Project Management, 3 credits

A Bachelor's degree or a professional degree equivalent to a Swedish Bachelor's degree of at least 180 credits in public health science, healthcare or other relevant social sciences subject area. And proficiency in English equivalent to English B/English 6.

That the student has completed courses with approved results equivalent of 45 credits on the specific specialisation at the Master's Programme in Public Health Sciences.

The overall goal of this course is to understand and apply project management principles in the field of research including observational and intervention studies. The course will introduce project phases, their content, project management tools, describe project leadership skills and will give students the opportunity to apply the learnt content by writing a detailed research protocol.

After the course participants should be able to:

• Describe, explain and apply basic project management tools and skills with a particular focus on research management
• Define important skills and qualification of project leadership and human resource management
• Describe and apply planning, costing and risk assessment of projects
• Describe and apply specific research skills such as writing an research protocol  and a data management plan, engaging the community and preparing targeted dissemination materials
• Describe and apply interprofessional learning for project management
• Describe and apply the ethics principles throughout the planning

Students will write a detail research protocol which will allow them to apply tools, describe details of processes including resource management, risk management and continuous planning and forecasting. Concrete projects within public health of observational, cohort and intervention studies will be introduced.

The course will cover:

• The project cycle with its specific features
• Matrixes and tools, such as Gantt charts, canvas, and other online tools etc to facilitate project management
• Data and management flow
• Stakeholder analysis
• Understanding the importance of the start-up phase
• Scoping, scheduling and costing of projects
• Organizational structures and management functions
• Risk assessment and risks management
• Characteristics of different leadership skills for project management
• Aspects of human resource management for research
• Effective project teams / inter-professional working
• Reporting and communication
• Engagement of the community and stakeholders in planning and running of a project
• Specifics of research management such as writing a data management plan, GDPR, data repositories, etc

The course will include lectures, reading, group work, peer review and the preparation of an individual research protocol which allows that the learned subjects are applied within the course. During the course three project examples of one observational study, one case- control study and one intervention study will be introduced so that learning is done on concrete examples.

Individual project work of writing a detailed research protocol
Peer-review of class-mates research protocols

Compulsory participation
Peer-reviewing, the student presentations and the final written exam are compulsory. The examiner assesses if, and how, absence from compulsory educational elements can be compensated for. Before the student has participated in the compulsory educational elements or compensated the absence in accordance with the examiner's instructions, the final course results will not be reported. Absence from a compulsory educational component may imply that the student cannot compensate for missed compulsory educational elements until the next time the course is given. 

Limitation of number of occasions to write the exam
The student has the right to write the exam six times. If the student has not passed the exam after four participations he/she is encouraged to visit the study advisor. The number of times that the student has participated in one and the same examination is regarded as an examination session. Submission of a blank examination is regarded as an examination. An examination for which the student registered but not participated in will not be counted as an examination.

If there are special grounds, or a need for adaptation for a student with a disability, the examiner may decide to deviate from the syllabus's regulations on the examination form, the number of examination opportunities, the possibility of supplementation or exemptions from the compulsory section/s of the course etc. Content and learning outcomes as well as the level of expected skills, knowledge and abilities may not be changed, removed or reduced.

Examination will be provided during a time of two years after a possible cancellation of the course. Examination can take place according to an earlier literature list during a time of one year after the date when a major renewal of the literature list has been made.

Course evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the guidelines established by the Committee for Higher Education.

The course language is English.