Social Sciences BA

Dr Nuala BurgessSchool of Education, Communication & SocietyKing’s College London

Low attendance and high dropout at Townsville

Community Centre

The centre offers

• basic skills courses in literacy, numeracy and IT

• cake decoration, yoga and Spanish conversation.

Most courses experiencing

• low take-up

• poor or erratic attendance

• high student dropout.

Low attendance and high dropout at Townsville

Community Centre

✓ The Centre is in the wrong place for easy accessibility and it has a hostile atmosphere for adult learners due to gangs of unruly teenagers who hang around a building.

✓ The courses offered are not being properly marketed.

✓ The local community outreach workers (who are employed by Social Services) are not actively promoting use of the centre.

✓ The limited range of courses and social amenities in the Centre put people off visiting.

✓ Adult learners are being deterred by frequent visits from the police looking for drug dealers.

You have the full support of the Council to ask any questions, examine any documents, sources etc, that you think might explain why the outreach centre is not succeeding.

As a group, discuss your methodology & design a research plan

Some of the issues you might consider…

Research plan

Tips for writing a personal statement

✓ What interests you about your chosen subject and why? (Show don’t tell)

✓ What relevant reading, viewing, listening lectures and/or workshops have you done?

✓ Which parts of your relevant reading, viewing, listening, lectures and/or workshops interested you most? Why?

✓ What further questions arise from your reading, lectures, viewing /listening and/or workshops?

✓ Has your reading, viewing, listening, lectures and/or workshops left unanswered questions?

❑ Don’t rely on your A level texts. (See Social Sciences reading list)

❑ Don’t be afraid to discuss something that puzzles you in your reading

❑ Do show that you want to find answers

❑ Do show that you are intellectually curious and excited by further study

80% academic 20% extra-curricular

Global Health & Social Medicine BA/BSc

BeautyBSc Global Health & Social Medicine Student

Global Health

• Canada: a woman’s lifetime risk of dying from complications during pregnancy or childbirth is 1 in 11 000

• Niger: it is 1 in 7

• Infant mortality rates (which are main drivers of differential longevity between rich and poor countries) vary from 2.7/1000 in Japan to more than 25.4/1000 in India, and 112.8/1000 in Afghanistan

• Why do these differences exist? How do we close the gap? Do we need more doctors, better medical care?

Social Medicine

Health and illness are more than medical matters!

• Illness is a human experience - biological processes are shaped by social, cultural, political and economic conditions

• The organisation of health care involves not just hospitals and medical personnel, but also public health, environmental protection, urban planning and political action at multiple levels

• Key role of transnational organisations, corporations, NGOs, community groups and many other actors

• Changing biomedical technologies have consequences for notions of normality and pathology, creating new realities and expectations about life and health

• Medicine and health – from basic research to implementation of policies and practices -are increasingly global matters

• The determinants of health, and of inequalities in health, are profoundly social, and health and illness have profound effects on individual human lives and on social and political relations

We make a difference

• Annette Rid

• Ebola crisis in 2014

• Should unapproved vaccines be used?

• Anthea Tinker

• Age friendly cities

• Santander: parental leave for grandparents

• Courtney Davis

• Last 40 cancer drugs ineffective

• Patient advocacy groups

• Filippa Lentzos

• Biological weapons

• BBC documentary: Inside Porton Down

• Nikolas Rose• Shifting debates• Migration, mental health and the mega-city

Students making a difference

• Exclusive learning opportunities:

• Tata Social Internship in India – grassroots

• Rio summer internship – mental health

• Cape Town programme – HIV prevention trial

• Study abroad

• Interning during the programme

• Global Internship Programme

Future Prospects

• Civil Service fast stream

Manager in Business, Energy and Industry

• Year Here social enterprise scheme

• NHS Graduate Management scheme

• Charity Works graduate scheme

-Terrence Higgins Trust Intern

• Public Health Guernsey

-Project Assistant

• Health Poverty Action

-Programmes Intern for Kenya and Somaliland

• Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

-Research Assistant

• Nissan Motor Corporation

• Environmental Intern (CSR)

• And … me!

Geography BA/BSc

What is Geography and how is it relevant?

Geography is whatever you want it to be!

- Climate Change - Immigration- Sustainability - Natural Hazards- Future of London (city planning)- Gentrification- Health

Geography will provide opportunities for you to follow your own interests whilst being taught the core of the discipline in different fields.

How King’s makes a difference …

• King’s is part of the London Air Quality Network

• King’s Centre for Risk Management

• King’s Water

• And more!

Opportunities to get involved whilst at King’s

- Travel (Fieldtrips and study abroad)

- Your own research

- Research Assistant Jobs

Research Fellowship

Future prospects

- Conservation & Management- City Planning- NGOs- Government Policy- Public Relations- Research- Marketing- Consultancy

Find out more

kcl.ac.uk/makeadifference

kcl.ac.uk/study/visit

Email: sspp-ug@kcl.ac.uk

Any Questions?