In the second of two articles relating to the current status of environmental health education, Harold Harvey argues that a lack of research activity in this field could prove fatal not just for universities, but for the profession as a whole

Rapidly increasing knowledge and the broadening of portfolios can make existing facts and skills inadequate, while changing environments can make them obsolete. The initial qualifying education and training course as the means of acquiring a body of facts which will last for the duration of a career is no longer tenable, if it ever was. Frequent retraining, sometimes in the form of continuing professional development, is only a partial solution. As the growth of new information and new knowledge accelerates, education and training at all levels needs to become less about delivering knowledge per se, and more about helping people to learn how to find out for themselves. This gives a greater emphasis to the development of research skills in education and training.
Research is seen by some as a high level activity carried out in universities by a few advanced academics. New knowledge, generated by research activity, will subsequently be written up, read and integrated into academic curricula, taught to new professionals and thus, eventually, applied in practice. There is an important place for this form of high level research and every profession should strive to be a stakeholder, as it will receive recognition as a result. However, research has a much wider meaning and a much greater influence on the education and training of EHOs and the profession than this.
In the past few years in the UK, there has been a rapid growth of research outside of universities - in government and quasi-government research establishments (including those associated with food safety, workplace health and safety, and health and social services), in independent research institutions and within industry and commerce. According to the Economic and Social Research Council, some companies publish more research papers than medium-sized universities.1 There has also been considerable emphasis on co-operative research, where grants will only be made available to universities where the proposal includes an industrial or commercial organisation, a local authority or similar body. These developments are indicative of the importance placed on research, not only by university departments but also by government, commerce and industry.
In recent years, both government and employers have recognised the value of research in developing skills that are relevant to careers: "The Government welcomes the growth of postgraduate courses. It is concerned, however, that the traditional PhD is not well matched to the needs of careers outside research in academia."2

RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES
A universal feature of environmental health honours degree courses is the research work required within the project and dissertation module. Under the direction of an academic supervisor, candidates are required to design, implement, analyse and report on the findings of a thorough study of a selected topic. The aims of this study are frequently stated in terms of the individual. Indeed, on completion of a successful project the student may know more about that specific, narrow topic than anyone else; but few others may become aware of this.
Commonly, the project work is written up as a dissertation, assessed internally and placed on a bookshelf never to be opened again. This is not a waste. The process of designing and managing a research project, writing up the dissertation and seeing the work in print brings knowledge, the development of new skills and personal satisfaction. The candidate carries out a substantial amount of the project work on their own and the acquisition of skills is mostly through practical work rather than taught learning activity. Thus, research work has enormous potential as a source of transferable skills.
Current environmental health practice requires the officer to respond quickly to changing "market" conditions, to client requirements and to the influences of new legislation and government policies. Thus, even in a highly vocational degree like environmental health, the subject-specific knowledge will not remain useful indefinitely. Watkins et al (1992) suggest that the lifespan of a vocational degree is about four years.3 While this may be a somewhat overstated view, it is clear that subject-specific knowledge gained during a degree course will have time-limited value. On the other hand, the transferable skills developed will, potentially, have career-long value.
Process skills (problem formulation and solving, assessing information, use of literature, developing arguments, data analysis), presentation skills, management skills (project planning, setting objectives, time management, team work), and personal skills (self-confidence, self-discipline, originality, acceptance of criticism) are developed during a successful project module. The ideal graduate might be described as someone who is capable and can turn ideas into action. Capability implies autonomy, control, expertise, imagination and skill, the skilful application of knowledge and the knowledgeable application of skill.4 Participation in research helps to develop capable EHOs.

RESEARCH AT MASTERS LEVEL
Many EHOs choose to continue their academic studies on a part-time basis. Seventy six percent of UK local authority EHOs hold additional job-related qualifications, about seven per cent hold a masters degree and a few hold a doctorate.5 Masters degrees are a means of continuing specialised study in a topic, or topics, selected by the employee or employer. Some courses resemble the final year of an honours degree course with several taught elements and a research project, although the "research masters degree" may be substantially based around participation in a research project only.
Masters degrees usually last a calendar year on a full-time basis or three years part-time. Most EHOs, being already employed follow the part-time route. This provides the opportunity for the research topic to be linked to practical employment experience.
In addition to personal and career development benefits, masters degree research projects can provide a useful resource for deeper investigation into environmental health issues than is possible in day-to-day practice. If the results are disseminated, the wider profession can gain knowledge, publicity and recognition.

