Training in environmental health necessitates tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge in environmental health (EH) responds to the strong need to relate environmental conditions with health effects and implement the ideas produced in the educational framework. Training programs on EH have to educate professionals in dealing with problems where environmental degradation threatens health and to answer the currently increasing volume of question society asks on these issues. Therefore, an EH professional should not only be equipped with theoretical knowledge but also with the “know-how” knowledge (or tacit knowledge) that enables in-depth understanding of the mechanisms that links environment with health and facilitates the prevention of incidents and chronic exposure to pollutants. This was the main driver behind the establishment of the Master’s Degree Program “Environment and Health: Capacity building for decision making” at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens-Greece (UoA). The program builds on the expertise of academic partners on EH issues. The experience of non-academic professionals is an important part of the program, which is aimed at developing innovative methods of knowledge alliance management, introducing the “tacit knowledge” approach, contributing to understanding and managing health-related environmental problems. In order to evaluate the accomplishment of the program’s objectives, a questionnaire was completed by current MSc holders. The program impact regarding its tacit knowledge content was highly regarded (> 80.0 %) by the alumni. This adds to the evidence-based strength of tacit knowledge, which is increasingly profiled as a mandatory element of EH academic programs. A SWOT analysis discussion puts the assessment of tacit knowledge in a wider context