Bioethics & Society

Course detail Description

The course is taught in the heart of London, with immediate access to King’s hospitals and laboratories, and close to government, health policy think-tanks, patient advocacy groups, medical and scientific societies, and the private health sector. We offer a unique ‘real-world’ approach to bioethics, allowing students to understand the social and political contexts in which bioethical controversies arise and proposed solutions are developed. In the course of their studies, students are equipped with essential knowledge and skills to make a contribution to resolving bioethical problems. In addition, internship opportunities enable students to gather practical insights and to build professional networks.

The course is ideal for health professionals, graduates of a relevant discipline, policy makers and shapers, and anyone wishing to develop a more rigorous understanding of the ethical and societal issues in biomedicine, neuroscience, and health policy today. Our Masters degree lays the foundation for future careers; for example, in government, national and international NGOs, teaching, or research in bioethics or social sciences. The course will also enhance existing careers in clinical practice, biomedical research, public health, and health policy.

Teaching

We will teach you through a combination of lectures and seminars, and you will typically have 15 hours of this per module. We also expect you to undertake 135 hours of independent study for each module. For your 12,000 word dissertation, we will provide three 2-hour workshops and six half-hour supervisory sessions to complement your 591 hours of independent study.

Assessment

The department assesses students on a combination of essays, written examinations, oral presentations and the dissertation. The nature of assessment varies by module.

For more information contact the Admissions' Tutors, Dr Silvia Camporesi: or Dr Gry Wester:

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Structure

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules, and students on this course take modules totalling 180-200 credits.

King's College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant courses of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

You may opt to take an additional Internship module which will increase your total credits to 200 for the degree.

You are required to take the following modules:

• Dissertation in Bioethics and Society (60 credits)
• Foundations in Global Health & Social Medicine (30 credits)
• Critical Bioethics (30 credits)

You are also required to take one of the following modules:

• Designing Quantitative Research for Social Science and Health (15 credits)
• Designing Qualitative Research for Social Science and Health (15 credits)
• Critical Policy Research for Health and Medicine (15 credits)

• Global Health Ethics (15 credits)
• Ethics of Clinical Research (15 credits)
• Empirical Ethics (15 credits)
• Pharmaceuticals and Society (15 credits)
• Researching Vulnerable Populations (15 credits)
• Internship (20 credits)
• Any Level 7 module offered by King’s or 15 credits at Level 6, subject to approval from the module convenor and the programme director

Part-time students will be expected to take Critical Bioethics, one research methods module and one optional module in year 1, with the remaining required and optional modules taken in year 2. Part time students attend the dissertation workshops and submit a dissertation proposal in Year 1 with the dissertation being submitted at the end of Year 2.