Overview

Our Mental Health, Ethics & Law MSc course is delivered by two internationally recognised centres of excellence and provides an integrated, strongly interdisciplinary education in mental health, ethics, and law. It equips graduates to become leaders in healthcare, mental health law, or policy.

As a student on the programme, you will have the unique opportunity to study alongside others from a wide range of academic and professional disciplines, at the heart of London’s legal and psychiatric world.

Key benefits

  • In-depth and integrated clinical, philosophical and legal analysis of key issues faced in the field of mental health.
  • Run by the UK’s first Centre of Medical Law & Ethics, in collaboration with Europe’s largest centre for research and teaching in psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience: the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry & Neuroscience.
  • Teaching is based in central London, and teaching staff maintain close links with national and international policy makers and leading legal and clinical practitioner communities.

Course essentials

We have developed a strongly interdisciplinary course designed to investigate the interface between mental health, law, and ethics at a theoretical level and to engage directly with the dilemmas and experience of illness encountered in practice. The course will expand your understanding both within and beyond your own disciplines, and will provide you with the skills necessary to analyse and critique current mental health law, practice, and policy.

The course is for anyone concerned with mental health who wishes to study the clinical, ethical, and legal thinking behind current law, policy and clinical practice. It has been designed for health professionals, lawyers, policy makers, and all those with a relevant first degree who are keen to consider the difficult questions raised by mental ill health and society’s response.

Key Information

Course type:

Master's

Delivery mode:

On campus

Study mode:

Full time / Part time

Duration:

One year full-time, September to September, two years part-time

Credit value:

UK 180/ECTS 90

Application status:

Open

Start date:

September 2025

Administrative bodies

Regulating body

Application closing date guidance

Base campuses

This course is primarily taught at the King’s College London Strand Campus, with teaching on some modules also taking place on the Waterloo Campus or at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience on the Denmark Hill campus. As indicated in the module list, some optional modules are taught exclusively online.

Waterloo - students walking

Waterloo Campus

Our Waterloo campus is home to the Florence Nightingale Faculty Nursing & Midwifery, and a vibrant hub for health, social science, and law students. Located moments from the iconic landmarks of South Bank and just a short walk to the Stand campus.

A quad courtyard, with people queuing at a van selling coffee, and chatting in conversation

Strand Campus

Strand Campus feels like the heart of London—historic yet buzzing with energy. Nestled by the Thames, it offers world-class academics, vibrant student life, and endless inspiration from the city’s culture and diversity.

Students outside the main building at Denmark Hill

Denmark Hill Campus

Denmark Hill, in Southwark, London, is a vibrant area known for its historical landmarks and green spaces. Home to King's College and the Maudsley Hospitals, it also features Ruskin Park, named after John Ruskin, and the Camberwell College of Arts.