Why study with us

The Liggins Institute is a large-scale research institute at the University of Auckland. Our mission is to improve lifelong health through excellent research into the long-term consequences of early life events. With type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity rising sharply around the world, you’ll help to identify what constitutes a healthy start to life at a time when it’s never been so important.

The academic staff who will supervise you are internationally-recognised and well-connected experts in their field. A large number are practising clinicians and many others lecture in subjects ranging from paediatrics to physiology across the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. You will benefit from their broad range of knowledge, which allows us to view human health problems from different angles at once.  

You’ll join around 50 students from all over the world. Some come directly from undergraduate programmes, some are returning to further study after working for a while, and others are clinicians taking on research projects to complement their clinical practice.

Whatever your background, you’ll work closely with academic staff to investigate the determinants of a healthy life at many ages and stages, with the goal of implementing changes in clinical practice that will make a difference to people's lives now and for generations to come.