Master of Arts in Comparative Literatures and Cultures

at University of Bristol - Clifton Campus United Kingdom

In year one you will receive an overview of human and physical geography and develop a range of geographical and scientific skills. The remaining years are organised around specialist units from human and/or physical geography.

Physical geography units cover three broad areas: glaciology, hydrology and environmental change. Human geography units provide in-depth study of cultural, economic and social geography, emphasising the importance of theory and methods for analysing contemporary geographical problems and policies. Topics range from economic development and global politics to inequalities of health and contemporary social theory.

You will also develop skills in the use of specialised computer software, statistics and data collection in the field. Field trips and practical work are key components of the course. There are UK residential trips in year one and in year two there is typically an overseas field trip.

The skills that you acquire throughout your studies will be applied in a self-directed dissertation project in year three.

Researchers, research managers, policy advisers and service planners are all faced with a growing need for research that is timely and relevant. This program builds on the links between research and policy in developing the particular skills and capacities needed by policy-oriented researchers, professionals and postgraduate students who are interested in carrying out public policy, social policy and social welfare research. We believe this is vital if researchers are to maximise the impact of their work in addressing issues of real concern to policymakers.

The program provides core research training in philosophy and research design in the social sciences, along with introductions to and further approaches in quantitative and qualitative methods in the social sciences. It also offers optional units in our particular areas of research expertise, such as child and family welfare, gender and violence, health and social care, poverty and social exclusion, and policy-oriented evaluation.

We recognise that students will be joining with relevant - albeit varied - experience. Therefore, there will be opportunities for you to draw on your own experiences as researchers, managers and policy advisers and share insights with other students working towards research degrees in disability studies, social work research and health and wellbeing.

Those who have recently embarked on a career in policy research, or who hope to do so, will find the program offers a combination of academic rigour, up-to-date policy content and relevant skills development.

Core units are taught in collaboration with other postgraduate programs, providing a co-learning environment and giving you the opportunity to interact and share insights with other students working towards research degrees in disability studies, policy research, social work research and health and wellbeing. 

BSc Economics and Mathematics combines high-level mathematics with a technically rigorous economics programme that emphasises the use of mathematical tools, including econometrics.

Mandatory economics units develop your understanding of micro- and macro-economics, while the mathematics part of the degree builds your mathematical ability and allows you to explore applied topics that are particularly relevant to economics.

Having built a solid grounding in the fundamentals of both disciplines in your first year, the second and third years allow you to choose optional units to tailor your degree to your specific interests, including the option to complete an applied economics dissertation.

Previously, economics options have included Industrial Economics, International Economics and Macroeconomic Theory and Policy. Mathematics options have included Complex Networks, Financial Mathematics and Time Series Analysis.

In this degree, we focus on developing your skills in research, policy and practice in the combined fields of diet- and physical activity-related public health and wellbeing. This work is vital in addressing real issues of concern to policymakers and practitioners. Our programme is one of the first to recognise the need for specialisation in the three intertwined disciplines of nutrition, physical activity and public health.

Our programme helps you to critically examine key interactions at the interface of epidemiology, behaviour change and policy-relevant research in these connected fields. It will also help you develop important skills in designing and evaluating research and community interventions.

This MSc is designed for dieticians, physical activity, food and fitness specialists and other health professionals  who wish to gain a deeper understanding about the evidence around the role of nutrition and physical activity in public health, the factors that influence people's physical activity and eating behaviours, and how to develop and evaluate nutrition and physical activity interventions.

Our MSci course is ideal if you want to continue in research or to stand out when applying for a PhD.

Years one and two provide a broad background in biomedical science as well as information about viruses and the diseases they cause. You will study the immune system and how it controls infection. You will also learn about autoimmune diseases that can occur if the immune system attacks the body's own tissues rather than an infectious agent.

You will progress to review the main viral diseases of humankind in terms of their natural history, biology, molecular biology, immunology, pathogenesis and epidemiology. These include HIV, hepatitis B and C, papilloma, influenza and measles, among others. You will learn about cutting-edge issues in virology and immunology, including emerging viruses, such as the Marburg and Ebola viruses, and SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19.

The additional, fourth year includes an extended research project and advanced research skills training with an emphasis on enterprise. You will plan projects, communicate with a variety of audiences, and learn to translate and commercialise research.

The MSc Education Open Pathway allows you to design your own programme of study based on your areas of interest, rather than tying you in to a particular subject area. You can therefore pick and choose units from across the seven different specialist pathways as well as from our wider bank of optional units. For example, if your interests spanned both educational policy and the use of technology in education you might combine units from the Leadership and Policy Pathway with units from the Learning, Technology and Society Pathway.

A very diverse range of students take this pathway, attracted by the freedom that it offers. Many students are international drawn from a range of countries beyond Europe having recently completed their undergraduate studies. Many of these students nonetheless have some experience of teaching, volunteering or some other work experience in schools or education more broadly.

Other students, are more mature and returning to education after a longer period of work and so bring a wider wealth of experiences, yet wish to formalise their learning. All this diversity in backgrounds and experiences creates a rich learning environment and sharing of ideas among students and academics alike.

After completing the MSc, most students want to work in education in some form. But here too there is range in students’ goals and aspirations. Other students want to use the Masters year to develop their skills as educational researchers in order to go on to study for a PhD with us or elsewhere.

The MSc Bioinformatics covers a diverse range of areas in bioinformatics and is suitable for students from a variety of academic backgrounds related to the Life Sciences (biology, biochemistry, genetics, medicine, and other biosciences). Students will learn and work together with world-leading experts.

In the age of big data, conservation biology, biodiversity, genetics, and evolutionary biology involve the study of large amounts of data that increase in volume and variety at a high speed. The use of computational tools is essential to analyse such large datasets, some of which have shaken the foundations of many scientific disciplines. The advent of these technologies is also central to many companies and the public sector and has driven the emergence of innovative start-ups. The job market for graduates proficient in bioinformatics is expanding rapidly and will keep growing.

Topics include programming, machine learning, genomics, protein structure, evolutionary biology, as well as professional and entrepreneurial skills. Students will undertake a scientific research project supervised by the experts of the Faculty of Life Sciences and will leave with highly transferable skills that will boost their future careers and their employability. Moreover, they will learn how to capitalise their innovative ideas in a fast-moving entrepreneurial environment.