Master of Physics in Physics and Astronomy

at Durham University United Kingdom

This degree balances fundamental knowledge and practical application in order to provide you with both specialised and transferable skills that are greatly valued in the marketplace. The course emphasises from the start both programming and mathematical skills that allow in the later years engagement through your 'Individual Project' with cutting-edge research being done in the department.

This is a one year, advanced taught course. This course is intended for students who have already obtained a good first degree in either physics or mathematics, including in the latter case, courses in quantum mechanics and relativity.

The course consists of three modules: the first two are the Michaelmas and Epiphany (the first two terms of the academic year) graduate lecture courses, which are assessed by examinations in January and March. The third module is a dissertation on a topic of current research, prepared under the guidance of a supervisor with expertise in the area. We offer a wide variety of possible dissertation topics. The dissertation must be submitted by September 15th, the end of the twelve month course period.

The three-year BSc Mathematics course gives you the opportunity to study a wide range of mathematics topics, with a particularly large choice of modules in your final year. It will prepare you for many graduate jobs as well as for further study including the PGCE and many MSc courses in mathematics or related subjects.

Our degree covers pure, applied, statistics and probability. You will cover the background to all areas in the first year, while in the second year you can begin to specialise if you want, allowing you to choose to fully specialise in one area, or to choose a broader range of modules in the third year. In your final year, you will develop your research and communication skills in the module Project III.

This interdisciplinary and custom designed MSc offers the unique opportunity to look at conflict prevention and peacebuilding through the lenses of human security, social justice, and people’s diplomacy. Integrated into the MSc structure are opportunities to develop operational and vocational skills in humanitarian intervention, conflict mediation, everyday negotiation, conflict sensitive programme design, the use of peace indicators, participatory approaches to peacebuilding, and gender-sensitive approaches to security.

The MSc is designed for graduates with a career in government, inter-governmental organisations, NGOs, humanitarian organisations, or academia in mind, and for practitioners looking to enhance their practical skills while placing these within a broader theoretical perspective.

The MSc will provide you with advanced knowledge of the complex and specialised areas of peacebuilding, among it conflict analysis, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and conflict transformation, community driven reconstruction, peace processes within the context of contemporary conflicts and in the context of broader international (humanitarian) interventions. Integrated into the MSc structure are opportunities to develop operational and vocational skills for example in negotiations, conflict mediation, conflict sensitive programme design and programme management, or urban peacebuilding. You are provided with theoretical and empirical knowledge and with practical skills that are helpful for current and future employment opportunities. The courses are thus attractive to both graduates and mid-career practitioners. Whilst the academic and applied focus of the MSc comes through a peace and conflict studies analytic lens, course material will also draw from traditional strategic/security and development studies, enabling cross fertilisation between different perspectives. It allows the exploration of unique and new paradigms and practices in the fields of conflict, peace, security, defence, diplomacy, development and humanitarian intervention.

The MA in Research Methods (Behavioural Science) is a Social Sciences faculty degree that involves other departments within the University.

Students intending to have a career as a research psychologist or behavioural scientist need to acquire a high level of research skills at postgraduate level. Research methods training therefore forms a central part of the MA course, including both quantitative and qualitative research methods. One third of the course is also devoted to the dissertation which may be carried out in any area of psychology related to behavioural science. The taught course modules include both generic and subject level components, providing an introduction to broad issues and methodological approaches in behavioural science and the social sciences.

The BEng Electrical Engineering degree is a high-quality three-year degree designed to offer you the knowledge and skills necessary to join engineering teams on graduation. It is complementary to the four-year Durham MEng, and transfer is possible between the courses up to the end of the second year. It is important to highlight that you also can transfer between the different Engineering programmes that we offer (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic, etc.) up until the end of the second year, provided that you meet the relevant progression requirements. We believe that students should make an informed decision about their futures and allowing our students to transfer between programmes, once they understand the different disciplines, demonstrates our commitment to this and the Department’s General Engineering philosophy.

In the first two years, the BEng covers the same broad base of engineering education as the MEng degree. The BEng prepares you for an exciting career in modern engineering, with the flexibility to respond to changing technologies.

This course gives you the widest choice of modules. Modules can be selected from those available for students studying in International Trade and Commercial Law, and European Trade and Commercial Law, Corporate Law and International Law and Governance.

Having completed your taught modules, you will undertake an extended dissertation of 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000 words in length, under the supervision of a member of staff who is an expert in your chosen field of research. Teaching is by a mixture of lectures and smaller, student-led, seminars or tutorial groups. The dissertation is pursued by independent research.

Students attending the course are drawn from a broad range of countries, and their previous academic or professional experiences enrich the course. The Law School hosts a number of research centres, including the Institute for Commercial and Corporate Law, the Durham European Law Institute, the Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Law and Global Justice at Durham and the Human Rights Centre. You are encouraged to participate in all their activities.

Liberal Arts offersyou the opportunity to design your own programme of study. The Liberal Arts degree complements Durham University’s Single and Joint Honours programmes, enabling you to study modules in up to four subjects in, and beyond, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. If you are looking for the freedom to follow your intellectual interests, wherever these might take you, then Liberal Arts might be the right degree for you.

In Liberal Arts, it is not only possible to study any subject in the Arts and Humanities, but also most subjects in the Social Sciences. It is possible, therefore, for students to combine History and Politics, for example, but also to study subjects in combinations less likely to be available in a Joint Honours programme, such as Theology and Anthropology, or Music and Sociology, or Philosophy and Geography.

If the subject which you regard as your primary interest is in the Social Sciences, you should apply for the Combined Honours in Social Sciences degree.

The three-year BSc Maths and Stats course combines a strong foundation in core mathematics and statistics with exciting recent developments in statistics and machine learning, providing a unique preparation for our data-driven future. A rigorous grounding in essential mathematical techniques and fundamental statistical principles and methods leads to the exploration of a wide range of topics central to modern statistics and machine learning, together with a year-long individual project module tackling a theoretical area or an applied problem in particular depth, possibly in collaboration with a company or other organisation.

he study of philosophy at Durham does not follow one particular school. The Department is unique in the UK in its wide-ranging expertise in anglo-american analytical philosophy and continental philosophy. Each of these has its own distinctive set of issues and approaches to resolving them. We also have special expertise in the philosophy of science, and social science, and the history of science and medicine. So at Durham, you will follow one of the widest-ranging philosophy degrees in the country.

Philosophy is a new subject for many students, so in your first year, you follow a range of introductory courses, introducing the fundamental philosophical subject areas.