6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 4023540EEW for working students in the 1st semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
NOTE: registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Law and Criminology
Department
Metajuridica
Educational team
Paul Quinn (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
24 contact hours Lecture
126 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course aims to create an in depth understanding and ability to apply knowledge concerning the ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of genetic data.

This is a dynamic area that is evolving with the rapidly growing use of genomic data in many domains in society. This course can be differentiated with ‘The Augmented Human’ because that course only explores one aspect of genetic science – gene therapy/editing. This course is focused on the use of genetic data in general – something of a far wider reach, and which is of high importance in a range of domains e.g. scientific research, criminal investigation, pharmaceutical research, insurance, employment, various consumer services and the participation of the citizen in science.

The course will be primarily legal and ethical in nature but given the contents will have a strong multidisciplinary character also. It will introduce the context of genomics and further develop and explore legal frameworks that may have been explored in other courses and apply them to the context that is the use of genetic data.

This course will also be of interest to non law students who may have an interest in the regulation of genomic data. This inlcudes medical students and students from the natual sciences.

Course Outline

The course will involve 10 lectures (each lasting three hourses). With each lecture students will recieve recommended readting material that they must read.

At the end of the course students will take part in a group debate session where they are expected to engage with key issues and using the knowledge they have developed express opinions during an interactive debate.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Canvas
Additional info

All lectures will be recorded and available for later access in order to aid students with revision purposes. 

A proficent level of writen and spoken English is necessary to engage with this course correctly.

Learning Outcomes

General competences

  • Students will learn about how genetic information is used and generated. An appreciation of the phenomenon of genomics is necessary in order to understand why it raises so many serious ethical and legal questions. Students should be able to broadly outline how the process of genetic sequencing and analysis has evolved in recent decades.
  • Students will learn and be able to apply knowledge relating to various legal and ethical and frameworks relating to the use of genomic data. This includes but is not limited toareas such as privacy/data protection, human rights and anti-discrimination law. Whilst the focus of the course will be upon European law, illustrative examples using national  and international law will be used.
  • Students will be expected to apply the knowledge they have developed (from both lectures and recomended reading) to illustrative examples of the use of genomic data. In doing so they will have to explain their reasoning and outline how ethical and legal frameworks are likley to apply to illustrative examples.
  • Sutdents should be able to give opinions on key issues idneitified in this course. These opinions should be justified with knowledge generated during the lectures and from recomended reading material.
  • Students will also learn how to work in a focused and interdisciplinary manner. This will differ from other courses which offer a more doctrinal approach. Rather it will focus on the emergence of a new technological paradigm and require the students to consider various legal approaches that will apply to it. This will provide the students with skills in terms of an applied law approach, something that will be useful after study in practice or further research.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Examen Mondeling with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Laws: Civil and Procedural Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Criminology (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Economic Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Tax Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: International and European Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Public Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Social Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Criminal Law (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Laws: Law and Technology (only offered in Dutch)