University College London

This iBSc, offered by the Department of Science and Technology Studies, provides the opportunity to explore the wider origins and evolution of science, technology, and medicine. The programme also offers opportunities to explore fundamental questions about science, its methods, and its understanding of the world around us.

In the historical dimension of this stream, we aim to explore key periods in history of science, technology, and medicine. We also explore these as they were practiced in different places, and we explore the intercultural interactions that resulted when traditions of one community encountered others. This stream also makes space to discuss the nature of history itself and how institutions, such as museums, help us remember (or forget).

In the philosophical dimension of this stream, we aim to explore key questions about science as a form of inquiry. How do scientific methods relate one to another, and can they deliver what they promise in terms of objective understanding? We also explore classic problems in philosophy of science, such as the demarcation of science from other systems of thought, the nature of scientific evidence, explanation, and scientific revolutions, and the debate between realism and instrumentalism. This stream makes space for both practical and principled discussions of ethics in science, too. It also aims simply to create a space for pondering some timeless philosophical questions.

HPSM integrates history and philosophy of science into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts by using history to inform philosophical investigations and by using philosophy to prioritise historical questions. Advanced modules in ‘science and art’, the standing of the social sciences, and the study of causal language in medicine are good examples of the way we tie our different approaches together.

Entry requirements

You must be:

  • enrolled on a UK MBBS course.
  • successfully completed or about to complete 2 years of a UK MBBS course. If you are currently in your second year of study and you are successful in getting a place to study with us, a condition of your offer will be to pass your 2nd year of study.
  • It is at the discretion of individual iBSc programmes if they wish to accept students where they have completed more than two years of MBBS training. If you are made an offer, then successfully passing your current year of study will be made a condition of offer.
  • hold GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade C or 5.
  • have achieved a minimum of ABB in your A levels or equivalent.

Closing date

Applications for external students will open in February and close at the end of March.