MSc Science and Health Communication / Course details

This course will help students understand the contexts in which contemporary science, technology and medicine (STM) have developed over time. Through the lectures and readings, this course will explore the history of STM, its socio-cultural and political context, and its relationship to publics, users and patients. By illuminating the historical processes involved, the course will provide students with a set of tools to understand the particular position of STM in the contemporary world. We emphasise particularly the definition of public science, and engagement between 'expert' and 'non-expert' groups, in a variety of historical periods. We also consider how the history of particular controversial issues in STM have been, and should be, interpreted and presented in popular media.

As this is a team-taught course drawing on staff research interests, the exact content will vary. However, it will typically include the following:

• Public science in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries
• The rise of biomedicine
• Environmental history
• National science and the Cold War
• Eugenics, reproduction, disability, and state power

The pre-requisite applies to PT students.

HSTM60561 Introduction to Science Communication a co-requisite applicable to FT students.

The unit aims to:

• introduce key themes for understanding the development and institutions of science, technology and medicine (STM) from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century.
• provide an integrated survey of theoretical and historiographic approaches to understanding modern STM
• introduce students to the chronology and periodization of the history of contemporary STM
• use case studies to exemplify the interdisciplinary nature of the field
• place the study of contemporary science communication in historical context
• stimulate students to develop critical and informed judgments on the development of modern scientific and medical knowledge

A combination of lecture and seminar-based format, with substantial small group discussion of themes raised in lectures, readings, and other materials such as popular fictional and factual media, from films to podcasts. Required and recommended readings are assigned for all lectures. Readings and other support materials are delivered via the VLE, which is also used for assessment submission.

Students should/will be able to:

• describe and analyse trends and events in the contemporary history of science, technology and medicine
• describe and analyse how the recent history of science, technology, and medicine have been represented in popular media

Students should/will be able to:

• consider recurring themes raised by secondary (and in some cases primary) historical sources
• critique contemporary media products depicting historical events and issues
• consider how media priorities shape the presentation of historical controversies

Students should/will be able to:

• read for research, including skim-reading, source prioritisation and following up references
• critically and comparatively appraise source texts
• propose popular media products based on historical events and themes

Students should/will be able to:

• This unit provides experience in humanities-style academic writing, with feedback tailored to students who may have limited experience in this area
• This unit helps students develop analytical skills as well as creative thinking about media depictions of historical events

Critique of popular historical media (2000 words): 50%

Proposal for popular historical media (2000 words): 50%

Staff are available to discuss essay proposals and general course performance by appointment, on a one-to-one basis.  Essay scritps are returned to the students with marker's comments.