Postgraduate Course: Contemporary Issues in Medical Jurisprudence (LAWS11329)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is designed to engage students with current issues arising in the field of medical jurisprudence, being a discipline which sits at the intersection of law, medicine and ethics. The earlier seminars focus on skill development (e.g. research and presentation skills) and also include presentations by experts on their own research. These will provide the foundation for later seminars which focus on student-led presentations on a topic of their choice (as selected by their group).
The course is deliberately designed to be open and responsive to issues that are current at the time of delivery in any given year. Accordingly, only broad indications as to topics and subject matter can be provided. The types of issues that have previously been covered include:
(a) start and end of life
(b) reproductive technologies and surrogacy
(c) regulation of medical research
(d) artificial intelligence in healthcare
The core aims of the course are:
- To encourage critical awareness of current issues in a subject/discipline and one or more specialisms.
- To support students in planning and executing a significant project of research, investigation or development
- To foster originality or creativity in the application of knowledge, understanding and/ or practices
- To ensure that students apply critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis to issues which are at the forefront of, or informed by, developments at the forefront of a subject/discipline
- To require students to communicate, using appropriate methods, to a range of audiences with different levels of knowledge/expertise
- To require students to communicate with peers, more senior colleagues and specialists
- To encourage students to take responsibility for own work and/or significant responsibility for the work of others.
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| Course description |
Given the deliberately open and responsive nature of this course, it is not possible to give concrete topics. The topics will be chosen by each group of students under the oversight and direction of the course organiser. Students will then need to work together in groups in order to develop their own presentation (approx. 45 mins) which will be delivered in the final weeks of the course.
An indicative teaching schedule is as follows:
Weeks 1 and 2: Introduction and skills development (focus on seminar preparation and research). Allocation of groups for student-led presentations.
Weeks 3 and 4: Seminars delivered by subject experts on their own research in health law and ethics ¿ these will introduce students to new areas of research as well as allowing for reflections on the skill sets that underpin these presentations
Week 5: Skills development (focus on presentation and blog writing)
Weeks 6 and 7: Seminars delivered by subject experts on their own research in health law and ethics ¿ these will introduce students to new areas of research as well as allowing for reflections on the skill sets that underpin these presentations
Weeks 8 to 10: Student-led group presentations to the class of approximately 45 minutes each
Expectations for each student-led presentation include:
1) Student-prepared reading material to be distributed in advance
2) Clear aims and objectives to be prepared for each seminar
3) Full preparation ahead of every seminar and participation in discussion by all in class
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 28 |
| 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) |
The course will be assessed by way of the group seminar presentation (60%) and individual blogs (40%)
1. 60% assessment by way of student-led group presentation, to be made up of:
(i) the distribution of a handout in advance, including preparatory reading material;
(ii) the content and structure of the seminar itself;
(iii) clarity of division of labour and responsibility of tasks within the group.
Group work counts as an important part of the learning experience and assessment of this course. A single mark will be attributed to each group based on the quality of their handout materials and performance in class in leading their designated presentation. This mark stands for each individual in the group. It is the responsibility of everyone in the group to discuss and decide on a fair and equal division of labour to ensure that the mark is merited by everyone. To ensure that the distribution of labour is transparent to the course organiser, each student will submit - at the end of the course - an individual (max.) two-page reflective report on the process of distributing, organising and delivering work within their group. The reflective report will be due (to be submitted on Learn) one week following the last class.
Furthermore, to help each group in its tasks, the course staff will offer each group a meeting prior to submission of their handout to discuss progress, the seminar itself, and any issues about fair allocation of work. In the very rare case that there is strong evidence that one or more individual has not been contributing fairly to their group, the matter (and their mark) will be referred to the external examiner for a final decision on whether
2. 40% by way of two individual blogs, written and submitted by each student.
Each blog must be 1000 words. Instructions on the blog writing process (including submission) will be released in due course. You have the choice to decide which of the seminars you wish to write a blog on; it need not be the seminar you lead. The deadline for submitting these blogs can be found on Learn. |
| Feedback |
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course. The formative feedback events for this course will be:
(1) A group meeting with an individual member of staff at which the group and its members will have a chance to discuss the planning and presentation of their chosen topic.
(2) Each student will have the opportunity to post a formative blog based on the staff-led 'live example' Seminar 4 and to receive feedback on it prior to the series of student group-led seminars (thus there are two summative blogs and one formative blog in total).
Feedback on the summative assessments (viz. the 2 blogs and student-led group seminar) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Identify issues of contemporary relevance and be able to demonstrate deep knowledge and understanding of their contemporary relevance, and in particular, the role of law in responding to them.
- Develop skills of independent and group-based research and preparation of materials to encourage engagement on the issues by peers and audiences beyond the Academy
- Develop skills of independent research and group working to present on topics of contemporary relevance and to encourage the same in peers
- Develop group working skills in the design, delivery and response to class topics, pursue topics in independent blogs and incorporate deep understanding in final assessments
- Manage personal and group dynamics, prepare to lead a seminar and prepare to participate in others, both in class and via personal blogs, legal research skills and technical skills in producing materials for classes and blog content.
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Reading List
Individual reading lists will be circulated well in advance of the relevant seminar (i.e. by Seminar 3 for all subsequent seminars in this course).
Prescribed Text:
Mason and McCall-Smith's Law and Medical Ethics, 12th Edition, Oxford University Press
The Law Library has e-journals for leading outlets, including Medical Law Review, Medical Law International, and the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Given the focus on contemporary issues reliance may also be placed on other materials and credible sources that students locate in their research |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Graduate Attributes: Skills and abilities in Research and Enquiry:
- Students will be able to plan and execute a seminar in contemporary medical law, on a topic of their collective choosing.
- Critical research skills will be developed in preparing for the student-led seminar and individual blogs.
- Advanced practical application of law, policy, regulation and ethics will be acquired through the course in both group activities (viz. group student-led seminar) within the seminars and in individual research.
Graduate Attributes: Skills and abilities in Personal and Intellectual Autonomy:
- Individual assessed work will allow the students to exercise academic autonomy and rigorous delivery of research findings.
- Advanced critical research, argumentation, and communication skills.
Graduate Attributes: Skills and abilities in Communication
- Communication of complex legal and regulatory issues to a range of audiences (as demonstrated through the delivery of complex medical law and medical ethics topics to fellow classmates).
- Advanced written and oral communication of complex legal, ethical and regulatory issues through the assessments and in-class activities (viz. individual blogs).
Graduate Attributes: Skills and abilities in Personal Effectiveness:
- Plan and execute several personal blogs utilising a variety of sources.
- The student-led group seminars require that students apply critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis of the issues discussed during the earlier seminars as well as in their planning meetings, held on their own time. By doing so, the student-led group seminars will allow students to develop original and creative responses to issues in medical law and medical ethics. They will be able to critically review, consolidate and extend knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in these domains.
Technical/practical skills:
- Critical legal analysis. Problem-solving using real world examples from biomedicine.
- Sophisticated use of primary and secondary materials, and the ability to articulate their meaning both orally and in writing.
- Identify and conceptualise contemporary problems and issues in medical jurisprudence (comprising both medical law and medical ethics).
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Daisy Cheung
Tel:
Email: Daisy.Cheung@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Hannah Ackroyd
Tel: (0131 6)50 2008
Email: hackroyd@ed.ac.uk |
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