Modules about health, performance and wellbeing

In this module, you'll explore the role of the body in protest actions and performance-based activism. You'll examine both practical and theoretical perspectives on how gestures, movements, and performances have been used to gain visibility and bring about social change. The module will provide a historical and contemporary understanding of protest performances from the 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on how resistance movements have mobilised the body as a tool for activism.

What will I do in this module?

Throughout this module, you'll:

  • Investigate key historical and contemporary protest movements that have used the body as a site of resistance.
  • Analyse case studies of performance-based activism from different social and political contexts.
  • Participate in discussions and critical reflections on how physical interventions shape modes of protest.
  • Engage in practical workshops where you will experiment with actions and gestures used in protest.

What skills will I develop?

By the end of the module, you'll enhance your:

  • Critical thinking – analysing protest movements and performance strategies.
  • Collaboration and teamwork – working effectively with peers in group tasks.
  • Leadership skills – taking initiative in discussions and practical exercises.
  • Creativity – developing original protest concepts through performance.
  • Wellbeing awareness – understanding the emotional and physical impact of activism.
  • Lateral intelligence – making connections between historical events, theory, and practice.

The module encourages you to reflect upon your sense of self and self-knowledge. Together we'll consider concepts of personal identity and equality from a range of perspectives, including psychological, sociological, environmental, political and historical viewpoints. We'll look at the attributes such as age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic identity and disability, and how these describe us, but also how these lead to labels and stereotypes. We'll also look at the stereotypical perceptions we hold of others.



What will I do in this module?

The module has three key elements:

  • The chance to take part in activities, to find out more about who you are.
  • The chance to engage in discussions in a safe and supportive environment about issues you feel passionately about.
  • The chance to express yourself creatively and talk about where you feel you fit in the world in a non-judgemental environment.

What skills will I develop?

You will develop self-compassion, gain confidence and self-awareness, broader thinking, critical and reflective skills. You'll contemplate different forms of information, realise and challenge stereotypes and you may even discover skills you never knew you had!

In a globalised world an understanding of language with its nuances, complexities and cultural underpinning is vital for successful communication. This module gives you the chance to explore language in all its forms, from personal expression to societal impact. We'll examine areas such as language and emotion, language and personal identity, and language and power. Language is a function that underpins so much of our daily life and interaction with others, but how often do we reflect on it and all its intricacies and possibilities. This module offers you the opportunity to do just that.



What will I do in this module?

You'll explore and examine your own relationship and perception of language in ways that you may not have considered before. In our weekly workshops we'll do activities and have discussions that will investigate our attitudes and sensitivity to our own language and that of others, including minority and dying languages. We'll analyse our reactions to aspects of language such as accent, vocabulary and societal groupings and consider areas such as political correctness – what we can and can’t say.

We'll explore the power of language through the arts including literature, music and artworks. Throughout the module the underlying theme is our own personal journey with language and how it shapes our identity, thoughts and emotions because after all, language is what makes us human.

What skills will I develop?

  • You'll develop creativity, critical thinking and reflective skills both on a personal and a societal level.
  • You'll learn to think outside the box on a topic that is very much taken for granted as well as being asked to reflect on and challenge your own beliefs, opinions and way of thinking.
  • Language is by its very nature interdisciplinary and you will explore how it's used and received in different areas and how these need to connect in order to understand wider societal issues.

This module is designed to prepare you for professional practice in healthcare and related fields. You will gain the knowledge and awareness needed to work ethically and responsibly with clients, while collaborating effectively across disciplines to maximise patient outcomes and safety. The module also develops your understanding of legal frameworks and professional standards, equipping you with the skills practice ethically and responsibly with a range of patient types, both individually and as part of a team.

This module is compulsory for students on the following courses:

  • MOptom Optometry
  • Bsc Dispensing Optician

This module focusses on professional practice in healthcare and draws heavily on examples in this field. It is recommended for students who are registered with, or will be registered with upon graduation, a relevant professional body such as the GMC, GOC, HCPC etc.

What will I do in this module?

You will:

  • Engage in cross-professional dialogue to explore similarities and differences in legal and ethical frameworks with peers from various professional backgrounds
  • Learn why client safety is central to decision-making, ensuring the well-being of those you serve and yourself, and how to apply this in practice
  • Develop skills to communicate professionally with colleagues, clients and families
  • Gain experience in safeguarding processes and protecting vulnerable individuals understanding the safeguarding processes integral to professional practice

What skills will I develop?

By the end of the module, you'll:

  • Develop self-awareness around professional communication
  • Communicate effectively and professionally
  • Critically evaluate interdisciplinary teamwork
  • Reflect on your own practice and develop academic writing skills

This module invites you to consider whether the twenty-first century is witnessing the gradual formation and evolution of a worldwide culture of the arts, and to ask how and why we should protect the diversity of that culture.

You'll consider the future and sustainability of local, ethnic, national, and supranational artistic cultures. You'll consider the culture of peoples displaced from their homeland and examine artistic practices that result from the merging or converging of cultures. You will examine online culture and consider whether it serves to promote or to limit diversity. You'll investigate the economics of culture and ask if the arts can sustain themselves or if they need funding at a local, national or global level. Ultimately, students will be invited to consider what it might mean to think of themselves as global citizens and as co-creators and guardians of a diverse and flourishing future worldwide culture.



What will I do in this module?

  • You'll learn about artistic practices from all around the world.
  • You'll acquire theoretical insights regarding Online Culture, the Economics of Culture, Diaspora, and Hybrid Cultures.
  • You'll prepare a group presentation, working with students from different backgrounds, and will prepare an individual essay.

What skills will I develop?

You'll develop the skills of critical thinking, analytical thinking, and reflection, as well as consultation, collaboration and the skills needed to deliver a group presentation. You will also develop your facility to understand unfamiliar cultural environments.

This Ruskin Module explores the question of what it means to be happy, through the interdisciplinary lenses of different disciplines including history, philosophy, language, arts, education and positive psychology, which will be taught by experts in their field. Focussing on happiness and wellbeing helps create an environment in which we can be resilient, creative, more focussed on others and more likely to engage in community and social initiatives which have public benefit. It also promotes stronger community and relationship bonds, as well as a positive and constructive approach.



What will I do in this module?

You'll investigate how studying happiness is relevant to your life and to the lives of others, and how it can help you rethink what really matters. You will compare how different disciplines understand causes, outcomes, and perspectives on happiness. You will also build social and cultural capital by working with students and staff from other courses.

The broad curriculum encourages critical thinking, rich discussion, and creative problem solving. You engage with real world challenges and devise practical responses. The aim is to support personal and professional growth and a sense of individual and collective purpose.

What skills will I develop?

This course aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills to make a meaningful contribution to your communities and the world at large. This may be through gaining a deeper knowledge and understanding of happiness and what it means, through the application of this knowledge and understanding, and also through the development of ideas to put into practice after the course has finished.