Science, Spirituality and Human Health
Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen
This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member faculties. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.
Please read here before applying if you are a PhD student from outside Denmark
Please note that if your are a PhD student from outside Denmark or the NorDoc universities (see https://www.nordochealth.net/members), you must pay a course fee and apply for the course directly by e-mail to the course managers: Per Sangild (pts@sund.ku.dk) and Malene Skovsted Cilieborg (macilie@sund.ku.dk).
Learning objectives
A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
1. Know the potentials and limitations of health science and its interplay with concepts of spirituality.
2. Understand the philosophical, cultural, and historical roots of academic health science research.
3. Appreciate inter-disciplinary health research and work across regions, cultures, and religions.
4. Achieve a better understanding of the communication of health science to patients and the public.
Content
• Epistemology of different health sciences: Natural, social, and humanistic (human).
• Existence, faith, hope and meaning – the post-secular framework of spirituality.
• Concepts of health, happiness, and contentment in modern and traditional societies.
• Potentials and limitations of clinical trials – patients as experiments and/or human beings.
• Science and spirituality in neonatology, cancer, terminal illness, and palliative care medicine.
• Field visits to the roots of Western universities and their interactions with laboratories and hospitals.
• Communication across the traditional borders of science, practice, and philosophy in health care.
• Philosophy and ethics in health science. Navigating between science and religion in health care.
• Theological perspectives on health care. The religious and spiritual dimensions in health care.
Participants
The course provides cross-disciplinary knowledge across health science fields, from universities and university colleges (e.g. nursing schools), to hospitals, medical industries, and the general society. We welcome participants of all educational backgrounds. Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will come on a waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member universities. After the enrollment deadline, available seats are allocated to applicants on the waiting list. Non-PhD students may participate after application to the course directors and have to pay the full course fee, unless granted a discount (contact course director for more information). We welcome participants of any or no religion, gender, race or ethnicity. Fluency in English is required. All participants have to deliver a course report by the end of the course (individually or as group work).
Cost
All participants are expected to cover their own travel to/from Denmark and UK, and accommodation in Denmark.
The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member universities. Please note that the Graduate School's cancellation policy still applies.
All other participants must pay the course fee (20.640 DKK). Such participants may apply to the course directors for support to cover part of course fee/travel/lodging (up to 50% of total expenses). See course directors contact information below under Course director.
Relevance to graduate programmes
The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH:
All graduate programmes
Language
English
Form
Lectures with discussions, coupled with group work and presentations to fellow participants.
Excursions and lectures at relevant university settings, medical laboratories and hospitals.
Reports (individual/group) and presentations, based on a self-selected topic (3-5 pages, 12’, 1½’).
Course director
Prof. Per Sangild, Faculty of Medicine, University of Copenhagen, University of Southern Denmark.
Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen. Email: pts@sund.ku.dk
Dr. Pui Ip, Course Director, Faraday Inst. Science & Religion, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.
Center for Science and Faith, University of Copenhagen. Email: phi21@cam.ac.uk
Dates
Monday 24 June – Friday 28 June (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Monday 1 July – Friday 5 July 2024 (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Course location
The need for cross-disciplinary learning across modern and traditional health care requires course visits to relevant universities, hospitals, and health care institutions. The dual course site allows exposure to world-leading, international academic environments with inter-disciplinary studies of health. Cambridge University is easily accessible from Copenhagen via London (e.g. Stanstead) airports.
In Denmark, the course is hosted by Health Science Faculty at University of Copenhagen and its cross-faculty Center for Science and Faith (https://teol.ku.dk/afd/center-for-videnskab-og-tro/). Course site is a private health care institution (Den Danske Diakonissestiftelse, https://diakonissestiftelsen.dk), easy access from city centre and airport). This is to expose the participants to both modern and traditional health care views. Meals (but no accommodation) is provided for course days in Denmark.
In United Kingdom, course is hosted by Faraday Institute of Science and Religion (https://faraday.cam.ac.uk/) and held at Lucy Cavendish College (https://www.lucy.cam.ac.uk/subjects, with meals/accommodation).
Registration
Please register before 1 March 2024.
Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.
Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.