MPhil/PhD Life Course and Population Health Sciences in London United Kingdom | King's College London

The School of Life Course & Population Health Sciences integrates four research and teaching units within the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, connecting key life stages with disease origins and progression. This approach views health and illness as an interconnected journey, essential for promoting lifelong wellbeing. Located across Guy’s, St Thomas’, Waterloo, and Denmark Hill campuses, the School is led by Professor Lucilla Poston, Tommy’s Professor of Maternal & Fetal Health. A collaborative team of clinicians, researchers, and healthcare professionals work across disciplines to advance education and research in health development and disease pathways. To fulfill our life-course vision, the School unites specialists in maternal and child health, diabetes, nutrition, and human disease genetics (including twin studies and eye health).Our goal is to investigate disease origins from conception onward, examining how health evolves over time and how factors like early nutrition influence conditions such as diabetes and allergies. This perspective enables earlier diagnosis, intervention, and prevention while creating valuable academic and training prospects.The School’s research degree program is led by a diverse team of clinicians, scientists, and scholars. Taking a distinctive approach to medicine, we study health trajectories across the lifespan. Over 400 specialists in pediatric and maternal health, diabetes, nutrition, and disease genetics collaborate to connect common health issues with critical life phases, viewing wellness, illness, and care as an unbroken chain.Operating across King’s Denmark Hill, Guy’s, St Thomas’, and Waterloo sites, our teaching, research, and clinical initiatives are organized through five academic units:Department of Nutritional Sciences
Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology
Department of Women & Children’s Health
Section of Ophthalmology
Population Health Sciences
Prospective research students join one of these departments, gaining access to extensive research resources. Department-specific information is provided below.We maintain that human health foundations are established prenatally, with each life phase influencing subsequent wellbeing.While many inherit genes linked to common conditions, symptom development depends on complex factors. Gene expression can be affected by maternal health and later dietary patterns, and one disorder may trigger cascading health effects.By bridging conventional discipline boundaries and studying how environment, genetics, and causation interact, this comprehensive model reveals innovative approaches to disease detection, management, and prevention.