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.
This week’s five verified opportunities span digital health equity, environmental health protection, infectious-disease data, health economics and dental public health.
⭐ Opportunity of the Week
Public Health Research Officer
Public Health Wales NHS Trust | Cardiff
Salary: Band 5, £32,557 to £39,631
Contract: Full-time, fixed term for six months
Closing date: 12 November 2026
Reference: 028-AC213-1026
This role sits within the WHO Collaborating Centre for Investment in Health and Well-being and supports the WHO Europe Assessment Toolkit for Equity in Digital Health.
The successful candidate will contribute to evidence synthesis, literature reviews, data collection and analysis, stakeholder engagement and report writing.
Why it matters: This is one of the more accessible applied public health research posts in the current market. A relevant degree or equivalent experience is essential, while a Masters is desirable. That distinction matters for graduates and career changers who have practical research experience but do not hold a postgraduate qualification.
It also offers exposure to digital health equity and international public health work without requiring a doctoral research background.
Apply for the Public Health Research Officer role
🔎 Featured Opportunities
Environmental Public Health Scientist
UK Health Security Agency | Cardiff, hybrid
Salary: £37,056 to £42,481 pro rata
Contract: Permanent, loan or secondment
Working pattern: Full-time, part-time or job share
Closing date: 13 November 2026
Reference: 919-VO-303067-EXT
The role supports UKHSA’s work on chemical and environmental hazards. Responsibilities include assessing incidents, preparing risk assessments and translating technical evidence into advice for government, emergency services and the public.
The post includes an on-call commitment and requires 60% of working time to be spent on site.
Why it matters: Environmental health protection brings together science, evidence appraisal, emergency response and communication. It can suit candidates from environmental science, toxicology, public health or related backgrounds who want their technical work to inform real-time decisions.
Apply for the Environmental Public Health Scientist role
Health Data Analyst
University of Oxford, Oxford Population Health | Oxford
Salary: £40,178 to £48,700
Grade: 7
Contract: Full-time, permanent
Closing date: 23 November 2026 at 12 noon
Vacancy ID: 189487
The analyst will manage high-dimensional cohort data from Uganda. The datasets include spatial, temporal, image and biomedical information used in infectious-disease research.
The work covers programming, analytical workflows, quality control and collaboration with researchers.
Why it matters: Many early-career analysts gain experience through short research contracts. This permanent role offers a more stable opportunity to develop advanced data-management and analytical skills while contributing to infectious-disease and population-health research.
Apply for the Health Data Analyst role
(Senior) Health Economist
Queen Mary University of London | London, hybrid
Salary: £40,815 to £62,119
Contract: Fixed term for two years
Working pattern: Full-time or part-time
Closing date: 30 November 2026 at 23:55
Reference: 11750
The team is recruiting health economists at several grades. The work includes economic evaluation and decision modelling across prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care pathways, using clinical-trial and routinely collected data.
Projects cover areas including respiratory disease, musculoskeletal health and cancer.
Why it matters: The broad grade range means applicants can be assessed against different levels of experience. It is a useful opportunity for postgraduate health economists who want their modelling and evaluation work to influence healthcare choices.
Apply for the Health Economist role
Assistant Programme Manager, Dental Public Health
NHS Lothian | Edinburgh, hybrid
Salary: Band 7, £52,845 to £61,466 pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 15.48 hours per week
Closing date: 11 November 2026
Reference: 263444
The post covers dental public health needs assessment, programme design, evaluation, prevention, access and inequalities. It also involves partnership working across services and organisations.
Why it matters: Dental public health is a specialist area, but the underlying capabilities are widely transferable: assessing need, managing programmes, evaluating outcomes and addressing unequal access.
The part-time structure may be helpful for someone combining the role with research, study or another professional commitment.
Apply for the Assistant Programme Manager role
📰 This Week in Public Health
Rural and small-town health moves up the national agenda
England’s Chief Medical Officer published his 2026 annual report on 4 November, focusing on health in rural areas and small towns. The report highlights older population structures, hidden rural poverty, transport barriers and the difficulty of sustaining accessible services across dispersed communities. It also argues that rural healthcare cannot simply use urban service models across a larger geographical area.
Why it matters: Public health professionals working on needs assessment and inequalities need to consider whether standard datasets obscure rural deprivation. Local averages can hide households facing poor transport, insecure seasonal employment and limited access to services.
Read the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report
UKHSA starts national chemical-exposure research
On 3 November, UKHSA announced a human biomonitoring study examining PFAS and other chemicals in blood and urine samples.The work will establish baseline exposure levels for the UK population. UKHSA is not recommending routine individual PFAS blood testing because there is currently no established clinical intervention linked to a particular result.
Why it matters: Environmental public health decisions often have to be made while evidence is incomplete. This study should improve the population-level evidence available for risk assessment, surveillance and future policy.
Read the UKHSA biomonitoring announcement
Scotland confirms spring 2027 COVID-19 vaccination groups
Public Health Scotland confirmed on 4 November that spring 2027 eligibility will remain the same as in spring 2026.
The programme will cover:
People aged 75 and over
Residents in care homes for older adults
People aged six months and over with weakened immune systems
Why it matters: Early confirmation helps NHS boards plan capacity and communications. It also gives public health teams time to identify where eligible groups experienced lower uptake and adjust delivery before the programme begins.
Read the Public Health Scotland update
🎓 Learning Opportunity
Health Equity Assessment Tool elearning
The NHS Learning Hub offers a free module on the refreshed Health Equity Assessment Tool.
It covers health inequalities, the purpose of equity assessment, relevant equality duties and the practical steps involved in reviewing a programme or service. It includes examples and offers a completion certificate.
Why it matters: HEAT gives you a structured method for identifying which groups may benefit less from a service and what could be changed. That makes the learning directly relevant to health improvement, commissioning, programme management and policy roles.
Access the Health Equity Assessment Tool module
💡 Career Insight
Public health research is not confined to universities
This week’s vacancies demonstrate how research and analysis operate across different parts of the public health system.
Public Health Wales needs evidence synthesis and stakeholder engagement. UKHSA needs scientific risk assessment and communication. Oxford needs complex data management. QMUL needs economic modelling. NHS Lothian needs needs assessment and programme evaluation.
The common capability is moving from information to a defensible decision or action.
If you are searching for research work, do not rely on “research assistant” as your only keyword. Try combinations including:
Research officer
Health data analyst
Public health scientist
Health economist
Evaluation officer
Programme manager
Intelligence analyst
The title may change, but the underlying evidence skills often overlap.
📝 Application Tip
Read qualification wording literally
Candidates often screen themselves out after seeing a qualification they do not hold. Before making that decision, check how the criterion is classified.
Create three headings:
Essential qualifications
Desirable qualifications
Qualifications or equivalent experience
A desirable Masters is not the same as an essential Masters. Likewise, “postgraduate qualification or equivalent professional experience” creates two possible eligibility routes.
If you are relying on equivalent experience, make the comparison explicit. Name the work, its level and complexity, and the responsibilities you held. Do not leave the panel to infer why it is equivalent.
📄 PHCH Resource of the Week
Application Review
PHCH Application Review provides feedback on a completed draft against the vacancy’s job description and person specification.
The review looks at whether your evidence is clear, whether important criteria are missing and where the application could be strengthened. It does not write applications from scratch or guarantee shortlisting.
Explore PHCH Application Review