Topic outline

  • General

    • Alternative projects are your ideas; this is your opportunity to identify a topic of your own choosing to study in depth that considers Medicine and  Healthcare from an alternative perspective.  Purely Scientific /Medical projects will not be approved, otherwise there is no limit to the possibilities. 

      You should contact Dr Bodkin to indicate your interest in undertaking an alternative project as soon as possible with a brief outline of idea. Leeannebodkin@abdn.ac.uk

      Submit your initial proposal on form below by email to Dr Bodkin by Monday 16th June 2025

      You will be informed if your proposal is approved or you are required to attend an approval panel at the end of June to discuss.  Often approval is conditional on suitable supervisor being identified and proposal being refined usually in discussion with supervisor

      You should attempt to  find a suitable person with appropriate academic expertise to supervise you and they will assess your work. The Medical Humanities team may be able to help you find a suitable supervisor over the summer. Please see the Guide for Supervisors below which you might find useful to share with potential supervisors.  In exceptional circumstances they may be out with the University.It is not necessary to have supervisor in place when submitting proposal but will need to have confirmed supervisor before making course choices in September.

      As part of the approval process you will need to consider if there are any ethical considerations for your project and if your plans might need ethical approval.  We usually advise against undertaking projects that require ethical approval as this takes time and  you would need appropriate support to from your supervisor in advance. It is not necessary to do primary data collection and you should consider if this is necessary and consider alternatives.  

      You may be invited to discuss your initial proposal at a an approval panel teams meeting with the medical humanities team.  We consider your proposal with you and if the project is feasible in terms of time involved, supervision and eventual outputs. The more preparatory research into the project you do the better chance it has of approval. Students may only undertake an 'alternative' project in Medical Humanities, with the approval of the Medical Humanities coordinator. We will decide with you if it is to be worth 15 credits and agree equitable assessment.

      Timeline

      May - Initial contact with idea

      June - Proposal form submission

      June - Approval Panel

      July - Follow up Actions from panel

      Aug - Confirm supervisor and approval

      Sept - Submit as first choice in course selection

      There are also opportunities to do projects with identified supervisors on the following;

      • Remote and rural Medicine - Inverness based Dr Sheena Murdoch sheena.murdoch3@nhs.scot 
      • History of the Highland Hospitals - Inverness based contact Professor Stephen Leslie stephen.leslie@nhs.scot 
      • Technology and AI in healthcare
      • Film and medicine (visual culture)
      • Ancient Medicine
      • History of Neurosurgery
      • International Politics
      • Medical education
      • Narrative medicine

      Course Coordinator: Leeanne Bodkin leeannebodkin@abdn.ac.uk

  • What will the timetable be like?

    • Guidance is provided on a bespoke basis, the schedule of work will be agreed between the student and supervisor.

      A 15 credit course entails 150 notional hours of effort(this must be completed within six weeks). The Medical Humanities Alternative Project may be a 15 or 30 credit course depending on the time the project will require to complete.

  • What skills does this course develop?

    • The ability to work on your own initiative on a project of particular personal interest will allow you to develop:

      • A capacity for self reflection, self discovery and personal development
      • An openness to, and an interest in, life-long learning through directed and self-directed study
      • A capacity for independent, conceptual and creative thinking
      • A capacity for problem identification, the collection of evidence, synthesis and dispassionate analysis
      • An ability to participate in the creation of new knowledge and understanding through research and inquiry
      • An intellectual curiosity and a willingness to question accepted wisdom and to be open to new ideas

  • How will I be assessed?

    • Assessment for each project will be agreed as part of the approval process but is likely to be either 1 or 2 components:

      3500 word written submission (essay/report format dependant on discipline essay/report) (100%)

      Or

      2500 word written submission (format dependant on discipline essay/report) (80%) And Oral Presentation (20%)

      or for art projects 

      reflective portfolio (50%) and final exhibition (50%)

  • Anything else I should consider?

    • Students who undertake an alternative project will find they are working very much on their own and very often without much contact with the rest of the student body. Self-discipline and independence of mind are very much prerequisites for this. Travel and other costs will be determined by whatever project is undertaken.

  • What kind of projects have previous students done?

    • Alternative Projects undertaken in recent years include:

      Investigating whether Latin and Greek is help or hinderance to learning anatomy

      Music composition as a means to explore patients cancer journey - Read John's Blog

      https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/blog/exploring-the-cancer-patients-perspective-through-composition/

      Social, cultural and psychological aspects of menstruation

      Origins and Development of Hospitals in the Western Isles

      Tackling antimicrobial resistance in the developing world

      Widening participation: socioeconomic inequalities in medical education UK

      Food and Nutrition: contributory factors to health and food as medicine

      Barriers to Mental Health within the South Asian Community

      Scottish justifications for physician-assisted suicide

      Exploring the ethos and design of cancer wellness centres

      Impact of breaking bad news on healthcare workers health and wellbeing

      The use of equine-assisted psychotherapy in current medicine

      Mountain Rescue teams in Highland: influence on uptake of outdoor activities

      Virtual reality simulations in medical education

      Are traditional medicines the solution to 'too much' medicine?

       



  • What do previous students think about doing an alternative project?

    • 'Chance to do something I wanted to do and develop skills for the future'

      'The opportunity to explore a completely different subject to Medicine'

      'Really enjoyed it, has opened up new area of learning and thinking for me that has further influenced the direction I would like to take with my career.'

      'I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to explore an area of interest over this time period.'

      'I loved that I was able to pick my own topic, and I found it very enjoyable and rewarding to study.'

      'My alternative project was a chance for me to further my interest in teaching through the production of a learning resource package on healthy eating. While the idea of the project was readily accepted the main method used to assess it eventually transpired to be through essay writing, something I had not envisaged when embarking upon the project. This led to a far larger portion of my time being devoted to research and writing up than actually being in the classroom and to this end it is definitely worth clarifying how you will be assessed before you commit to an alternative project! Having said this, it was an incredibly valuable opportunity to gain more experience in teaching and also in gaining an insight into some of the work that goes on behind the scenes in the classroom. I would thoroughly recommend an alternative project to anyone who has an interest they are keen to pursue further.'

      'I choose to do an alternative project because I wanted to do something that was a bit different and that challenged me. I was initially concerned that the workload would be greater than other choices, but this isn’t the case. The majority of the work I found came at the beginning in finding supervisors, deciding the question/ area to study and organising a schedule.

      The only downside to doing an alternative project I found was that in the beginning you can feel alitte lost as everyone else has designated teaching time and you don’t, but the humanities course coordinators are always around for help. My only advice would be to choose specific area/question to study and to make sure there are sufficient journal articles to base your paper on.

      All in all I would definitely recommend doing an alternative project, as it is your chance to do something completely different as part of your degree, and make contacts with people in an area of medicine that interests you.'

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