Humanities within Medicine and Health

Explore the needed social context to fully understand medical and health issues and to contribute to the development of comprehensive solutions embedded in social worlds and human behaviour

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CIVIS focus area
Health
Open to
  • Master's
  • PhD candidates/ students
Field of studies
  • Medicine and Health
Type
  • Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
Course dates
3 March - 4 July 2025

This CIVIS course is a transdisciplinary and collaborative programme exploring the social context - in the broadest sense of the term - needed to fully understand medical and health issues and to contribute to the development of comprehensive solutions embedded in social worlds and human behaviour.

This course will equip students with theoretical and methodological concepts developed in the social sciences and humanities that are particularly relevant to the analysis and understanding of concrete situations within medicine and health.

Experts from the CIVIS universities will teach key concepts in their field and share the results of their research. They are specialised in the fields of philosophy, ethics, law, history, sociology, anthropology, behavioural economics, communication and pedagogy.

By studying scientific papers, discussing different research findings, sharing different contemporary and historical sources and exchanging their own work in progress (PhD or Master's thesis), the students will learn how medicine and health shape and are shaped by contextual factors, i.e. norms and values, knowledge and expertise, practices and activities, techniques and materialities.

Main topics addressed

The teaching team has selected a number of topics corresponding to several key issues, situations and activities in contemporary medicine and health:

  • Diseases and medicine in contexts
  • Ethical issues from clinical research to patient participation
  • Legal frameworks of medical and health data
  • Professionals-patients’ clinical relationships
  • Conflict and mediation in hospital context
  • Health and Environment
  • Critical thinking
  • Visual Thinking Strategies for Promoting Skills and Improving the Care Relationship with the Patient
  • Health Education and literacy

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, the students will be able to:

  • master basic concepts of the humanities and social sciences (HSS) relevant for medical and health domains;
  • identify the links between HSS concepts and their future professions and activities;
  • critically analyse and demonstrate their skills in critical thinking, based on HSS literature and documents;
  • prepare a “go out and explore” project;
  • master qualitative research methods (interviews, observations);
  • elaborate a short scientific report;
  • presenting research findings in a clear and concise manner;
  • work with colleagues from different disciplinary and international backgrounds;
  • share and discuss research experiences.
Dates: 3 March - 4 July 2025 Total workload: 170 hours
Format: Blended ECTS: 6*
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland Language: English (B2)
Contact: francesco.panese@unil.ch; leila.sahal@unil.ch  

*Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.

Physical mobility

The 5-day physical component will take place in Switzerland, between 30 June - 4 July 2025. It will be held at the Institute of Humanities in Medicine of the University of Lausanne.

Students will be asked to work in small groups under the supervision of the teachers participating in the course and other colleagues on site.

Each group will carry out a field project, adapted to the constraints of time and resources, on a topic previously developed online during the virtual part of the course in echo with their own PhD or Master research project.

Documentation for these projects will be gathered in the field through interviews with informants and site visits that will have been prepared in advance according to the students' wishes.

The results of these projects will be shared with the teachers present, the informants met in the field and other colleagues from this institute.

Student workload during the 5-day physical component is estimated at approximately 40 hours.

*the following programme is indicative; it will be adapted and finalised during the virtual component.

Monday, 30 June 2025:

  • reception and Introduction to the programme, presentation of the participants;
  • presentation and discussion of students’ projects;
  • meeting with key informants.

Tuesday, 1 July 2025:

  • class visits to medical and health sites;
  • debrief.

Wednesday, 2 July 2025:

  • interviews/ visits with informants by groups of students;
  • collective work on the collected material;
  • debrief.

Thursday, 3 July 2025:

  • interviews/visits with informants by groups of students;
  • collective work on the collected material;
  • debrief.

Friday, 4 July 2025

  • public symposium to present the projects of the groups;
  • celebration.

Virtual part

The online courses will take place between 3 March - 23 May 2025.

Each of the nine modules of the course takes place over one week. Each week will consist of two three-hour class sessions. These sessions will preferably take place in the late afternoon to accommodate the availability of most participants and the time zones of participants' countries. The workshop sessions will be additional and will be scheduled in consultation with the students.

Each of the 9 main topics forms a Teaching Module supervised by one or two teachers. Each module consists of 6 hours of online face-to-face teaching (total: 54 hours), including a variety of teaching formats:

  1. Ex-cathedra courses (basic concepts)
  2. Dialogic presentation of case studies
  3. Literature & documents seminar

The programme also includes workshop sessions for students to present their ongoing projects. Depending on the number of participants, three to four 3-hour sessions will be organised.

Out-of-class student workload is estimated at 4 hours per module, and around 10 hours to prepare personal presentations - totalling approximately 46 hours.

