Building our education offer

In the Centre for Health Technology
Doctors working with Digital Tablet
The Centre for Health Technology is at the cutting edge of ensuring the current and future workforce are prepared to adopt and innovate digital applications within their respective fields. Digital health is moving at a rapid rate which creates gaps in the skillset of the current workforce. The speed of scale up also risks conflating the process of implementation and training development and the CHT are utilising pedagogy, implementation science, and technology to maximise engagement and development. The CHT are currently working to:
  • ensure all University of Plymouth students are exposed to important digital health skill development,
  • integrate digital health into established programmes,
  • develop short courses for industry and healthcare,
  • revolutionise postgraduate provisions,
  • design training programmes to transform the adoption of digital health in NHS trusts,
  • provide learning provisions that equip gradates to shape the field.

Digital health education

The CHT team and the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics has developed a new postgraduate programme – MSc Health Data Science and Statistics. There were 16 masters students enrolling in this programme in 2023. An MSc in Digital Health is also now formally a part of the SNAM school plan for first delivery in September 2025–26. This could also translate to Doctoral programmes (research and possibly taught doctorates as well).
CHT staff participate in digital health-related teaching for different modules within the Faculty of Health and beyond and, led by Dr John Downey, are developing a suite of digital health training programmes for postgraduates, undergraduates and continuing professional development, as well as modules to support health and care managers and industrial partners.
Stethoscope on top of charts, graphs and spreadsheet papers.
In 2023, CHT welcomed a number of new PhD students. Their projects include:
  • Mining Routinely Collected Electronic Health Records to Identify Effective Dietetic Factors for Optimal Care in General Practice;
  • What AI competences are needed to be taught in nursing;
  • Prediction of Diagnostic Accuracy using Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics from HeroRats for Tuberculosis Detection.
We also recognise and will respond to the training needs of industrial partners. Many start-ups, SMEs and international developers have the engineering know-how needed to create technically advanced digital health care products, but they sometimes struggle to commercialise the technologies they have developed. This in part reflects the very complex market they are trying to enter – a fragmented NHS, a highly complex regulatory landscape (multiple routes to standards compliance, regulatory approval and procurement) and the evidential requirements of commissioners. Similarly, UK developers face barriers when trying to bring their technologies to other countries. We will develop bite-sized e-modules on the current landscape of digital health including trends and its continual evolution; the main barriers to the use and adoption of digital health; how to do light-touch market research analysis; the regulatory landscape and accreditation requirements in different countries; and the research requirements to achieving accreditation.
We look forward to working with colleagues across the University and beyond to draw in enthusiasm and expertise and make sure that the digital education the Centre provides is as excellent as our research.