Undergraduate Course: Global Health Law and Ethics (LAWS10297)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to the global health law and ethics. It will provide students with a grounding in key aspects of global health law, governance and ethics, as well as engaging with contemporary issues in the field. |
| Course description |
This course provides an introduction to key aspects of the relationship between global health, law and ethics. It is suitable for students enrolled on the Law LLB programmes and Global Law LLB degree programmes.
In order to provide students with a strong foundation from which to consider specific topics in this field the course will commence with two seminars that outline key institutional and legal issues in global health governance. Students will then be introduced to key topics in global health ethics in Weeks 3 -5. In the second half of the course in Weeks 6-10, we will build on this knowledge in order to extend students understanding of contemporary legal and ethics issues in the field, including but not limited to topics such as management of pandemics, the regulation of tobacco and alcohol to address non-communicable diseases, vaccine development, health and migration, health research and reproductive and sexual health. This broad structure will remain year on year, and the specialist topics in weeks 6-10 can be rotated according to the expertise of subject area members.
1. An introduction to the course; introduction to global health governance: institutions
2. Introduction to global health governance: law
3. Intro to ethics and theories of global health justice
4. Feminist approaches to global health justice
5. Global health, race and coloniality
6. Decolonising humanitarian medicine;
7. Global sexual and reproductive rights
8. NCDs and Tobacco Control
9. NCDs and Alcohol Control
The course will be delivered by way of in-person, two-hour seminars. Students will be expected to complete essential reading (as provided on a resource list on Learn) in advance, and come to class ready to discuss their views. Class participation will be facilitated by the seminar leader, and may take the form of small group and/or whole class discussions, depending on the topic. The course will be assessed by way of a 4000-word essay, which students will be prepared for both by written feedback on a 1000 word formative and oral feedback on their argumentation during class discussions.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Spaces on this course are allocated as part of the Law Honours Course Allocation process. Places are generally only available to students who must take Law courses. To request a space on this course, please email Law.courseselection@ed.ac.uk |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | This course is only open to visiting students coming through a direct exchange with the School of Law (including Erasmus students on a Law-specific Exchange). Exchange students outside of Law and independent study abroad students are not eligible to enrol in this course, with no exceptions.
**Please note that 3rd year Law courses are high-demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces.**
Priority will be given to students studying on exchange within the Law department, and it is highly unlikely that there will be additional spaces for general exchange students & independent study abroad students to enrol; we will look into this on a case-by-case basis in September/January. Visiting students are advised to bear in mind that enrolment in specific courses can never be guaranteed, and you may need to be flexible in finding alternatives in case your preferred courses have no available space.
These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% Essay (4,000 words) |
| Feedback |
There will be a formative essay of 1000 words in preparation for the essay. This will follow a similar format to the final assessment, in order that markers can comment on key skills such as the development of well justified argumentation and clear conclusions. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Knowledge and Sources of Law: demonstrate a sound grasp of core and specialist areas of global health law and ethics
- Subject-specific Skills: to develop and apply critical thinking informed by legal and ethical analysis of core and specialist areas of global health law and ethics
- General Transferable Intellectual Skills: independent critical analysis and problem solving through ethical and legal discourse, and the application of that analysis in discussion format
- Key Personal Skills: written and oral skills necessary to deliver the above
- Subject-specific Legal and Ethical Values: autonomy, empathy, critical self-reflection; academic integrity.
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Reading List
| There will be no core textbook for this course. Students will be directed to key resources for essential and recommended readings in the weekly handouts and on e-resource lists on Learn. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critical self-reflection
Creative problem-solving
Skilled communication |
| Keywords | Global health law,global health ethics,global health governance,global health and human rights |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Gerard Porter
Tel: (0131 6)50 2023
Email: Gerard.Porter@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lauren McCrory-Irving
Tel:
Email: lmccrory@ed.ac.uk |
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