MRes History

Course Overview

The History MRes course incorporates taught modules that provide you with the key tools and contexts for postgraduate work in History. You will begin the degree course by considering different kinds of history-writing and the concepts that underpin them. You will acquire such knowledge through the ‘Historical Contexts’ module and you will then be able to deploy your broader awareness of historiography in writing about your own area of interest. In doing so, you will lay the foundations for your dissertation research.

The taught components of the programme familiarise you with the way in which historical knowledge has been generated, communicated and preserved. In doing so, you will also learn about a variety of digital research projects. At the same time, the ‘History in the Digital Age’ module allows you pursue independent line of enquiry, enabling you to cover themes and time periods that connect with your specific research interests.

Moreover, through our innovative ‘Research Development’ module, you will prepare an interdisciplinary symposium: this venture will involve your own research yet it is underpinned by working with MRes students from across the Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences. Through interdisciplinary cooperation, you will broaden your horizons as a postgraduate student.
The MRes Dissertation is the cornerstone and culmination of your degree programme, enabling you to conduct research under the supervision of leading academics in the Department of Humanities. At the beginning of the year, you will be assigned a supervisor, with whom you will have regular meetings throughout the year to identify a topic, a set of research questions and the archives and sources needed to develop an original argument. You will also join the wider intellectual community at Northumbria through our Institute of Humanities seminar series.

Your Future

Your previous qualifications and the specialist nature of this course will provide a strong foundation for your future work and study.

The History MRes course has been designed to form the basis for those wishing to progress to PhD level and we offer advice in writing PhD and funding applications should you decide to take this route.

Northumbria is part of the UK’s only Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Heritage, led by Hull and consisting of a consortium of universities in the North of England.

The broad range of skills and knowledge acquired on this course can help to enhance promotion prospects in many professions, most notably teaching, professional research, museums or archives, public policy and project management. It should also enhance your prospects of employment should you wish to move into such vocations.

You will also leave prepared for a career as a researcher or employment within a broader business environment.

Applicants should normally have: A minimum of a 2:1 honours degree in a relevant discipline. Applicants are required to submit a statement of their proposed area of study in order to identify a suitable supervisor.