DOCTORATE LEVEL RESEARCH
A small number of honours degree students in universities continue their studies through to PhD or DPhil research studies, which usually lasts for three years full-time or six years part-time and is wholly based on a research project. Financial support may be in the form of a research studentship grant from the local education authority, from the university department itself or in the form of a scholarship from a commercial or industrial organisation, a government department, a charity or professional body. Proposals have been put to the CIEH in the UK for the annual provision of research studentships, and are under consideration.
An interesting recent development in the UK is the introduction of "professional doctorates". These are not designed for those pursuing an academic career, but are intended to allow EHOs and other professionals to follow a route to a doctorate which is more compatible with their employment commitments and professional practice interests. To facilitate the professional aspect of the research work, candidates are supervised jointly by an academic and a professional. Applicants to a professional doctorate who already hold a masters degree can usually be given credit for this, thus reducing the time necessary to complete it.
In today's higher education sector in the UK, research is the key motivator and those subjects which do not make a significant contribution are unlikely to survive.
An external audit of research activities in universities in the UK is carried out every four or five years. The main purpose of this research assessment exercise (RAE) is to enable the higher education funding bodies to distribute public funding for research on the basis of quality.6 Institutions conducting what is judged to be the best research receive a larger proportion of the available grant and those below a certain threshold level receive none. This money is intended to help maintain the infrastructure for top level research in UK universities.
In practice this also has an important impact on other academic activities, especially teaching, as research income may be used to employ additional academic staff and provide resources used in both teaching and research. With a reasonable income from research there is less pressure on the university to gain income from the other main source, student enrolments.
The results of the 1996 RAE influenced the way that £800m per year of public money was distributed among the UK universities and around £5bn of funds will be distributed in response to the 2001 RAE. Academic staff who are included in the RAE submission are referred to as "research active"; the minimum for inclusion is usually an output of at least four academic papers published in peer reviewed journals within the review period.
In the UK, 13 universities have departments which include environmental health. Of the 50 core environmental health academic staff employed within these departments only six are considered to be research active and are likely to be included in the 2001 RAE. In the past five years only six environmental health academics have supervised research students and only a few environmental health graduates have undertaken doctorate research degrees.7
The lack of research activity is not only a barrier to the development of environmental health as an academic subject but it is significant to the endurance of environmental health courses. Due to government pressures to enhance research performance the requirement to have a doctorate prior to appointment as a university lecturer is now being applied to emerging subjects, including environmental health. The survival of environmental health courses in universities will be influenced by the ability or not to recruit academic staff with a research background acceptable to the universities.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
While the research process has value in enhancing the capabilities of individuals, and through them the profession and its clients' benefit, the research results only have value if they are published in some way. In most cases, environmental health research will be associated with an academic qualification and thus will be published as an internal dissertation. The results, however, will have added value if they are made publicly available, for example as a journal paper or presentation at a seminar or conference - contributing to the wider knowledge of the profession.
The publication of research may take several forms. At the upper end, in terms of academic credibility and status, is publication in a peer reviewed academic or research journal. Submitted articles or "papers" are evaluated first by the editor and, if considered appropriate, then subjected to "double blind" peer review. The draft paper is sent to two or more subject specialist referees whose identities are not known to the author and the authors identities are not known to the referees.
The International Journal of Environmental Health Research and the US-based Journal of Environmental Health are the only two peer-reviewed journals currently dedicated to environmental health, although many other peer reviewed journals will publish relevant papers on environmental health topics. The CIEH is, however, developing plans to introduce a peer reviewed journal by the end of this year.
Publication in a professional journal may not involve the same level of peer review; the review of draft papers may be performed by the editor, technical editor or one of the editorial team. While the draft paper must conform to the instructions for authors for that journal it will not require the strict adherence to research protocols essential for publication in peer reviewed journals.
Some professional journals have both a peer reviewed section and a popular section. There are many environmental health oriented professional journals, mostly national with a few international. Most of the environmental health professional bodies have their own journal and will usually accept papers based on research projects.
Another important means of communicating research results is presentation at a conference or seminar. The requirements relating to the presentation of a paper at a conference or seminar varies enormously, from peer review procedures to informal requests for speeches.
There are many opportunities for this form of presentation from the local centre meetings of the professional body to national congresses and international events. All have value for both personal and professional development. Presentation at a research conference has the added advantage of contributing to the academic profile of the profession, especially if the paper is subsequently published in the conference proceedings. Papers on environmental health issues will be accepted at many research conferences and there is one annual research conference on environmental health protection and safety which aims to provide a forum for new and emerging researchers within the environmental health profession.8

REFERENCES
1 ESRC (1993) The Interface between Corporate Research and Development and Academic Research: A Research Project Funded by the ESRC, Economic and Social Research Council, Swindon.
2 OST (Office of Science and Technology) (1993), Realising our potential - Strategy for Science, Engineering and Technology, HMSO, London.
3 Watkins, J W, Drury, L and Preddy, D (1992) From Evolution to Revolution: The Pressures on Professional Life in the 1990s, Bristol: University of Bristol.
4 Luck, M (1999) Your student research project. Gower, Aldershot, England.
5 Harvey, H D and Suiter, I (2000) "Academic profiles of environmental health officers in local authorities in the UK". Environment and Health International, 1,3.
6 RAE (2001) What is the RAE 2001? [web page] http://rae.ac.uk/AboutUs/ [accessed 01 March 2001]
7 Harvey, H D (2000) "Partnership in the provision of quality environmental health education in the UK" Unpublished paper presented to the CIEH Academic Forum, Telford, England, May 2000.
8 University of Ulster, EHOA, CIEH (2001) Call for papers for the 4th Graduate/Post Graduate Research Conference on Environmental Health Protection and Safety, May 2001, Kilkenny, Ireland.

Harold D Harvey, Environmental Health Protection and Safety Centre, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, BT37 0QB, UK. Tel: 028 90 366309. Fax: 028 90 366840. E-mail: hd.harvey@ulst.ac.uk