Main objective
To create awareness about the potential role of health professionals in violence prevention and sustainable peace building.

The course will focus on positive and negative approaches to peace, provide theoretical and analytical tools for comprehending the basic mechanisms of medical peace work, and it will introduce necessary skills, knowledge, and values.

The students will learn about different threats to peace and human security (such as proliferation of arms and unequal access to healthcare), and the various ways in which health professionals can act to counter such threats. It will deal with the impacts of humanitarian aid and development assistance on conflict, and the peace building capacity of health professionals when working either in Norway or in violent-prone settings abroad. 

Prospective students
Eligible applicants are students with a completed Bachelor's degree or similar level (more than three years of higher education) in medicine, health or social sciences.

Recruitment
Announcements in UiTø and HiTø fora, designated Classfronter website, Internal and external news coverage, listing in UiTø course handbook.

Language
English

Form of teaching
This spring elective involves 6,5 weeks work load for the student. It includes:
- four weeks of reading, self-study and online testing
- one intensive teaching week, totalling 45 contact hours (seminar style lectures, group workshops, experiential exercises, and a film screening)
- ten days of home exam

Exams/Assessment
The home exam consists in an essay and answering of five questions, and is graded as pass or fail.

Accreditation
Students are granted 10 ECTS credits upon class participation, completion of all required reading, and passing the home exam.

Curriculum
The obligatory reading will include about 1000 pages. Half of them will be provided in print-form, another 500 pages have to be selected from a list of relevant articles and book chapters.