Richmond Opoku graduated on Wednesday 22 November 2023 with a Master of Public Health and here he tells us about his studies, how the Remmes & Martin Award supported him and his hopes for the future.
“My motivation for pursuing the Master of Public Health (MPH) programme was to gain the necessary skills required to tackle public health problems. These skills included research, needs assessment, and advocacy. At the time of applying the University of Aberdeen was the only university that offered courses that would help me build these skills within a flexible programme structure. Particularly the compulsory 60/90 credit hour research project and the many optional quantitative designs courses. The opportunity to design my career path, by having the flexibility to select from the many optional courses, was a key motivation for settling on the MPH programme at the UoA.
“I found the University of Aberdeen a very supportive environment for learning. The hybrid nature of delivery where students had both on-campus and online engagements was very helpful. For instance, course materials were uploaded onto the Blackboard system ahead of lectures and this allowed me to prepare adequately to contribute in class discussions. This is an experience I did not have in my undergraduate training. The lecturers were approachable and supportive and administrative staff were usually responsive to my concerns. I took courses such as Applied Statistics, Understanding & Applying Regression Models, Research Project, Introduction to Data Science, Health Economics, Epidemiology, and Systematic Reviewing. These courses were carefully selected because of my interest in quantitative research and evidence synthesis.
“I had the benefit of working part-time with the Rowett Institute as a Research Assistant from May to August 2023 where I worked as a reviewer in a systematic review project. Before this, I continued to work with academics in my home country on various research projects and I had a paper published in British Medical Journal Open by the end of March 2023 (DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-064627).
“The honour that accompanied the Remmes & Martin Award encouraged me to pursue further funding opportunities. By the end of July 2023, I had received two fully funded PhD scholarships. First, I was awarded a full scholarship to work on the Health Inequalities and Integrated Care Systems project for a PhD in Medical Sciences at the Hull-York Medical School, University of Hull. Secondly, I was selected among the first batch of 22 students funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) and Administrative Data Research (ADR). This studentship is a PhD in Medical & Healthcare Studies at Swansea University on the project: Children in care data: can routine data help inform practice?
“I am currently registered with Swansea University Medical School for my PhD studies. The amount received from the Remmes & Martin Award was key in preparing for my PhD programme. My research project is in the Data Science pathway of the ESRC and I hope to become a leading health data scientist and researcher after my PhD. I also wish to promote the use of administrative data for health research in developing economies after my PhD studies.
“I want to encourage prospective scholars to take advantage of the many opportunities available in academia and industry. They should be on the lookout for ways to put their skills to good use while in school. The world is ready to tap into our potential but we have to first put ourselves out there, and I believe the best time to start this is when we are still students.”
