University of Birmingham
The medical humanities programme at the University of Birmingham lets you choose a new discipline to study at final year level and combine that with your medical background. To do so you will spend half of the year studying your new area of interest, you will receive training in interdisciplinarity and you will also produce your own research project and write a dissertation on that piece of work.
What subjects can I study?
Students in the past have studied English literature and language, linguistics, philosophy, human geography, politics, and social studies. We also have students interested in studying modules from business.
What you can’t study are science subjects – such as chemistry, maths, physics, engineering, or biology (including psychology). This also includes physical geography. Our programme also doesn’t provide access to law or credit bearing language modules (although you can study languages through languages for all).
What support will I have?
To go from nothing to final year level work in a new subject is hard work – this is not an easy option but it is very rewarding and fun. In LANS you will be assigned a personal tutor and will have formal meetings with them 4-5 times a year as well as being able to contact them for other support should you wish. You also have access to our other staff who have a range of expertise to support you.
For your research project you will be assigned two tutors to support your work with one a specialist in your area and the other from the liberal arts and natural sciences team.
What skills can I gain?
You will become fluent in the research methods and data analysis techniques in your new discipline, their key concepts, theory and practice.
Additionally you will develop your ability to produce academic research and manage projects, think logically and broadly about a range of problems, drawing on a variety of disciplines to support arguments.
Or, as our students put it, this is “An amazing opportunity to leave the medic bubble and learn a whole new way of analysing the problems the world and future healthcare face”
If this sounds like the programme for you please write to us and we’ll start the application process.
Entry Requirements
Full details can be found on our website however, medical students should be in their 3rd or 4th year of study. We would expect dental students to have completed their second year. You should have an average mark of >60% from your second year.
We use the questions in our application form and your second year average grade to rank students for entry onto the programme.
Closing Date
9am on 31st March 2023