The University of Manchester

MSc Medical Humanities

Our MSc course in Medical Humanities aims to promote creative thinking and new perspectives on patient experience and medical practice.

It focuses on humanities and social science skills and will introduce you to a range of creative approaches. It is designed for both those with undergraduate experience in the arts, humanities and social science subjects, and for those with backgrounds in medicine, healthcare and science subjects.

It is suitable if you are interested in:

pursuing a career in the application of arts and humanities approaches in healthcare contexts;
preparing for PhD study in this area;
studying as an intercalating medical student.
In Semester 1, each week begins with interactive lectures that use case studies to situate major themes in medical humanities in the history of medicine, science and technology. Humanities scholars from across the University lead small seminars that further investigate these issues.

In tutorials and workshops, you will join guest medical practitioners and patient advocates to discuss how arts and humanities inform practice and experience of health-care. Small group seminars help you learn to engage with scholarly analyses of medicine, science and arts subjects, while practice-oriented, hands-on sessions encourage creative thinking, writing, presentation, and research skills.

In Semester 2, you will pursue more specialised study, taking one module in the history of medicine and one other advanced module to prepare you for your research project.

This project, completed over the summer after Semester 2, can take the form of either a traditional research dissertation, or of a portfolio combining original creative work with research and analysis. Work on the dissertation or portfolio further develops and exercises your transferable skills, demonstrating to future supervisors and employers that you have the ability to plan, sustain, and complete extended projects.