tasks in the field of environmental health. The program has decision sciences as its methodological background, and the focus is on producing scientifically sound advice for policy-making on major environmental health problems. In addition, the program offers knowledge, skills, and tools to perform regulatory risk assessments according to the current legislation in the United States and European Union. The programme provides a solid basis for providing scientific information to help decision-making.
The programme consists of ## courses on environmental sciences, health sciences including toxicology and epidemiology, decision analysis, and philosophy of science. It has the total of 120 ECTS-credits and is built on the top of a relevant Bachelor of Science degree on environmental or health sciences.
NOTE! This is currently only a plan of a programme, and it does not yet exist. However, we are seriously working to make this actually happen. You can contribute by commenting the plan, providing further information about the topics or information sources, or showing interest in participating in the programme in one way or another.
Contents
Purpose
The global programme on environmental health and risk analysis (GEHRA) is a Master of Science program educating students to challenging tasks in the field of environmental health. The program has decision sciences as its methodological background, and the focus is on producing scientifically sound advice for policy-making on major environmental health problems. In addition, the program offers knowledge, skills, and tools to perform regulatory risk assessments according to the current legislation in the United States and European Union. The programme provides a solid basis for providing scientific information to help decision-making.
The programme is based on an international, multi-university collaboration network that share courses, course materials, and keynote lecturers, and organise joint workshops.
Some parts of this programme may be used for additional training for professionals who are already working on environmental health issues in administration, industry, or elsewhere.
Structure of the process
Input
The programmme is built on the top of a relevant Bachelor of Science degree on environmental or health sciences. The students should have basic knowledge on anatomy, physiology, ecology, and statistics, The input to the programme is determined by each participating university.
Procedure
The programme consists of the following parts.
Burden of disease (30 CETS)
This part covers the major environmental health problems from the following perspectives:
- Causes and exposures
- Toxicological and physiological mechanisms
- Available policy options for mitigaton or adaptation
- Valuations and costs (due to the problem and due to the mitigation)
The topics covered are
- Microbiological safety of drinking water
- Fine particles and other air pollutants
- Dietary hazards (malnutrition, overnutrition)
- Accidents and violence
- Climate change
- Classical hazards (lead, mercury, dioxins, regulated substances)
Methods (60 CETS)
This part looks at the scientific methods needed when performing an assessment to help policy-making. The list also contains topics that are necessary for the general understanding. Some topics are expected to have been covered in the bachelor's degree.
- Philosophy of science
- Ethics
- Probability theory and statistics
- Decision analysis
- Applied psychology
- Argumentation theory
- Physics and chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Molecular biology
- Anatomy and physiology
- Toxicology
- Epidemiology
- Exposure assessment
- Basics of internal medicine and clinical sciences
- Ecology
- Environmental sciences
- Environmental processes (fate and transport; cycles)
- Open assessment
- Regulatory risk assessment
- Other assessment frameworks
- International politics
- Economy and valuation
- Information technology and modelling
Case studies (30 CETS)
In this part, the student participates in a real-life open assessment(s). The topics are selected based on real policy questions and research needs. There must be a problem-owner (outside the universities and research institutes organising the programme) who will use the information in a particular policy-making process. The problem-owner may come from anywhere as long as the topic is clearly related to environmental health.
The students may participate in one or more case studies. The student will make the master's thesis on a specified topic within the case study or studies. The student must gain experience in at least the following tasks:
- Collect existing information needed in an assessment.
- Analyse original data obtained from related studies.
- Apply the scientific method (hypothesis testing) to a particular research question.
- Synthesise information into the specific information structure used in the assessments.
- Participate in a discussion and organise its contents into the form of a formal argumentation.
- Participate in a valuation process.
- Develop and run a model or module and use the results in the assessment.
Possible topics for a case study include but are not limited to
- Mitigation of health effects of fine particles in an urban area.
- Health impacts of city-level policies aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Benefit-risk assessment of methylmercury and other pollutants in fish.
- Cost-benefit analysis of reducing methylmercury in fish given the current fish intake.
- Health and climate impacts of different heating options (bioenergy vs. oil) in a small residential area (2000-10000 inhabitants)
- Health impacts (air pollution, noise) of congestion charging in large urban areas.
- Benefit-risk assessment of disinfection of drinking water: microbiological vs. chemical risks.
- European-scale policies for reducing health impacts of outdoor air pollutants.
- Cost-benefit analysis of a large-scale demand-responsive public transportation system in an urban area.
Management
The students in the programme may come from any of the participating universities, and they get their degree from their own university. All courses in this programme are accepted by all the participating universities. However, a university may require from their own student some studies that are not covered in the programme. The courses are primarily built on existing courses in these universities, but they are adjusted or expanded to fulfil the needs of the programme. Also new courses are developed when needed.
The courses will be organised in these universities using several methods:
- The lecturers visit other universities and give the same courses in each place.
- The courses are organised together in all of the universities using modern communication techniques (webcasting, videoconferencing, web participation, online collaboration).
- Intensive workshops and summer courses are organised for all students in one of the universities. The location rotates between the universities.
- Some courses can be organised as book exams or reports, without teaching or training.
The whole course material is freely available on the programme website. Also the case studies are done using the website.
Output
The graduated students have wide theoretical and practical skills and knowledge for working in a variety of different positions related to environmental health. They can work in the assessment or management of risks. They can work in regulatory risk assessment or policy-driven impact assessment. They can work as regulators, researchers, or consultants. The education is especially useful for tasks that require basic understanding or a large variety of disciplines and topics.
Rationale
Environmental health problems are complex, far-reaching, and go beyond traditional administrative or discipline boundaries. Therefore, it is crucial that the students gain wide understanding on a variety of methods that are useful in assessing complex situations.
