Explore Electives Across Duke University and Customize Your Graduate Education Experience

The Master of Arts in Applied Ethics & Policy draws on the expertise of faculty from across Duke University to offer a diverse and intellectually rigorous selection of elective courses. The list below provides a representative, though not exhaustive, sample of electives that may be of interest to students pursuing studies in bioethics, technology ethics, science policy, and related fields. It is intended to illustrate the breadth of opportunities available within the program. Students are encouraged to explore course offerings across Duke’s schools, departments, and institutes to build a curriculum that aligns with their academic interests and professional goals.

Table Key

BIO: Indicates the course counts toward the Bioethics concentration.
TECH: Indicates the course counts toward the Tech Ethics concentration.
* : BIOETHIC and SCISOC special topics courses and independent study courses will be approved as concentration electives on a case by case basis. Contact the DGSA for more information.

Courses with multiple course numbers are cross-listed with those subjects. Visit DukeHub to browse the entire course catalog.

Course Number	Course Name	BIO	TECH
AAAS 544S	Race And American Politics	No	No
AAAS 611S	Climate Crisis, Decolonization, and Global Blackness	No	No
AAAS 660 / CULANTH 660 / GLHLTH 672	Health In The African Diaspora	Yes	No
AIPI 510	Sourcing Data for Analytics	No	Yes
AIPI 590-01	Advanced Topics in AI for Product Innovation: Explainable AI	No	Yes
AIPI 590-05	Advanced Topics in AI for Product Innovation: AI Product Management	No	Yes
AMES 523 / EAS 508 / POLSCI 523 / PUBPOL 512 / SCISOC 508	China Science & Tech Policy & Innovation	No	Yes
AMES 660S / CMAC 660S / GSF 660S / ISS 660S / VMS 660S	AMES 660S – Games, Play, and Selfhood: Immersive Media and Extended Realities	No	Yes
BA 925 / PSY 716	Behavior Decision Theory	No	No
BIOETHIC 590S	Special Topics In Bioethics	*	*
BIOETHIC 591	Topics In Science Policy	*	*
BIOETHIC 601S	Foundations of Bioethics	Yes	No
BIOETHIC 675L	Law and Policy Lab: Data Governance	No	Yes
BIOETHIC 700	Research Independent Study	*	*
BIOETHIC 703 / LAW 592	Frontier AI & Robotics: Law and Ethics	No	Yes
BIOLOGY 515 / IMMUNOL 544	Principles Of Immunology	Yes	No
BIOLOGY 750S	Introduction to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism in Biology	Yes	No
BME 500-1 / HLTHPOL 540	Regulation and Reimbursement of Medical Products: Practice and Policy	Yes	No
CINE 622S / DOCST 620S / ENGLISH 620S / LIT 620S / VMS 622S	Film-Philosophers-Film-Makers	No	No
COMPSCI 512	Distributed Systems	No	Yes
COMPSCI 535	Algortihmic Game Theory	No	Yes
COMPSCI 570	Artificial Intelligence	No	Yes
COMPSCI 671D	Theory and Algorithms for Machine Learning	No	Yes
CULANTH 520S	Eco-Media: Studies in Planetary Futures	Yes	No
CULANTH 611 / GLHLTH 660 / PSY 611	Global Mental Health	Yes	No
CULANTH 709S	Science, Medicine, and the Body	Yes	No
CYBERSEC 502	Cybersecurity and Interdisciplinary Law/Ethics/Policy/Privacy Considerations	No	Yes
CYBERSEC 531	Human Element In Cybersecurity	No	Yes
ECE 580	Introduction to Machine Learning	No	Yes
ECON 530 / ENVIRON 520 / PUBPOL 577	Resource & Environmental Economics I	Yes	No
