Master of Science in Natural Sciences

at Durham University United Kingdom

This is a wide-ranging archaeology course that harnesses your passion for history through researching historic sites, material culture and museums. The course emphasises interdisciplinary learning and skills. You will have the option to study the material remains of the ancient, medieval and modern worlds, with an emphasis on the last 600 years. You can take modules in History, Classics, Ancient History and other related subjects in departments across Durham. Key themes include the archaeology of industrialisation, conflict archaeology, colonialisation, transatlantic connections and south-east Asian trade.

The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) and University Archaeology UK (UAUK) have accredited this degree confirming it provides the skills relevant to a career in the historic environment.

Our one year, full-time MSc in Management programmes are designed to provide you with the tools, techniques and knowledge to succeed in business.

Our MSc in Supply Chain Management is a problem-based learning programme that mixes academic robustness with applied, practical and inter-disciplinary perspectives.

It is designed to give you a thorough grounding in the theoretical and practical aspects of managing supply chains, enabling you to put classroom knowledge into practice.

The programme consists of a set of core and elective modules, culminating in a practice-based business project or a research-based dissertation.

Core and elective modules:
You will study:

• Business Economics and Accounting
• Global Supply Chain Leadership
• Green Supply Chain and Logistics Systems
• Operations and Supply Chain Management
• Organisational Behaviour
• Strategy

Our one year, full-time MSc in Management programmes are designed to provide you with the tools, techniques and knowledge to succeed in business.

One of the few certainties in an ever-evolving commercial world is that business is becoming increasingly international. That’s why our MSc Management (International Business) focuses on equipping you with an in-depth understanding of the realities of management in a global context.

The programme consists of a set of core and elective modules, culminating in a practice-based business project or a research-based dissertation.

Core and elective modules:
You will study:

• Business Economics and Accounting
• Global Business
• Global Marketing
• Organisational Behaviour
• Strategic Marketing Management

Bioarchaeology is a branch of archaeology that focuses on the study of biological materials found in archaeological contexts to provide information about the life and environment of humans in the past. It is a fast-paced and continually evolving field, with new breakthroughs and discoveries emerging almost every month. Studying the subject at Durham University opens the door to the latest developments in archaeological science, including human bioarchaeology and palaeopathology, stable isotope mass spectrometry, ancient DNA, and environmental archaeology.

The Bioarchaeology Research Group at Durham works in cutting-edge laboratories, specialising and teaching in the areas of human health and well-being, diet and lifeways, human and animal identities, dispersals and mobility, the reconstruction of palaeoenvironments, and human-animal-environment relations. Many of the assemblages our students work with for their research derive from staff research projects, or the excavations of our in-house commercial unit, Archaeological Services.

Durham University’s unique MSc Bioarchaeology is aimed at inquisitive graduates from archaeology or science backgrounds, and those with professional experience in commercial archaeology or museums, who are interested in learning how biosciences can be applied to field research or museum collections. It provides high quality training in analytical, research, and communication skills, which prepares students for progression to doctoral research in bioarchaeology.

Durham’s Psychology and Anthropology Departments pride themselves on excellence in both teaching and research. The breadth of complementary research strengths across the two Departments means that you are guaranteed to be taught by staff who are actively engaged in the interaction of psychological and anthropological approaches, and are leading figures in their field of research.

In Anthropology, you will use perspectives from human biology, cultural evolution, animal behaviour, and human evolution to illuminate inquiry into the mind and behaviour of past and present human and primate populations. You will learn how anthropology and psychology provide complementary and contrasting perspectives on what it is to be human, as well as a variety of quantitative and qualitative ways of addressing major questions. The interface of anthropology and psychology explicitly integrates intercultural, international and global issues. For example, in anthropology’s traditional focus on cultural diversity and the burgeoning recognition of psychology’s need to address cross-cultural issues and move away from studies biased by Western Educated Industrialised and Rich (WEIRD) samples.

The degree provides the opportunity to develop extensive subject-specific, interdisciplinary, and transferable skills. The course follows the British Psychological Society(BPS) guidelines with an extensive range of options in the final year, drawing both from work in fundamental scientific research and in applied areas of psychology and anthropology. You may choose to take modules that deepen your understanding of a smaller number of anthropologically and psychologically relevant topics or choose to take a more broad and varied selection. Several coherent pathways – for example in animal behaviour, infant and child development, and health – are possible, using complementary modules from the two departments.

Excellent research facilities are available, including a virtual reality suite, developmental testing facilities, and EEG labs (in psychology), as well as extensive collections of fossil hominin casts and material culture artefacts from around the globe, a sleep lab, hormone lab, and field station for primatology in South Africa (in Anthropology). You are encouraged to get involved in research being carried out by your lecturers, thus gaining a deeper and more hands-on understanding of the issues you are learning about in your degree, and adding to your contextual experience.

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.

Taught by expert staff, undergraduate education in Politics at Durham is structured around three main streams: Political Thought, Political Institutions, and International Relations. In addition to learning research skills, the degree includes the opportunity to study the politics and international relations of specific regions, as well as theoretical examinations that help us to understand how we make sense of a complex and inter-connected world. You will move from general study in these areas in your early years to more specialised options in Years 2 and 3.

Modules in the second and third years reflect the research expertise of the School’s academic staff. Such areas include, but are not limited to: European Politics, Comparative Politics, Political Thought and Political Theory, Middle East Politics, the Politics of East Asia, International Relations, and International Political Theory.

The School places great importance on research-led teaching, which integrates new and cutting-edge research into the curriculum and introduces you to a variety of research-oriented skills and research-based projects.

We operate a modular system in which you will study six modules each year. The Biological Sciences BSc (Hons) three-year degree course has been designed to allow you more choice between modules in each successive year so that you can follow specialised routes within Biological Sciences, or address specific areas of interest, as you progress..

Recommended module combinations (“routes”) to allow various themes of specialisation are available, although these still allow choice at each level of the course. We have specified recommended routes corresponding to the following subject areas:

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Biomedical Science
• Cell Biology
• Plant Science
• Genetics
• Ecology and Environmental Science.

The MA in Geography (Research Methods) - or MARM - aims to give a broad training in social science research methodology as well as more specific training in the approaches and techniques used in human geography. There is a balance between theory and practical application. The course includes skills training and reflection on personal experience, and those who are going on to MPhil/PhD work are encouraged to relate what they learn to their future research. Most of the teaching is in small groups and emphasises student engagement and discussion.

The MARM is an ESRC recognised Masters training course and all modules are designed and delivered in line within the ESRC's requirements. All modules include formative and summative assessment. The teaching is delivered in Terms 1 and 2. From Easter onwards you will work on your dissertation with the support of an allocated supervisor.

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.