I should clarify the title: I don't mean a 'post-doc' appointment in a laboratory somewhere, but rather what I am going to do with myself when I am finished with the DBA (and I wish the external examiners would hurry up and set a date!). I need something to 'soak up my excess intellectual capacity'; I became aware of this need a few months ago but decided to postpone any contemplation of the subject for a few months. Over the past few weeks, I have realised that I want to return to one of my first interests, nutrition.
The other evening I started a google search with 'distance learning nutrition' that led to a few interesting places. The most promising seems to be the University of Aberdeen (not that far from Heriot Watt, as it turns out) that offers an online MSc in Clinical Nutrition. But more than that: they offer a few other qualifications (a PostGraduate Diploma, a PostGraduate Certificate and 'short courses'), all of which contribute credits to the MSc. Putting it another way, they have 20-30 different courses, each worth 15 credits. The PgCert requires 60 credits, i.e. 4 courses, whereas the PgDip requires 120 courses, i.e. 8 courses. The MSc requires 180 credits, i.e. 12 courses, some of which are compulsory. So I can take a course or two, get back into the swing of things, then see whether I want to continue further.
I have a few questions for the administration but they're not important at the beginning. The length of the courses themselves is one point; another is which courses I am excused from taking (e.g. applied statistics, fundamentals of research design), thanks to the doctorate. I have just found the answer to another question that I had: It takes a minimum of 24 months to complete the MSc. To study part-time, we recommend you take no more than 30 credits per term. You can take study breaks between courses, as long as you complete your studies within six years [emphasis mine]. There are two terms in a year (although one is twice as long as the other, linking back to the first question in this paragraph), so even at 15 credits/term, that's 180 credits over 6 years.
I think that I would start with fundamentals of human nutrition and metabolism, that should be a gentle re-entry to the topic. As the website states, Our online Human Nutrition and Metabolism course is designed for wide appeal. It’s an ideal refresher for graduates in nutrition.
Teaching and assessment are entirely on-line; one learning resource is podcasts - I could load these up onto my headphones and listen when walking. A youtube video explaining the course says that one would have to work 10-15 hours a week for 10 weeks.
I have until the end of August to apply (and pay), so I certainly hope that by then I will have finished with the DBA, whatever the results.
I should point out that these studies, if they come to fruition, are for my general edification: I have no intention (at least, not now) of working as a nutrionist for one of the health funds. I'd be too old, anyway.
| Title | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 82 | Rise up like the sun | Fairport Convention, Albion Band, Time signatures | |
| 591 | Barcelona log (3): Rain stopped play | Holiday, Barcelona | |
| 1041 | Rodos log 4: Lindos and the seven springs | Holiday, Rodos, Greece | |
| 1143 | Italy 2018 - The best chocolate in the world | Holiday, Peppermint, Torino, Italy | |
| 1144 | Italy 2018 - Getting to know Torino | Holiday, Unicode, Italy | |
| 1323 | The background behind another song that is used for Israeli folk dancing | Kibbutz | |
| 1395 | A new Yoni Rechter songbook | Yoni Rechter | |
| 1511 | Italy 2022: Corso Cavour (2) | Holiday, Italy, Bari |
No comments:
Post a Comment