MRes Biosciences and Social Justice

Start dates

January 2024
September 2024

Attendance

Full time 1 year, part time 2 years

Learning mode

On campus

Course Summary

Do you want to make a difference in clinical research? Challenge inequalities and injustice linked to our current knowledge of biology, race and ethnicity? Find solutions that make life better for everyone?

Do you want to develop high-level research skills relevant to bioscience? Are you considering a career in a clinical research role?

This programme brings together specialist research skills with training in research advocacy and using research for social justice aims. The course is designed to build strategies and structures to challenge and survive the structural inequalities in society, including in university research environments.

This MRes is targeting individuals representing the ‘Global Majority’, particularly students from groups who are underrepresented in research careers with a first degree wanting to pursue a postgraduate qualification in the Creative Arts, Business Management, Bioscience or Social Sciences to help create social justice in a turbulent world. The global majority includes people whose recent families originated from the global south (Africa, South Asia, and South America) and other non-white backgrounds.

Apply for full time (September 2024)

Apply for part time (September 2024)

What makes this course different

How you'll learn

You will be taught by a range of staff, all leading researchers in their fields.

Guided independent study

When not attending timetabled classes, you will be expected to pursue your learning independently through self-directed study, including through guided reading, construction of research briefings, planning social media and mainstream media campaigns, and review reports.

Academic support

Our academic support team is there to support you in every aspect of your course, from training in advanced academic writing to support with your wellbeing and assessments and support for additional needs.

Dedicated personal tutor

You will be assigned an academic adviser who will be your point of contact throughout the programme.

Workload

Across the programme, you will spend around 135 hours of scheduled contact time with an academic member of staff. This will include lectures, workshops, seminars and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary for each module. As a full-time research student, the MRes demands considerable independent study and research, amounting to around 1600 hours. Much of your timetable will be shaped by your own research project. You will be required to attend a four-hour core module session each week in terms one, two and three. In addition, you will have regular meetings and workshops with tutors and your research supervisor. Timetables for part-time students will reflect modules selected in each year. Modules will take place sometime between the hours of 9am - 6pm.

Your timetable

As a full-time research student, much of your timetable will be shaped by your own research project. You will be required to attend a four-hour core module session each week in terms one, two and three. In addition, you will have regular meetings and workshops with tutors and your research supervisor. Timetables for part-time students will reflect modules selected in each year.

Class sizes

To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally attracts 20 students a year. Some activities such as lectures will include the whole cohort of students, in addition to one-to-one supervision for research project work.

What you'll learn

This programme will offer a high-level and distinctive training experience for excellent researchers wishing to leverage their research talents to create impact and positive social change. All students will undertake:

A cross-disciplinary course embedding research advocacy in research training, developing tools to navigate higher education institutions;
A collective reading group to develop a broad-ranging understanding of the histories and impacts of how and why there are so many inequalities in clinical research and health outcomes;
Specialist research training in a relevant area of bioscience;
Independent research project addressing a real-world problem.

All students will have access to:

a world-class research training in their disciplinary area
an interdisciplinary programme of additional enhancement, including master classes with high-profile influencers from the broader research landscape, guest speakers reflecting on the political and cultural significance of creating an anti-racist research community, one-to-one career planning
an opportunity to contribute to an outreach programme building awareness of the potential real-world impact of research careers with undergraduate cohorts.

How you'll be assessed

The approximate percentages for this course are:

100% coursework

This will include briefings, social media campaigns, research overviews, and original research projects.

You will receive detailed feedback on coursework, including one-to-one meetings to discuss drafts and identify strengths and areas for improvement.

We aim to provide feedback on coursework within 20 working days.

Fees and funding

UK Full Time - £6,020
UK Part-Time - £3,010
International Full-Time - £16,100
International Part-Time - £8,050

UEL offers a number of partial and complete fee waivers for this programme. Waivers will be allocated on a competitive basis.

Modules

Core:

SY7013 - Making a Difference through Research (Core 30 credits)
SY7014 - Research Advocacy and Social Justice (Core 30 credits)
SY7015 - Research Advocacy through a Research Project (Core 120 credits)

Optional:

FT7027 - Developing a Creative Business (30 credits)
FT7028 - Strategic Thinking and Leadership (30 credits)
FT7029 - Working in the Creative Industries (30 credits)
BS7500 – Essential Postgraduate Research Skills (30 credits)

Your future career

The programme is designed to prepare students to undertake high-level research in their area of disciplinary specialism, and to tailor research to relevant research audiences including co-production with research users. Programme graduates will have compiled a portfolio of work that demonstrates their ability to tailor research to organisational needs and communicate research processes and outcomes effectively to a wide range of audiences.

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.

Who teaches on this course

What we're researching

Students will be attached to one of our active research groups. The Medicines Research Group has grown significantly over the years with multidisciplinary research expertise in drug discovery and development, chemistry, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, microbiology and biopharmaceuticals. The group has developed strong collaborative links with many universities and research institutes within the UK and also internationally in China, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and Ghana. In collaboration with our partners, we regularly host research meetings and symposiums and also have organised several international research workshops.

The Infection and Immunity Research Group provides a forum supporting a broad range of related research areas recognised both nationally and internationally. This in turn has resulted in several fruitful collaborative links with prestigious institutions around the globe. Through working as a research-oriented group, we provide a scientifically stimulating environment to enhance and benefit the experience of our postgraduate research students.

Our focus is primarily elucidation of the mechanisms that underpin the development of the immune system and the function of the immune response at both cellular and acellular levels. Investigation of potential virulence factors and other mechanisms utilised by pathogens compared to their less virulent environmental counterparts. Assessment of interactions between host and pathogens that might influence clinical consequences or likelihood of infection.

The Course Leader, Dr Darren Sharpe, has an international reputation in the study of structural and health inequalities and research that brings the voices of marginalised communities to the centre in order to inform, interpret and influence research, policy and practice.

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