Master of Arts in Research Methods (Behavioural Science)

at Durham University United Kingdom

The MA in Education provides outstanding opportunities to study a wide range of educational issues. It will provide you with a clear understanding of the nature and significance of policy and practice in education, relevant to researchers as well as professionals in schools, colleges and universities.

A key feature of the course is the facility for you to draw on your own professional and personal as well as academic and theoretical interests, through being able to choose from a range of optional modules to study (see below). You will also be able to explore your own interests in depth through the completion of a dissertation.

The degree has been designed to meet the needs of educational professionals, especially those in teaching, management or administration at all levels of education. Students likely to benefit from the course are those who are interested in education, often teachers or people planning to become teachers, who have a commitment to pedagogy, and educational managers in schools, colleges and higher education institutions, as well as those working in educational administration, in the UK and overseas.

Through its flexible delivery routes, the MA in Education is suitable for students from all backgrounds and countries. In addition to a traditional full-time study route, the course is also available part-time. On the part-time route, teaching is delivered through intensive teaching weekends scheduled around (Durham) school half-term holidays making the course more accessible for those working full-time.

The degree courses offered by the Department of Earth Sciences are intended to give you as much flexibility as possible while retaining the core Earth Science subjects. Individual degree courses are comprised of modules, and you will take a total of six modules (120 credits) in each academic year. This allows you to follow your own interests, as they develop.

In the first year, you will be introduced to major topics in Earth Sciences, developing the practical skills required to study rocks and fossils in the field. In Year 2 you will deepen your understanding of these topics. A key part of this year is to gain the knowledge and skills required to undertake your Dissertation. In Year 3 a mix of compulsory and elective modules allow you to specialise and study topics at the cutting-edge of Earth Sciences.

The MSci Earth Sciences course allows those with an aptitude to make the first steps to a research career. The majority of our degrees are accredited by the Geological Society of London, this gives you the assurance our teaching is of the highest quality, has been approved by an independent body of academics and industrialists and provides a fast track to Chartered Geologist status.

Our graduates secure employment in the fields of mineral exploration and petroleum geology, engineering geology, environmental and hydrogeology consultancies, GIS companies, geological surveys, as well as securing places on Masters and PhD courses. Numeracy, critical thinking and problem solving skills developed on the course are highly valued in a wide range of non-geoscience careers, including teaching, business management, insurance and accounting, banking and finance.

The programme aims to give students a systematic and rigorous understanding of the disciplines of Politics and International Relations. Teaching is structured around three main streams: Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. Students move from introductory in each of these areas in their early years to more specialised options, enabling students to focus on a specific sub-field or topic, analyse the politics and international relations of specific regions and countries, and engage in theoretical examinations that help us make sense of a complex, inter-connected, and rapidly changing world.

Students will gain an appreciation and a more nuanced understanding of, as well as the ability to engage with current issues and debates, including those at the forefront of current research and enquiry. Upon completion of their studies students will be able to describe and comment on current research and possess knowledge and skills that enable them to complete their own research, employing appropriate techniques and analysis methods.

This is a specialist course geared towards preparing you for higher research in ancient philosophy - partly through direct research training, and partly through modules taught by experts in their field in small-group seminars. Durham has a longstanding tradition of international excellence in the field of ancient philosophy, with several recent doctoral students having gone on to take up academic positions in the UK and abroad.

This is a course geared towards preparing you for higher research into the interaction of the classical world with the Near East - partly through direct research training, and partly through modules taught by experts in their field, in small-group seminars.

The relationship between the classical world and neighbouring civilisations is among the most important and most rapidly expanding areas of classical scholarship, and we have particular strength in this field: we offer tuition in Akkadian, and can draw on the resources of the Oriental Museum in Durham and the expertise pooled in the Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East.

Our taught MA pathway in Romantic and Victorian Literary Studies offers choice, flexibility and the opportunity to specialise within this field. You can learn from the rich variety of research expertise in the Department and you also have the chance to concentrate on a particular area of literary study within the field. Our commitment to research-led teaching means that students are able to explore the cutting edge of the discipline - from Romantics legacies to the representation of women in Victorian poetry and painting, to critical theory. We provide an intimate, dynamic and supportive environment for students of all backgrounds and nationalities.

Our course offers up-to-date training in research methods and skills. You will choose three modules, at least two of which are from within the pathway, and you will write a dissertation on a subject related to Romantic and/or Victorian studies.

Advances in fields such as Physics, Engineering, Earth Sciences or Finance are increasingly driven by experts in computational techniques. Notably, people skilled to write code for the most powerful computers in the world and skilled to process the biggest data sets in the world can truly make a difference.

The MSc in Scientific Computing and Data Analysis offers an application-focused course to deliver these skills with three interwoven strands:

• Computer Science underpinnings of scientific computing (algorithms, data structures, implementation techniques, and computer tool usage)
• Mathematical aspects of data analysis
• Implementation and application of fundamental techniques in a domain specialisation (presently astrophysics, particle physics, financial mathematics, or earth and environmental sciences).

MISCADA’s Astrophysics specialisation aims to equip students with the background needed to address some of the biggest research questions in fundamental science, such as how we can use large surveys and supercomputer simulations to probe the nature of the dark matter and dark energy. The courses include stellar structure and evolution, galaxy formation, large-scale structure and simulations of structure formation.

The MSc Global Politics aims to provide you with knowledge of the political, economic, cultural and moral debates about how and to what extent the effects of globalisation can be governed.

This course will provide the means for you to develop the analytical and conceptual skills necessary to understand and discuss:

• The key international and transnational structures, organisations and institutions that have developed in the era following the Second World War
• The range of the academic debates in the area of global governance
• Policy developments and innovations in the fields of economics, security, and environment
• The moral justification for different and sometimes competing regimes of global governance.

You will also benefit from the wide range of academic resources within the School of Government and International Affairs, the Law School, the Department of Geography, and Durham University Business School, making the MSc Global Politics a truly unique interdisciplinary course.

This new bespoke full-time Master of Energy Systems Management programme brings together the essential elements to equip and enable students from all backgrounds to become leaders in this field. You will be taught a combination of skills and competencies from a wide range of disciplines, providing you with a unique understanding of the multidisciplinary abilities needed to effectively contribute to Net Zero.

Climate Change is an indisputable reality. Universities around the world are preparing students with the right skills to support the essential move toward Net Zero across the globe; balancing greenhouse gases produced, with greenhouse gases removed from the earth’s atmosphere.

Our new one-year full-time Master of Energy Systems Management is a bespoke new programme – delivered in collaboration between Durham University Business School and the Department of Engineering, in conjunction with our world-class Durham Energy Institute.

You will be equipped to become a leader in energy systems management, through being taught a combination of skills and competencies from a number of disciplines, providing you with a unique understanding of the multidisciplinary abilities needed to effectively contribute to Net Zero.