AKC Online
AKC Online is the distance learning version of the AKC course. It is open to all current distance learning students at King's, as well as to King's Alumni. One year postgraduates may complete a second year of the AKC by distance learning in order to qualify for the award.
Lecture materials will be posted each week on the AKC Distance Learning area on the College's Virtual Learning Environment, KEATS.
For Distance Learning Students at King's
Email the AKC Office in September 2020 to be enrolled on the AKC Online Distance Learning programme. Please provide your name, student number, main degree programme and year of study. The AKC is free to all current students at King's.
Semester I 2020-21
A series of nine lectures coordinated by Dr Clare Carlisle, AKC Programme Director and Reader in Philosophy and Theology, King's College London.
The Life of the Mind: What is Mental Health?
We all agree that our mental health is important – but do we all agree on what mental health is? Different cultures offer different conceptions of the human mind, soul, or spirit, and different ideas about what it means to be healthy. This AKC series will explore contemporary western approaches to mental health alongside contrasting ideals of health from other times, regions and cultures. Experts from a range of disciplines will guide you to reflect on scientific, philosophical and ethical questions about the life of the human mind.
5 Oct
Dr Clare Carlisle, King’s College London
The Life of the Mind: A Philosophical Perspective
12 Oct
Prof. Sir Graham Thornicroft, Kings College London
How is Mental Health Understood in Different Countries and Cultures?
19 Oct
Professor Neil Vickers, King's College London
“Shared Life” – Learning from Literature about Mental Health
26 Oct
Prof. John Marsden, King's College London
Addiction: Thoughts, Emotions and Behaviours
9 Nov
Dr Ayesha Nahoo, University of Exeter
Mental Health within Holistic Medicine: A History of Alternatives
16 Nov
Dr Margaret Hampson, Trinity College Dublin
Plato’s Tyrant: the Unhealthy Soul and Interpersonal Relationships
23 Nov
Professor Nikolas Rose, King's College London
Against ‘Mental Health’
30 Nov
Dr Matthew Drage, Warburg Institute
Mindfulness Meditation: Secular Therapy or Religious Movement?
7 Dec
Rev. Canon Mark Oakley, University of Cambridge
Saying More than We Have to Say: Poetry and the Procreative Mind
Semester II 2020-21
A series of nine lectures coordinated by Dr Daniel Nilsson DeHanas, Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Religion.
Voices in the Wilderness: Leadership in Troubled Times
Leading others can be challenging in any period. In our troubled times, the need for good leadership is heightened and the costs of bad leadership have multiplied. This AKC series finds its inspiration from the lonely itinerant figure of John the Baptist, described in Christian texts as a ‘voice in the wilderness’. Going beyond the Christian tradition, the series will include a range of voices – many of them speaking against the grain – on leadership in religion, politics, the arts, and public health. It will help you think about how to lead with boldness and integrity in our ‘wilderness’ of current challenges, from gender disparities to Brexit divides, from pandemics to populism.
18 Jan
Dr Daniel DeHanas, King’s College London
Introduction: Leadership in Troubled Times
25 Jan
Professor Vernon Bogdanor, King’s College London
Political Leadership
1 Feb
Dr Eka Ikpe, King’s College London
Title TBC
8 Feb
Baroness Deborah Bull, King’s College London
The Civic University
15 Feb
Dr Hayley MacGregor, University of Sussex
The Complex Contexts of Epidemic Responses
1 Mar
Professor Rosie Campbell, King’s College London
Women in Political Leadership
8 Mar
AbdoolKarim Vakil, King’s College London
Community, Race, and Faith: Antiracist Struggles for Justice in the Making of British Values
15 Mar
Rev Dr Ellen Clark-King, King’s College London
Religious Leadership: Learning from the Desert Elders
22 Mar
Dr Sam Greene, King’s College London
Title TBC