Find out more about studying Social and Public Policy MA at University of Leeds? We've gathered all the key details, entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
MA - Master of Arts
Leeds, Main
Full Time
Sep 2026
1 Year
On this course you’ll explore issues, concepts, and debates in social and public policy research to gain an insight into policy-making and its social impacts. You’ll take core modules that investigate social theories, issues and research methods relevant to social and public policy. You’ll also develop core skills in critical policy analysis and policy evaluation. There are also opportunities to study and debate current policy issues, such as work and welfare, migration, child and family policy, or the challenges of ageing populations, with a focus on real-life examples. Supported by our well-known research centres and taught by expert tutors, you’ll tailor the programme to suit your own interests and career aspirations. With a range of optional modules to choose from, you could pursue further advanced research skills or study complementary social topics such as disability studies, gender studies, racism and ethnicity studies, or globalisation. You’ll gain an insight into some of the most sensitive and complex social issues affecting governments worldwide. Research insightYou’ll learn in a research-intensive, stimulating environment. As well as the Leeds Social Sciences Institute which fosters collaboration, you’ll benefit from the interdisciplinary expertise hosted by the Centre for Disability Studies, Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies, Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, the Centre for Research on Families, Life Course and Generations, and The Bauman Institute. All of these centres run their own calendars of events such as workshops and seminars.
This module will support students through the process of designing and conducting a substantial piece of independent research. It seeks to enhance: their ability to develop and carry through to completion an in-depth analysis focussed on a specific topic relevant to their programme; their capacity to work independently, selecting and using appropriate research methods and/or deploying appropriate advanced theoretical concepts; their understanding of ethics in relation to research; their ability to relate an in-depth study to current broader debates and concerns in the advanced study relevant to their programme of study; their ability to critically engage in the development of professional / disciplinary boundaries and norms; their skills in written communication and organisation within a lengthy format.
The module examines transformations and tensions in the logics and practice of public administration at global, regional and national level. It assesses the potentials, achievements and contemporary crises of evolving international experiments in governance, with a particular focus on the period since 1990. In particular, the module explores the dynamics of economic and demographic change in the creation of global inequalities, focusing particularly on two specific areas: (i) migration and development; and (ii) urban governance and development.
This module focuses on the development of the methodological imagination. It will lead students to chart a course that neither depends on grand theorising nor abstract empiricism, but brings theory into a relation with evidence to investigate the social and cultural world. Research Strategy and Design is intended to equip students with foundational skills to build a bridge between the philosophy of social methods and the methods to investigate social problems; the critical faculties to interrogate the assumptions social researchers (and they) bring to the purposeful choice of methods to investigate, describe, interpret, and explain the social world; and the practical resources to design ethical and potentially impactful research and apply research methods to answer research questions.
This module introduces students to the traditions, principles and methods of social policy analysis. Taking as its starting point the concept of Welfare States, it addresses both the concepts and contexts of policy making as a contested process of moral, pragmatic and/or evidence-based decision making. Using a problem-based pedagogy, based on close engagement with a selected social policy problem, students are encouraged to explore competing ideas and assumptions about welfare, and welfare mixes, the roles of different policy actors, social policy design and implementation challenges. Unintended consequences, conflict, compromise and uneasy alliances are introduced to consider how the original conception of a policy is often distorted.
This module introduces contemporary debates in the design, provision and politics of social policy in the UK and internationally. It introduces students to substantive areas of contemporary policy and enables them to engage with and challenge the prevailing agendas and approaches that configure the current policy landscape. In so doing, it encourages students to engage closely with, and to draw upon, evidence from social policy research. It seeks to develop the capacity of students as critical policy thinkers and to enhance their intellectual engagement with real world policy debates in their future careers.