ECON 531 / ENVIRON 521 / PUBPOL 584	Resource & Environmental Economics II	Yes	No
ECS 524 / ENERGY 524 / ENVIRON 524 / GLHLTH 534	Water Quality Health	Yes	No
ECS 550 / ENVIRON 552	Climate & Society	Yes	No
ENERGY 630 / ENVIRON 630	Transportation And Energy	Yes	Yes
ENERGY 631 / ENVIRON 631	Energy Technology & Impact on the Environment	Yes	Yes
ENERGY 711 / ENVIRON 711	Energy & Environment	Yes	No
ENERGY 727 / LAW 327	Energy Law	Yes	No
ENERGY 835 / ENVIRON 835 / LAW 235	Environmental Law	Yes	No
ENVIRON 506	Environmental Justice: Theory and Practice for Environmental Scientists and Policy Professionals	Yes	No
ENVIRON 577 / ICS 577 / PUBPOL 577	Environmental Politics	Yes	No
ENVIRON 637S	Population and Environmental Dynamics Influencing Health	Yes	No
ENVIRON 640	Climate Change Economics And Policy	Yes	No
ETHICS 646S / ICS 646S / PUBPOL 646S	Strategic Storytelling	No	No
EVANTH 580S	Ethics In Evolutionary Anthropology	Yes	No
GLHLTH 548S / GSF 584S / HISTORY 548S	Global History Of Medicine	Yes	No
GLHLTH 571	Global Maternal and Child Health	Yes	No
GLHLTH 573D / GLHLTH 771	One Health: From Philosophy to Practice	Yes	No
GLHLTH 641	Non-Communicable Diseases	Yes	No
GLHLTH 673S	Global Surgical Care	Yes	No
GLHLTH 701	Global Health Challenges	Yes	No
GLHLTH 720	Decolonizing Global Health	Yes	No
GLHLTH 740	Global Health Ethics	Yes	No
GLHLTH 750	Health Systems in Low and Middle Income Countries	Yes	No
GLHLTH 755	Global Health Policy: Transforming Evidence into Action	Yes	No
GLHLTH 840 / PUBPOL 816	Ethics And Policy-Making	No	No
GSF 541S / HISTORY 577S / LIT 521S / PHIL 541S	Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Science	Yes	No
HISTORY 577S	Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Science	Yes	No
HLTHMGMT 710	Health Institutions, Systems and Policy	Yes	No
HLTHMGMT 711	Health Care Markets	Yes	No
HLTHMGMT 712	Medical Device Strategy	Yes	No
HLTHMGMT 717	Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Strategy	Yes	No
I&E 720	Design In Healthcare 1	Yes	No
I&E 721	Design In Healthcare 2	Yes	No
IDS 546 / MATH 546	Introduction to Time Series and Forecasting	No	Yes
IDS 570	Text as Data: Language Models, AI, and NPL Techniques for Historical and Literary Texts	No	Yes
IDS 704	Data Science Ethics and Policy	No	Yes
ISS 575S	Generative Media Authorship – Music, Text & Image	No	Yes
ISS 740S	Fundamentals of Web-Based Multimedia Communications	No	Yes
JAM 524S / LIT 524S / VMS 524S	AI Ethics and Aesthetics in Contemporary Culture	No	Yes
LAW 321	Law and Policy of Innovation: Life Sciences	Yes	No
LAW 331	Privacy Law And Policy	No	Yes
LAW 347	Health Care Law/Policy	Yes	No
LAW 369	Patent Law And Policy	Yes	Yes
LAW 546	International Law of Armed Conflict	No	No
LAW 557	Space Law / Laws of Mars	No	Yes
LAW 573	Shaping Law & Policy: Tools & Trends Of Health Care Advocacy	Yes	No
LAW 590	Risk Regulation in the United States, Europe, and Beyond	Yes	No
LAW 636	Food, Agricultural and the Environment: Law and Policy	Yes	No
LAW 764	Privacy in a Post-Dobbs World: Sex, Contraception, Abortion and Surveillance	Yes	Yes
MOLCAN 533 / NEUROSCI 533 / PHARM 533	Essentials of Pharmacology and Toxicology	Yes	No
MOLCAN 819	Cancer As A Disease	Yes	No
