Master organization

   Scientific Contents

   Evaluation

   Organization

Deadline for European students: August 15th 2011

In 2010/11 this programme carries the Erasmus Mundus Brand Name according
to the decision taken by the European Commission by way of its representative EACEA
[for more information]

Study programme and recognition

Proposed by a Consortium constituded by the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris, co-ordinator, the University of Évora (Portugal), the University of Linköping (Sweden) and the Autonomous University in Barcelona (Spain), this Masters programme aims at improving and provide knowledge and expertise for research and for the future management of health and welfare in Europe and elsewhere. Improvements in health, which are quite recent in human history, have occurred simultaneously with the implementation of various forms of welfare and social security systems. It is the reason why it seems impossible to isolate health from welfare or to study public health without contributions from the social sciences, to avoid only economic or technical approaches.

By integrating a broad range of disciplines (political science, public health, history, sociology/anthropology, philosophy, psychology, demography, epidemiology, economics, education, public administration, law), the Master modules provide the keys to understanding health, welfare, and institutions. The goal it to empower individuals, organizations as well as official bodies with new tools for analysing the interaction between health and social policy. Since ‘the European model’ has been a common reference for many other countries, this programme will:

a) Advance the analysis of European welfare systems from their origins to the recent crisis, including changes in work and labour markets, the imbalance between supply and demand in health care, dependency of the elderly, the social effects of migration, the social contract (state-citizens, between generations…).

b) Develop comparative approaches (perspectives, theories and methods) focused on the reforms currently being discussed or already taking place within the European model, the restructuring of economic and social systems in central and eastern European countries, experiments in the formation of public/private society in third-countries (for instance in Latin America, China and South Africa). These include questions such as: What are the consequences of different societal configurations for health and welfare? What is the role of the middle class in social progress and equity? In what context is self help most effective in promoting health? How large are gender differences? What is the contribution of good health in achieving economic and social progress?…Etc.

c) Mobilize knowledge about the contributions of health practices and behaviour to the dynamics of health and welfare. Understanding the workings of different systems requires a comprehensive approach that includes perceptions, attitudes, behaviour and culture.

d) Provide advanced training in decision-making, implementation and administration of health, as well as the diffusion of knowledge through education, and communication within the public sector and media.

e) Harmonize teaching in a wide range of disciplines and facilitate cooperation among universities. This Erasmus-Mundus Masters will facilitate the process leading to Bologna 2010, and it will introduce the third country scholars to this process.

f) Offer students a unique academic experience, including exchanges between universities (at least one semester), tutorials and small working groups, and the benefits of the complementary expertise among members of the Consortium enriched by the invited scholars from other partner institutions.

The broad definition of the field and the close integration across disciplines will make this Masters unique in Europe and in the third countries. Teaching will be done by internationally recognized scholars with extensive records of high quality publications.

PhoenixEM Master Curriculum

First year
Second year

Specialties and complementarities in the Masters program and the added-value of collaboration



The programme as a whole intends:

- To bring the necessary knowledge for understanding health and sickness phenomena from a global perspective.

- To develop necessary abilities for interventions and /or research within interdisciplinary groups.

- To train professionals with capacity of designing, implementing and evaluating health and community problems at different levels of intervention and throughout different contexts.

-To improve professional activities according to ethical principles and shared values.

Other aspects

Research is very important as an input to teaching, and research for the Masters thesis gives students an opportunity to integrate what they have learned. Strong research programmes exist in all four universities.

a) In Paris, a research group on “Medicine, Health and social sciences” has worked for five years on several aspects of the field (Control of epidemics, development of policy of Public health, social and political dimensions of Influenza and tuberculosis epidemics. Its members have published books and papers and are engaged in a broad international research collaboration (Mexico, Latin America, United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, China). At the Cresp (Center for social research in public health), pluridisciplinary approaches are developed from: anthropology, sociology, law, political science and public health. Research orientations are mainly : social inequalities, racial discriminations, gender issues, health policies, occupational health. Themes include : AIDS, lead-poisoning, drug abuse, mental health, trauma, cancer, handicap, poverty, humanitarianism. Countries where research is presently developed are : France, Britain, Spain, South Africa, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina.

b)The History Department of the Évora University has been working in four research fields related to the scientific matter of this Masters for several years. They are: the roles of the State and the Church in the construction of the European Public Assistance system; the interplay between Science and State organization in the development of Public Health; the representation of Piety and baroque spirituality in new forms of urbanization; Social impact of power and political dynamics.
This research has had the financial support of European and national projects and has resulted in several publications as well as advanced training (Masters and PhD thesis).

c)At Linköping University four main research programmes are developed : theory, ethics and ideology of health and healthcare (including projects in collaboration with national and international institutions, for instance on a European Programme on Dignity and Older Europeans, coordinated at University of Cardiff); Health and social change ( for instance on “Societies in Transition : Health, Political and Social Change”, in a broad international perspective with several central Europe countries and South-Africa); Health, culture and everyday life; and Public health and social medicine.

d) At the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the teachers who participate to this EM master have research activities in history of sciences in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Centre, but also on preventive medicine, and the interaction between health and work in the field of occupational health. A huge survey on the Ambulatory care conditions and their efficiency has been achieved recently (in collaboration with John Hopkins University).

 

Partners