Bioethics KU Leuven

Overview

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The Master of Bioethics is a one-year advanced master's programme which is coordinated by the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law (CBMER) at KU Leuven. The learning environment is characterized by a small student population, which is composed of an international and interdisciplinary group of individuals who have already finished a master's programme. This fosters a continuous exchange of experiences and cultural perspectives. In order to prepare students to adopt a critical and scientific attitude towards ethical questions, education is as much as possible research-driven.

The main objective of the Master of Science in Bioethics from KU Leuven is to train highly qualified students for research work or professional activities in the domain of bioethics, an interdisciplinary field that studies value questions that arise in health care, public health and biomedical research.

Strengths

• Focus on bioethics instead of applied ethics: this focus distinguishes it from broader studies in applied ethics, which are also concerned with topics in the fields of social, environmental, sexual or global ethics.
• Third cycle programme: the programme is specifically directed towards students who have already obtained a master’s (or equivalent) degree.
• Focus on the development of research skills: the programme strongly focuses on the development of academic skills and includes a MOOC on Research Ethics.
• Attention for continental European perspectives on bioethics: the programme offers a broad range of theoretical and practical perspectives on bioethics, with particular attention for developments in European bioethics.
• Thematic focus: students acquire expertise in dealing with ethical issues that emerge in various healthcare settings