Environmental Health
Environmental health is the professional discipline concerned with how the environment, in all its dimensions, affects human health and wellbeing. Environmental health practitioners enforce food safety law in restaurants and food businesses, investigate outbreaks of infectious disease, monitor air, water and soil quality, regulate noise and housing standards, and advise businesses on health and safety compliance. It is a profession grounded in public health science, law, and technical inspection, and it operates at the boundary between government, business and communities.
At Middlesex University this three-year full-time programme includes a foundation year, which provides the academic preparation needed before you begin the main degree, giving the programme a total duration suited to students who may not have studied the relevant sciences at advanced level. The full degree is the only accredited environmental health programme in London and the south-east, meaning it is recognised by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health as meeting the professional requirements for practitioner status. Across the programme you will study microbiology, food science, epidemiology, environmental science, housing, health and safety law, and the practical inspection and enforcement skills that define the work of an environmental health officer.
The combination of science, law and professional practice gives you the grounding needed to operate confidently across the full range of environments where the profession works.
Graduates register with the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and work in local authorities, port health authorities, the Food Standards Agency, and the private sector in roles including environmental health officer, food safety inspector, health and safety consultant, and public health adviser. The regulated nature of the profession and the essential services it delivers mean that qualified practitioners are consistently in demand. Postgraduate study in public health, environmental science, or occupational health is a further route for those wishing to specialise.