Health Humanities MA

UCL (University College London)

Health and illness in society is one of the key concerns that underpins our modern existence. The Health Humanities MA enables you to gain a detailed understanding of how methods from the humanities can influence biomedicine, clinical practice and the politics of healthcare. With an interdisciplinary degree taught at UCL, you’ll graduate ready to apply your expertise to careers in the medical field, science organisations, academic research, and more. The course enables students to approach issues relating to health and illness from both a historical and contemporary perspective and from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, history, philosophy, sociology, science and technology studies, global health, literature and film studies. Students will also learn to work in an interdisciplinary manner. The Health Humanities course comprises of three core modules on Illness, Madness and Approaching the Health Humanities: Skills and Methods. These core modules are designed to work as a postgraduate-level foundation and provide you with the specific skills and knowledge to research, write academic essays and the dissertation. You will also take optional modules and a dissertation (there are two dissertation options). If you choose the 60-credit dissertation, you take 75 credits of optional modules. If you choose the 90-credit research dissertation (the research track), you take fewer optional modules (45 credits), in favour of writing an extended dissertation to focus on your own academic interests. The course is suitable for students who wish to gain a training and qualification in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches in the health humanities as a foundation for higher research and professional work, and for graduates from other fields or careers wishing to supplement their existing knowledge and experience. This programme is also available on a modular (flexible) basis, with a duration of 5 calendar years.

Arts and Humanities