For students attending the Joint Master's Programme in Health Informatics Tips from the Programme Director

You are the Programme Director (PD) of LIME’s popular joint master programme in Health Informatics together with Stockholm University. What does a programme director do?

A programme director has a KI-overall responsibility for the quality and coordination of programme courses. The programme director also ensures that the courses within the programme obtain high quality and good research connections and attends the educational board meetings for quality assurance of the programme.

The PD is also responsible for preparing decisions regarding the distribution of educational assignments regarding courses within programs. In addition, the PD has a close collaboration with the teachers within the programme and the student representative/s. The PD together with the teachers goes through the course evaluations and students’ feedback on the programme at the programme council meetings and teacher workshops. 

Why do you think the programme is so popular?

The field of Health Informatics is a quickly growing field around the world and the need for new health informaticians increases rapidly. The master's program in health informatics is a global programme in collaboration with Stockholm university. Our students have technical and/or medical backgrounds and come from different parts of the world. The students get a unique opportunity to work with students with different academic backgrounds and cultures and learn about the field in Sweden and other countries.

In addition, our programme collaborates with different agencies, organisations, and companies working within the field of health informatics and eHealth. We offer several study visits and guest lecturers giving lectures with examples of real-life projects. All these aspects have contributed to the popularity of this programme. In addition, KI has a prestigious international ranking and the fact that the programme is a joint master’s programme with Stockholm university increases the popularity of the programme even more.

Today, a new batch of students are starting your programme – what advice can to give them in order to succeed in their studies?

I choose to give some advice from previous students that I strongly agree with: 

1. You will need to be self-motivated. Doors will open because of this degree and where it's coming from. 

2. Keep an open mind. 

3. Be prepared to work with people of various backgrounds since there will be a lot of group work. 

4. Look for job opportunities as you go along. 

5. Attempt all assignments like you're writing a thesis (language, references, etc.) 

6. The thesis you choose will have a great effect on your future. 

7. Get in touch with updates on healthcare technical developments. 

8. Get ready for critical thinking. 

9. Do not hesitate to contact the lecturers with any questions. 

10. To use time at KI, not only to follow the program they study but to explore various opportunities that KI and the Life science environment give here. 

11. To use KI career services that help to prepare for job seeking. 

12. To be open, positive, active, to make friends, and not to forget to enjoy the time you have here in Stockholm. 

Being a programme director is just one part of your employment. What do you do at LIME otherwise?

As a lecturer, I am involved in teaching and supervising master students. I am the course leader for two of the courses within the master’s programme and I am supervising Ph.D. students.

In addition, I am doing research and I am involved in various projects. My research focuses mainly on participatory health informatics studying the design, implementation, and evaluation of different eHealth services.

Last – do you have a motto?

I would like to quote Albert Einstein: “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”