Module description
This module explores societal, ethical and regulatory issues related to research-related and clinical manifestations of genomics and personalised medicine. It highlights key contributions and approaches from the social science literature, as well as from the field of ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA). It will equip students with the necessary conceptual and theoretical tools to understand historical, social, political, economic, ethical and regulatory aspects of genomic medicine, its relation to adjacent concepts (personalised medicine, stratified medicine, precision medicine, big data medicine), and to appreciate how medicine, science and society mutually shape each other.
Assessment details
- 1 x 1,500 Word Essay (40%)
- 1 x 2,000 Word Essay (60%)
Educational aims & objectives
- Critically explore key contested social science perspectives on research-related, clinical, regulatory, social, economic, and economic dimensions of genomic and personalised medicine;
- Critically illuminate the complex nature of multidisciplinary research on medicine, bioscience and society;
- Equip students with the analytic and conceptual skills necessary for a critical and productive engagement with literature in both the life sciences and the social sciences at the interface of genomic medicine and society.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Understand medical technology and practice as something that is influenced by social, political, economic, and cultural factors;
- Describe and analyse the dynamics of the co-production of medicine, science and society;
- Understand core concepts to in-depth social science case studies in the domain of medical genomics;
- Understand the main historical phases in the emergence of genomic and personalised medicine;
- Act as an independent and self-critical learner.
Teaching pattern
TBC