M.Sc. Public Health, Exercise and Nutrition — University of Potsdam
October 2025 – present · Potsdam, Germany · Taught in English
About the course
Public Health, Exercise and Nutrition (PEN) is a four-semester, research-oriented master’s programme (120 ECTS) run jointly by the University of Potsdam’s health sciences, sport and health sciences, and nutritional sciences departments. It looks at diet and physical activity as key lifestyle factors in health, prevention and rehabilitation, from the level of the individual up to the whole population. Lecturers and students come from medicine, health, exercise and nutrition science, nursing and the allied health professions. Learning alongside people from these different fields means looking at every problem from several angles. That is the kind of thinking needed to tackle chronic, lifestyle-related disease in an ageing population.
The programme has four strands: Society and Health, Public Health, Exercise Science, and Nutrition Science. In the first semester, each strand has a Basics and Methods module. In the second, each has an Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis module. Every module pairs lectures with a practical seminar or exercise course, where students present, critique and apply research methods. The second year consists of two research internships (15 ECTS each) and the master’s thesis (30 ECTS).
Grades
I have completed all eight compulsory modules (60 of 120 ECTS). Grades are on the German scale, where 1.0 is the best grade and 4.0 is the lowest pass.
| Module | Semester | ECTS | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Society and Health: Basics and Methods | Winter 2025/26 | 6 | 2.0 |
| Public Health: Basics and Methods | Winter 2025/26 | 8 | 1.3 |
| Exercise Science: Basics and Methods | Winter 2025/26 | 8 | 2.0 |
| Nutrition Science: Basics and Methods | Winter 2025/26 | 8 | 1.7 |
| Society and Health: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis | Summer 2026 | 6 | 1.0 |
| Public Health: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis | Summer 2026 | 8 | 1.3 |
| Exercise Science: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis | Summer 2026 | 8 | 1.0 |
| Nutrition Science: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis | Summer 2026 | 8 | 1.3 |
| Average to date (weighted by ECTS) | 60 | 1.4 |
Modules
Semester 1: Basics and Methods
Society and Health: Basics and Methods — 2.0
How society and the environment shape health.
- Population-based medicine and an introduction to the German healthcare system
- Health promotion and prevention strategies
- Health psychology and sociology: health behaviour, social inequality, health policy
- Quantitative and qualitative study design
- Research ethics: informed consent, data protection, ethics committees
Assessment: written exam
Public Health: Basics and Methods — 1.3
An introduction to epidemiology and biostatistics.
- Health indicators, health monitoring and evidence-based public health
- Study designs: cross-sectional, case-control, cohort and intervention studies
- Causal inference: DAGs, counterfactuals, randomisation and sources of bias
- Statistics: probability distributions, hypothesis testing, correlation and regression
- Practical statistics work in R and SPSS
Assessment: written exam
Exercise Science: Basics and Methods — 2.0
Physical activity in prevention, therapy and rehabilitation.
- Effects of physical activity on cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and neurological disease
- Dose-response relationships and measuring physical performance
- Rehabilitation in Germany, from prevention to follow-up care
- The biopsychosocial model and ICF classification
- Scientific writing: reviews, original papers and posters
Assessment: written exam and poster presentation
Nutrition Science: Basics and Methods — 1.7
The molecular and physiological causes of diet-related disease.
- Regulation of food intake, leptin and insulin resistance, adipose tissue
- Type 2 diabetes and its complications, MASLD, hypertension, sarcopenia
- Energy metabolism, cellular lipid uptake and exercise physiology
- Kidney function, vitamin metabolism and chrononutrition
- Epigenetics
Assessment: 180-minute written exam
Semester 2: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis
Society and Health: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis — 1.0
Behavioural interventions for lifestyle risks, with a focus on mental health.
- Socioeconomic and modifiable risk factors for mental disorders
- Assessment of anxiety disorders, PTSD, depression, substance use and eating disorders
- Evidence-based behavioural and exercise interventions
- Psychoneuroendocrinology and personalised lifestyle interventions
- Healthcare research and implementation research
Assessment: oral exam
Public Health: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis — 1.3
Advanced statistics for epidemiology and health services research.
- Linear, logistic and Cox regression
- Practical statistics work in R and SPSS
- Multivariate methods (e.g. PCA), meta-analysis and ROC analysis
- Molecular epidemiology: metabolomics, transcriptomics, proteomics
- Lifestyle interventions and neuroplasticity: how exercise and nutrition affect brain health
Assessment: oral exam
Exercise Science: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis — 1.0
Evidence-based exercise prescription in prevention and therapy.
- Training methods and how to dose exercise
- Quality criteria for methods that measure training effects
- Tailored exercise and nutrition interventions for cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, oncological, rheumatological, orthopaedic and metabolic conditions
- Combining exercise with drug and behavioural therapy
Assessment: written exam and seminar presentation
Nutrition Science: Applied Methods and Advanced Analysis — 1.3
Research methods in nutrition science.
- Lab methods: 3D cell models, high-resolution microscopy, gene expression analysis
- Model organisms (such as C. elegans), feeding interventions and animal behaviour tests
- Clinical nutrition research
- Writing a grant-style research proposal: research question, “gap – hook – solution”, peer review and a project presentation
Assessment: term paper
Year 2: Research and thesis
The second year consists of two 15-ECTS research internships and a 30-ECTS master’s thesis. I am currently a student research intern at the Professorship of Social and Preventive Medicine.