How you'll learn

A Masters by Research degree allows you to carry out an independent supervised research project on an approved topic of your choice. At the end of your studies you will submit a thesis of up to 40,000 words. As with all research degrees examination is a two-part process: examination of the thesis followed by a viva examination. 

You can complete your Masters by Research on a full or part time basis, on campus or remotely, if the nature of the research allows. A Masters by Research takes one year full time or two years part time, and is available in most subject areas.

There are no classes to attend as the Masters by Research is based on research. Full-time students are expected to spend around 35 hours per week on self-study and part-time students 12 hours. 

Postgraduate researchers are assigned a supervisory team who have the expertise and experience to support them in their studies. Supervisors will help you to shape your research project, give feedback on work in progress and guide you to completion.

Once a research area has been identified and a research programme agreed, you can begin researching and writing your dissertation. You will determine its content, development and structure in regular consultation with your dissertation supervisor. You will produce a dissertation 40,000 words in length. 

The MA History by Research is assessed by a dissertation and a viva voce (oral examination). The dissertation should be up to 40,000 words in length.

There are no classes to attend as the Masters by Research is based on research. Full-time students are expected to spend around 35 hours per week on self-study and part-time students 12 hours.

Teaching staff

• Dr Ruth Atherton is a social, religious and cultural historian of early-modern Europe.
• Dr Andy Croll is developing research interests in the history of tourism (particularly coastal tourism) in the long nineteenth century. He is also interested in the history of poverty and welfare in the era of the New Poor Law.
• Dr Jonathan Durrant is a historian of gender in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His particular interests are witchcraft and gender in Germany, and masculinity and warfare in the age of the Thirty Years’ War.
• Professor Chris Evans works on industrial history from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries and the history of Atlantic slavery in the age of abolition.
• Dr Jane Finucane is an expert on Germany in the age of the Thirty Years’ War.
• Dr Christopher Hill has research interests in modern British and global history, with a focus on histories of media, nuclear imperialism and social movements.
• Dr Rachel Lock-Lewis is interested in the history of feminism and social change in postwar Britain, especially issues of sexuality, marriage, maternity, parenthood and childhood, and kinship.