Global Laboratories: Biotech, Life and Society (857L6)

30 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring teaching

You explore how different societies deal with the dilemmas generated by global developments in the life sciences, including genomics, neurobiology and regenerative medicine.

Concerns with bioeconomies, reproduction, euthanasia, eugenics, racial and ethnic identities, the environment, and human experimentation have yielded new theoretical perspectives and research methods, which are explored in this module.

We examine ethnographic and socio-cultural views of life science governance and the political-economies that underpin their local and transnational developments. A social-science perspective is crucial to a contextual understanding of bioethics, individual choice, social justice, public health, cultural identity, human rights, and life values.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 278 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2021/22. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.