Medical Ethics, Law and Humanities

Entry requirements

You should have or be expected to achieve, a minimum of a second class degree (2:2). For healthcare graduates, a pass is required. All degrees must be awarded before 1 August on the year of entry.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Discover how ethics and law impact the practice of medicine while exploring past, present and future issues in healthcare.

Advanced technology. Resource distribution pressures. Demographic changes. There are always new challenges facing healthcare practice and biomedical research. Could you help science and medicine adapt and work for the common good?

We’ve designed this degree to give you an overview of the ethics, law and humanities behind science and medicine. You’ll cover a wide range of topics, from legislation on areas like assisted suicide to the future of medicine and the use of AI. You’ll also be able to pick from optional specialised modules exploring pressing clinical and global issues.

As well as learning from our leading academics, you’ll hear from professionals who worked or collaborated with national and international organisations. Recent guest lecturers have included the chair of a clinical ethics committee, a negligence lawyer and an organiser of public consultations for the Human Tissue Authority.

Transform the future of healthcare

You might be a recent graduate in a related area. Or a medical student wishing to intercalate. Perhaps you’re a healthcare professional with an interest in this area or you want to use this degree as a stepping stone into law and further academic work.

We’ll give you the foundations for lifetime training and education in medical ethics, law and the humanities. Whatever you decide to do next, your insight will help change the way healthcare is practised, regulated, and understood by the public.

Why St George’s?

1. Unique perspective – we’ve created a course that looks at the past, present and future of medical and scientific innovation, global health, and the biomedical sciences and their regulation.
   
2. High-quality training – you’ll be taught by medical ethics and law experts, global health researchers and specialists in different areas of the humanities. You’ll benefit from teaching that draws on our research strengths and history as a long-standing medical training institution.
   
3. Diverse optional modules – enjoy the freedom to explore your areas of interest through optional modules. Look at areas such as medical humanities and arts, neuroethics, and humanitarian action ethics.

Course content

Ethics, professionalism and law strongly impact medicine. Studying with us, you’ll apply analysis of these areas to challenges facing today’s world and healthcare systems.

We’ll introduce you to different methods of medical humanities and how they can be used to look at areas like the doctor-patient relationship and experiences of illness. At the same time, you’ll explore key ethical and legal issues and underlying concepts in professional practice.

What makes this degree unique? Our modules look at the current issues in healthcare, as well as the history of medicine and its influence on research today. We’ll also focus on the future and how technology like AI will transform the healthcare of tomorrow.

Freedom to explore your interests

Your research project will be the chance to explore an area that interests you. The ethics of vaccine nationalism, debates around genomics or the depiction of disease in art are just a few examples.

Because of our diverse expertise, our academics support a range of projects. Maybe your project will be supervised by a historian who specialises in medicine. Or perhaps a medical lawyer will be able to share their extensive expertise to bring your research to life.

Expertise

St George’s is home to experts in medical ethics, law, and the humanities, as well as global health. You’ll learn from academics carrying out key research, as well as practitioners from St George’s Hospital and guest lecturers.

Our researchers are exploring a range of healthcare challenges from HIV and mental health to issues around justice and economic marginalisation in community health. You’ll also meet academics who focus on areas like secure hospital care for inpatients, as well as criminal lawyers who look at reproductive ethics.

We’re exploring how humanities can be used to foster creativity in medicine. Our Open Spaces events programme is an evolving extra-curricular programme bringing together science, medicine and healthcare with the arts, humanities and enterprise.

Careers

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to analyse, appraise and address ethical, legal and social challenges in medicine and biomedical research.

Clinicians might use this degree to secure roles leading ethics education at medical schools, as a stepping stone to further training or to prepare to carry out projects involving public engagement.

If you’re not from a clinical background, you’ll be a great match for roles in policy forums, science journalism and public engagement. Other students decide to use this degree to support their PhD applications and carry out vital research in this area.

With expertise in ethics, law and humanities, you’ll be a great fit for roles in a range of organisations:

• Academic institutions
• Hospitals
• Local or national government
• National health services
• Civil service and national ministries of health
• NGOs and bioethics think-tanks
• Professional bodies
• Third-sector organisations

Information for international students

For information on how to apply, advice on visas and immigration and English language requirements please visit our international student support webpages.

Fees and funding

For information about tuition fees, funding and scholarships please visit our fees and funding webpages.