Masters study

Let's talk about our Masters courses

MA History

Our MA History is a rigorous and flexible programme providing you with the opportunity to study a diverse range of topics at the cutting-edge of historical knowledge, and spanning the period from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

In your core modules, you'll examine key concepts in history and understand recent developments in historical study, especially the so-called 'cultural turn'. You will also gain a practical preparation for undertaking historical research, which you will complete by doing a dissertation at the end of your degree. In addition to this, you will be able to choose from a range of optional modules.

MA History, Power and Identity

What does it mean to be powerful or powerless? Across different times and places, how have people and groups used or abused power, and how have they gained or lost it? In a world threatened by the rise of far-right groups, invigorated by mass protests such as Black Lives Matter or #MeToo, and rocked by political, economic, and cultural crisis, the MA History, Power and Identity traces the historical roots of some of today’s most urgent fights for power.

In addition to this, you will be able to choose from a range of optional modules.

MA War, Culture and Society 

Our MA War, Culture and Society is innovative and interdisciplinary at its core as it draws on the expertise of scholars from across the humanities, social sciences and health sciences.

On this degree, you'll engage with diverse perspectives on war and conflict in the modern period, whilst considering the effects of war at different scales, from the individual to the state and the local to the global, and on different groups. You will develop diverse expertise in the complex relationship between war, culture and society, with a core module on Approaches to War, Culture and Society. You will also gain a practical preparation for undertaking historical research, which you will complete by doing a dissertation at the end of your degree.

Take a look at the exciting variety of optional modules which are available on this course.

Postgraduate Certificate History

You can also take our MA History course as a Postgraduate Certificate. If you choose this route, you will undertake the same taught modules but will not complete a dissertation. The same choice of pathways is available. The Postgraduate Certificate takes 9 months of full-time study or 21 months on a part-time basis.

Take a look at the exciting variety of optional modules which are available on this course.

Watch the course: Legacies of Conflict: Britain, United States and Russia

At the beginning of March 2021, members of our Department involved in teaching our MA War, Culture and Society gave a free course, Legacies of Conflict: Britain, United States and Russia. This online course comprised daily sessions and covered topics including the long term impacts of the Russian Civil War, bombing in the Second World War, and the lessons of the Vietnam War in the United States.

Each 90-minute session was delivered by one of our expert academics and gave participants the chance to meet the tutors, ask questions and discover what studying history at postgraduate level is really like.

Watch each of the sessions as well as the final Conclusions webinar:

• The Russian Civil War and its Long-Term Impacts with Dr Felix Schnell
• The Second World War: The Bombers’ War and its Legacies with Professor Lucy Noakes
• The United States and the Vietnam War: Lessons, Legacies and Lies with Dr Andrew Priest
• Legacies of Conflict: Plenary/Conclusions/Q&A with Dr Felix Schnell, Professor Lucy Noakes and Dr Andrew Priest