Public Health Careers Weekly | Edition 013
Missed this week’s email? Welcome to the online edition of Public Health Careers Weekly. Every Friday, we publish carefully selected public health opportunities, sector updates and practical career advice to help you build your career in UK public health. If you’d like future editions delivered straight to your inbox every Friday, subscribe to Public Health Careers Weekly.
🌟 Opportunity of the Week
Trainee Public Health Practitioner Apprentice
London Borough of Bexley £33,609 to £36,153 | Fixed term | 36 hours Closing: 2 October 2026
This Level 6 apprenticeship combines structured learning with hands-on experience inside Bexley’s Public Health team.
Why it matters: It provides a structured route to develop practitioner-level public health skills while working and gaining a recognised qualification.
💼 Featured Opportunities
Project Officer, SUDI Prevention Project
Durham University £31,236 pro rata | 0.6 FTE | Fixed term Closing: 29 September 2026
Support implementation and evaluation of a multi-agency programme to reduce Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy among vulnerable families.
Why it matters: Combines prevention, implementation, evaluation and partnership working.
Project Manager, Infectious Disease Epidemiology
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine £45,728 to £51,872 pro rata | 0.6 FTE | Fixed term Closing: 7 October 2026
Manage vaccine research grants across the UK and Kenya, including work within the Health Protection Research Unit in Immunisation.
Why it matters: Shows where project management and health protection research intersect.
Operational Manager, Data Connect
University of Sheffield £48,822 to £58,225 pro rata | Full-time | Fixed term Closing: 7 October 2026
Lead operational delivery across complex health data assets within the School of Medicine and Population Health.
Why it matters: Health-data careers also include governance, infrastructure and operational management, not only analysis.View the vacancy and apply
📰 This Week in Public Health
UKHSA expands wastewater surveillance
A new £3 million programme called PRISM will expand environmental surveillance to hospital wastewater and high-footfall locations across England.
Why it matters: Environmental surveillance is becoming an increasingly important tool for emerging infections, biosecurity and AMR.
Read the UKHSA announcement
New plans for a Workplace Health System
The latest Keep Britain Working update sets out plans for earlier workplace-health support to prevent people with health conditions leaving employment.
Why it matters: Employment and health are increasingly being approached as interconnected population-health issues.
New evidence on young people’s mental health in Wales
Public Health Wales analysis of data from more than 100,000 learners identified factors including poor sleep, bullying, body image and academic pressure as associated with poorer mental health and wellbeing.
Why it matters: Improving young people’s mental health requires action on wider social and environmental factors as well as services.
🎓 Learning Opportunity
National 0-5s Mental Health Shared Learning Webinar
NHS England 14 October | 1:30pm to 3:30pm | Online | Free
NHS England will share practical learning around early-years mental health and implementation.
Why it matters: Particularly relevant to early intervention, children’s public health and mental-health programme delivery.
View the webinar and register
💡 Career Insight
Structured routes into public health are worth watching
This week’s apprenticeship is specifically designed to develop a future public health practitioner.
For people trying to enter the field, searching terms such as trainee, apprentice, project officer and practitioner development can reveal opportunities that broader public health searches miss.
✍️ Application Tip
Evidence the criterion, not just the topic
Saying you worked on a multi-agency project does not automatically demonstrate stakeholder-management skills.
Explain what you actually did with those stakeholders.
Did you coordinate, influence, negotiate, adapt your communication or resolve competing priorities?
Your actions are the evidence.
🗺️ PHCH Resource of the Week
Public Health Career Roadmaps
Trying to work out which public health pathway fits your background?
PHCH Career Roadmaps break down different routes, common roles and the skills associated with them.
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