MA, PG Cert, PG Dip Medical Humanities

This innovative program explores the intersections between medicine and the humanities, offering a unique perspective on healthcare practice and policy. Students will engage with critical theoretical frameworks to analyze medical discourses, ethical issues, and cultural representations of illness and healing. The program fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and critical thinking, preparing graduates for careers in medicine, research, or further academic study.

Additional Information

Our program is designed for students from a variety of backgrounds, including medical professionals seeking to expand their understanding of the humanities and social sciences, as well as those from the humanities and social sciences interested in exploring the intersections between medicine and culture. The program offers flexible part-time or full-time study options, allowing students to balance their studies with other commitments.

Join Birkbeck University of London and become part of a dynamic intellectual community that values interdisciplinary collaboration and critical thinking.

Birkbeck University of London is a world-renowned institution for interdisciplinary research and teaching. Our department of Culture and Media Studies has a strong reputation for cutting-edge research in the humanities, social sciences, and cultural studies. By studying with us, you will have access to a vibrant academic community and a wealth of resources for interdisciplinary inquiry.

This course will also consider Western biomedicine in its own cultural context and in relation to notions of the transcultural practice of medicine in both Britain and further afield.

Studying applied medical humanities will equip clinicians with the skills to form and sustain critically rigorous arguments via a structured engagement with critical and cultural theory from the arts, humanities, and social science disciplines. The course aims to teach you to reflect critically on your own clinical practice both individually and in a group setting and to understand your own clinical practices in both critical and more exploratory ways. It will also allow you to discuss the development and transfer of best practices in a clinical setting with your peers.

Graduates go into careers in healthcare, medicine, education, and management. Possible professions include:

healthcare service manager

general practice or hospital doctor

health promotion specialist.

This degree may also be useful in becoming a higher education lecturer, management consultant, or science writer.

We offer a comprehensive Careers Service to help you advance your career, while our in-house, professional recruitment consultancy, Birkbeck Talent, works with London’s top employers to help you gain work experience that fits in with your evening studies.

Applicants from other healthcare or professional backgrounds may be admitted to the program if they hold relevant professional qualifications and/or a first degree (2:2 or above).