NEUROSCI 555S / PHIL 555S	Philosophy Of Mind	Yes	No
NURSING 559	Genetics and Genomics for Healthcare and Society	Yes	No
NURSING 564	Intro Medical Spanish	Yes	No
NURSING 565	Intro Medical Spanish Level II	Yes	No
NURSING 566	Advanced Medical Spanish	Yes	No
NURSING 582	Population Health in a Global Society	Yes	No
NURSING 969	Disparities in Health and Health Care in the United States	Yes	No
PATHOL 787	Basic Biology of Cells as a Function of Age; Implication for Disease	Yes	No
PHARM 733	Experimental Design and Biostatistics for Basic Biomedical Scientists	Yes	No
PHIL 502S	Comparative Ethics	No	No
PHIL 537S	Nietzsche’s Political Philosophy	No	No
PHIL 572	Frankfurt School Critical Theory	No	No
PHIL 693S	Causation	No	No
PHIL 702S	Proseminar In Metaphysics and Epistemology	No	No
POLSCI 631L	Introduction to Deductive & Analytical Approaches to Political Phenomena	No	No
POPHS 705	Introduction to Population Health Sciences	Yes	No
POPHS 711	Health Policy Analysis	Yes	No
POPHS 815	Health Services Research	Yes	No
POPHS 818L	Fundamentals of Qualitative Research Data Collection and Analysis	Yes	Yes
PSY 650S	History of Mental Illness	Yes	No
PSY 705	Adult Psychopathology	Yes	No
PSY 730S	Foundations Of Cog Psychology	Yes	No
PSY 759S	Principles In Cog Neuro I	Yes	No
PUBPOL 524S	Health Disparities	Yes	No
PUBPOL 575	Economic Evaluation of Sustainable Development	No	No
PUBPOL 645	Global Inequality Research	No	No
PUBPOL 761	Human Rights And Conflict	No	No
PUBPOL 816	Ethics And Policy-Making	No	No
PUBPOL 820	Globalization/Governance	No	No
PUBPOL 825	Topics In Health Policy	Yes	No
PUBPOL 852	Organizational Ethics	No	No
PUBPOL 861	National Security	No	Yes
PUBPOL 862	High Value Health Care Reform	Yes	No
PUBPOL 505S / POLSCI 565S	National Security Decision Making	No	No
RELIGION 930	Death and Dying in Late Antiquity	Yes	No
SCISOC 508	China Science and Technology Policy and Innovation	No	Yes
SCISOC 552S / PUBPOL 552S	Cybersecurity & Health Policy	Yes	Yes
SCISOC 590 / SCISOC 590S	Topics In Science Policy	*	*
SCISOC 614 / PUBPOL 614	Privacy and Ethical Decision-Making in Our Digital Era	No	Yes
SCISOC 615S	Privacy: Concepts and Culture Informing Law and Policy	No	Yes
SOCIOL 728	Intro To Social Networks	No	Yes
UPGEN 778	Genetics and Genomics Solutions to Biological Problems	Yes	No
WXTIAN 816	Xty Other Rel. Cultures	No	No
XTIANETH 757	Christian Ethics	No	No
XTIANETH 761	Health Care in Theol Context I	Yes	No

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Independent Studies

Many students undertake independent study projects to fulfill elective credit requirements under the supervision of and/or in the research lab of a faculty advisor. A student proposing to undertake an Independent Study project must submit a brief statement of the proposed project, the number of credit hours sought, and the faculty advisor as indicated in the form below. The completed and signed form must be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies for approval two weeks prior to the drop/add period each semester. After the form is approved, the senior program coordinator will issue you a permission number, which allows students to enroll in the course with their faculty advisor. Download the independent study proposal form.