Students will choose an individual article within their area of interest and present it to the class in Week 4. The student will be expected to guide and encourage active discussion about the paper rather than simply giving a talk to the group and waiting for questions. 

The article must be a 'Seminal research paper', i.e. an established  publication which has made a significant impact in the field of medical research, as evidenced by very high levels of citation, either by providing a novel methodological advance or a significant conceptual breakthrough.

Students will submit a 500 word article summarising a recent publication (published in the last 3 months) in the field of medical/health research that would be of interest to a wider scientific readership.  The article must be written in the style that would be seen in popular media scientific publications such as New Scientist or Cosmos.

The article is worth 20% of your total grade and will be marked against its ability to capture the attention of the reader, be understood by a general scientific audience, accurately communicate the key points of the published journal article and be within the required length. 

Critical discussion based around a topic of study covered during the semester.

Students will submit an essay that critically reviews a key paper discussed within the context of one of the teaching topics studied during the semester. The essay will be of 2,500 words, and it will be worth 30% of your final grade.

The essay will address the question “Discuss the major breakthrough that your chosen article presents, and review the seminal research findings that led to the development of knowledge in this field of research”

The essay will therefore present a clear summary of previous literature that supported the current studies (i.e. background and historical papers) and then a critical review of the primary paper and why it is considered a major breakthrough in the field. The primary paper must be an original research article and not a review paper.

Students will participate in a debate on a motion related to either animal or human research ethics. Groups of students will work together to prepare an argument in support of or against the motion: individual students will be responsible for preparation and delivery of their component of the argument. Grading will be dependent on the cogency of the argument as a whole and also the student’s contribution to it.

The Faculty runs a number of formal presentation series throughout each semester, including Friday afternoon Research Seminars in the Department of Biomedical Sciences (weekly in the Seminar Room, Level 1, 75 Talavera Rd), Grand Rounds (last Wednesday of each month from 1pm to 2pm in the Clinic Building, Ground Floor Interactive zone) and other occasional special presentations. 

MRes students are expected to attend a minimum of 15 seminars (health/medical related and at least 30 minutes each) over the Semester. These can include Research Seminars hosted by Biomedical Sciences, AIHI, the Department of Health Professions or other Faculties. In some cases webinars may be accepted.  In addition to the log book attendance record, you must prepare a detailed critique for five of the attended seminars. If the log book is incomplete or insufficient seminars have been attended, a zero grade for this component will be recorded.