Teaching

The focus of the department's teaching is on contributions to the teaching of the BA program in Public Health/Health Sciences, as well as the MA program in Public Health - Health Care Delivery, Economics and Management, although courses are generally open to other programs upon request.
 
Teaching in the Bachelor's program

Teaching in the Bachelor's program first provides a broad overview of management in health care: In a lecture that extends over two semesters, students receive a comprehensive introduction to the classic leadership and factual functions of management in healthcare for this purpose. This course is supplemented by case study seminars, which are based on a Springer textbook from the department and offer in-depth study of various methods or fields of application. This course is also offered to external interested parties as a course of the Academy for Continuing Education.

In addition, as part of an elective focus, it introduces the connections between public health and ecological sustainability, which are discussed under the heading of "planetary health." In the winter semester, students will learn how various economic theories can help them to better understand problems such as our diet, which is unhealthy for humans and the planet. The summer semester is dedicated to the tension between health, economics and ethics. It introduces ideals of good economics that underlie various economic theories. And it shows how, by balancing the understanding of problems, economics and ethics, good solutions can be found to improve health and tackle the climate crisis.

This is supplemented, for example, by application-oriented method seminars. In a seminar on the topic of "Systematic Review", students can explore the steps of a systematic literature review and thus prepare themselves for an application of this method within the bachelor thesis. In addition to tips on scientific work and the use of databases, the seminar offers plenty of room for feedback on a small review project of one's own. In a seminar on ecological decision-making, the method of life cycle assessment (LCA) is introduced. Here, too, students explore the individual steps using their own example and can prepare to conduct their own carbon footprint analysis (e.g. for a medical practice) as part of a bachelor's thesis.

Teaching in the Master's program

In the master courses, the concept of research-based learning is taken up as a study program profile. To this end, interactive seminars are offered which take up and critically discuss the business contents of the bachelor's lecture and their ethical foundations at the level of scientific discourse.

From a management perspective, entrepreneurial learning also represents an important aspect of research-based learning: in addition to the scientific hypothesis on the effectiveness of a new care concept, the hypothesis that it can be implemented from a business perspective also requires critical review. For this purpose, the master seminar "Health-, Social- and Eco-Entrepreneurship" teaches how to develop and critically review a business idea. This is done in teamwork on the basis of real problems for which new, economically viable business concepts are developed. In addition to ideas for the healthcare industry, social and ecological business ideas are also welcome.

The Master's project seminar "Good Ways out of the Climate Crisis" takes up the department's scientific work on the consideration equilibrium in ethics and philosophy of science. Based on an overview of different economic theories and their ethical backgrounds, it explores the question of how to find ways out of the climate crisis that satisfy both economic and ethical demands. On this basis, different types of utopias of good economics will be presented and discussed on the basis of concrete examples such as the post-growth economy, the common good economy or the idea of a circular economy based on the idea of "cradle to cradle".

In preparation for the master's theses, a seminar on conducting systematic literature reviews is also offered. In this seminar, students learn how to compile and evaluate the best available scientific evidence on an issue according to standards such as those of the PRISMA Statement. The individual steps of a systematic literature review are deepened on the basis of an own research question, so that a methodological basis can be created for the master thesis.

Theses

Upon request, our working group will offer you various suggestions for topics that we believe are relevant, well-supported for us, and easy for you to work on. The proposals are especially from the following topics:

- Sustainability in Healthcare

- Life Cycle Analyses & Carbon Footprint

- Health Economic Evaluation & Digital Public Health

- Philosophy & Economics, Plural Economics

- Critical analysis or application of selected concepts of healthcare management

In principle, we are also open to other questions, as far as they fit into our fields of competence.

Before conducting qualification theses that apply the methodology of systematic literature reviews, we highly recommend participating in the corresponding bachelor's or master's seminar.

If you are interested in writing a bachelor's or master's thesis in our department, please send a short email to mig-abschlussarbeiten@ipp.uni-bremen.de. You will then be sent a detailed guide describing all further steps and enabling you to make a reflective decision.

Projects in the Entrepreneurship Seminar

The Entrepreneurship Seminar provided input on various entrepreneurial projects in Bremen and the surrounding area - e.g. in the fields of healthcare and eco-entrepreneurship:

Skinuvita (https://www.skinuvita.de/) – a spin-off of the University of Bremen, which works on offering phototherapy for patients with psoriasis comfortably from home.

"The seminar supports students in developing and presenting sustainable business concepts with added social value."

(Janina Clasen, former seminar participant and later co-founder and regulatory affairs manager of Skinuvita GmbH).

Climactivity (https://climactivity.de/) - a non-profit association, founded in 2019, that uses playful means to educate adults about climate protection

"The results of the seminar "Health-, Social- and Eco-Entrepreneurship" helped us a lot in setting up climactivity. Both the tangible input in the form of an app and the intangible input in the form of ideas and discussions were helpful and stimulating."
(Uli F Wischnath, CEO and program coordinator at climactivity e.V.)

Cafe Vielleicht (https://vielleicht-cafe.de/) – a cafe in Bremen's Neustadt district that offers a rotating menu of vegan sweet and savory treats.

"The event helped me to turn my idea into a realistic start-up project. I picked up some inspiration and tips, and the constant group reflection allowed me to identify potential challenges early on and incorporate them into the planning."

(Sarah Ruhe, former seminar participant and founder of the café)