Bioethics and Society

Advances in biomedicine, neuroscience, and public health raise some of the most difficult ethical and societal questions today. The Bioethics & Society course allows you to study these questions drawing on concepts, theories, and methods from philosophy and the social sciences. This will enable you to understand how bioethics influences the world, and how you can make an impact in the world.

Key benefits:

• The only UK course based in a social science department.
• Taught at King's College London, one of the top-25 schools in the world (QS World University Rankings 2016).
• Taught in the heart of London, at King's College Strand Campus.
• Offers a thoroughly interdisciplinary approach to bioethics that draws from key concepts, theories, methods and findings from philosophy and the social sciences.
• Lectures and seminars are given by internationally recognized faculty who consult for the World Health Organization, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and the U.K. Parliament Office of Science & Technology, among others.
• Collaborates with other departments at King's to serve students' individual needs and interests and create exciting career streams of optional modules.
• Offers a rigorous methods training in qualitative and quantitative research methods and critical policy research.
• Provides skilled supervision to develop competence in executing a small-scale independent dissertation research project.
• Offers a rich programme of guest lectures and seminars, including the KCL / UCL Joint Bioethics Colloquium, and the GHSM Seminar Series.
• Offers individualised career support to build a strong CV, helping students to identify opportunities to present their work, do internships, and secure funding.
• Collaborates closely with King's College Careers & Employability Office to enhance the employability of our students with targeted sessions.

A relevant UK honours degree of 2:1 standard. If an applicant possesses an undergraduate degree below 2:1 standard, subsequent postgraduate qualifications may be taken into account. Also desirable is evidence of active engagement in relevant activities and an attentive concern for the pressing ethical questions in contemporary medicine, bioscience and health policy, demonstrated by reading and otherwise following current national and international issues.

MSc

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

Required Modules:

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)

Optional Modules:

In addition, you are required to take 45-65 credits from a range of optional modules. It is strongly suggested you take at least one 15 credit ethics module. Optional modules may typically include:

• 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

Fees:

• Full time overseas fees:

King's College London is one of the top 10 UK universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2018/19) and among the oldest in England.

King's vision is to make the world a better place, building on our history of pioneering research that has advanced and shaped modern life, such as: the discovery of the structure of DNA; research to better understand autism and develop life-changing therapies; informing air pollution awareness and policy; research that led to the development of radio, radar, television and mobile phones; and making maths available to the underprivileged. These are all ways that we are having a transformational impact on society.

Our intellectually rigorous teaching environment is coupled with a commitment to providing a rich and supportive student experience. We have more than 31,000 students (of whom nearly 12,800 are postgraduates, with 1,000 students enrolled in online masters courses) from 150 countries worldwide, meaning that students are part of a truly international community. Our 8,500 members of staff collaborate with students to help them get the most out of their degree. Many of our academics are also researchers working within and influencing their industries, meaning that students learn the latest thinking and understand its practical and contemporary relevance.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas'​, King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services.