Preliminary programme:

  • 3-7 March 2025: Welcome and general introduction (1 session)
  • 10-14 March 2025: Module 1 - Diseases and medicine in contexts
  • 17-21 March 2025: Module 2 - Ethical issues from clinical research to patient participation
  • 24-28 March 2025: Module 3 - Legal frameworks of medical and health data
  • 31 March-4 April 2025: Module 4 - Professionals-patients’ clinical relationships
  • 7-11 April 2025: Module 5 - Conflict and mediation in hospital context
  • 14-18 April 2025: Module 6 - Health and Environment
  • 21-25 April 2025: Easter break
  • 28 April-2 May 2025: Module 7 - Critical thinking
  • 5-9 May 2025: Module 8 - Visual thinking strategies
  • 12-16 May 2025: Module 9 - Health Education and Literacy
  • 19-23 May 2025: Conclusions and organisation of the physical component (1 session)

*coaching meetings with individual students or groups will be organised on request.

Requirements

This blended mobility course is open to Master students (2nd year, or 1st year if already heavily involved in a Master thesis), and PhD students at the CIVIS member universities, enrolled in medicine, social science, humanities and related cursus integrating health and medicine topics.

The course will be taught in English, therefore a B2 level of English is required. In the case of French-speaking participants with difficulties in English, course materials and exchanges with teachers could also be proposed in French.

NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility

To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Click here to learn more about the eligibility criteria.

Students from CIVIS’ strategic partner universities in Africa can also apply for participation in this course. One or two African students are eligible for UNIL mobility scholarships upon selection.

Application process

Send your application by filling in the online application form by 31 October 2024, including your CV and a Motivation letter.

Applications will be evaluated based on:

  • disciplinary skills;
  • interest in the topic;
  • openness to other disciplines and perspectives;
  • willingness to cooperate with peers from other countries.

Apply now

Assessment

In order to successfully complete the course, students must achieve: 

  • participation in the online lectures,
  • participation in the students' project,
  • participation in the workshop,
  • individual/ group contributions in workshop sessions.

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.

GDPR Consent

The CIVIS alliance and its member universities will treat the information you provide with respect. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information on our privacy practices. By applying to this course you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)

  • Laurie Pahus is an Associate Professor of medical ethics and pharmaceutical law at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Aix-Marseille University in France, as well as the operational head of a clinical research unit within the university hospitals of Marseille (APHM). 

National Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA)

  • Aspasia Dania is an Assistant Professor and a Director of the Sport Pedagogy Laboratory at the School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. 
  • Marianna Karamanou, MD, is Professor of Epistemology, History and Ethics of Medicine, Head of the Department of History of Medicine and Medical Ethics and Director of Postgraduate Study Program “History, Ethics and Sociology of Medicine” at the Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. 

Sapienza Università di Roma (SUR)

  • Vincenza Ferrara is a High Qualification Expert in Art and Medical Education and Professor of Special Pedagogy at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine of the Sapienza Università di Roma. 

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)

  • Jonathan McFarland is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UAM and as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Linguistics, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. 

University of Bucarest (UB)

  • Sorin Costreie is Associate Professor specialised in the philosophy of language, in the philosophy of mathematics and in philosophical logics, being member of the academic staff of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest.
  • Elena Druică is Professor of Applied Statistics and Research Methods and Methodology, and the Head of the Doctoral School in Public Administration at the Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest. 
  • Lavinia Ruta is a lecturer at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Chemistry, with dual expertise in pharmacy and chemistry. Her research primarily focuses on applied biochemistry and molecular biology, particularly on understanding the molecular mechanisms that govern yeast cells' response to environmental stress. 

 Université de Lausanne (UNIL)

  • Francesco Panese is Professor of Social Studies of Science and Medicine at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine at the University of Lausanne. He was also Director of the Musée de la main UNIL-CHUV, a centre for scientific and medical culture. 
  • Béatrice Schaad is Full professor at the Institute of Humanities in Medicine (IHM) CHUV-UNIL, in charge of the study of relations between patients and professionals in hospitals. 
  • Audrey Lebret is an Associate Professor in Biolaw and Digital Health at UNIL. She is affiliated with both the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine. 
  • Frédéric Erard is an associate professor at the University of Lausanne, affiliated with both the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine. 
  • Brenda Bogaert is a researcher in medical ethics, with a specialisation in patient participation and health democracy. She works at an interdisciplinary institute at the University of Lausanne and Lausanne University Hospital, the Institute for humanities in medicine. 

Invited speakers:

  • Fabrizio Consorti, Department of Surgical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Sapienza Università di Roma
  • specialist in the field of health psychology

 

 

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