Master of Science in Social Science Research Methods (Sociology)

at University of Bristol - Clifton Campus United Kingdom

If you are curious about our planet and interested in finding solutions to global problems, this course is for you. Learn about the physics, chemistry and history of the Earth through examining earth materials such as rocks, minerals and fossils, and use remote sensing techniques to explore the structure and chemistry of its inaccessible areas.

Learn with experts whose research feeds directly into your studies at the cutting edge of scientific developments. Recent options have included Volcanic Hazards, Global Tectonics, Mineral Resources and Hydrogeology. By your final year you’ll be conducting your own independent research and exploring the questions that matter most to you.

We have a large geology collection and the ability to measure unique geochemical reactions, giving you a real feel for geology in practice.

Field trips are a huge part of why our community is so tight knit, giving you the chance to get to know your course mates while honing your practical skills. 

Law facilitates and constrains every aspect of our lives. This degree will give you both the foundations of legal knowledge and an opportunity to explore the most challenging legal questions facing today's global society.

Our intellectually demanding, the research-rich curriculum will spark your passion for a subject that opens doors to top-flight careers in both law and non-law sectors, with an exciting range of optional units to choose from that reflects the expertise of our globally-renowned academics.

An embedded law clinic and growing opportunities for work on real-life cases mean unique opportunities to put theory into practice. A strong academic experience, combined with vocational development, makes our students highly sought after by employers.

We are accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), reflecting our position as a world leader in teaching and student experience. Alongside our other accreditations, the AVMA accreditation means that graduates of this course will be able to practise veterinary medicine in multiple countries around the world. Visit the Vet School web page for terms and details.

Our modern curriculum introduces you to the integrated structure and function of healthy animals, and the mechanisms of disease and their clinical management. Themes running throughout the course instil the importance of professional skills, animal health and welfare, and veterinary public health. For the first three years you will be primarily based at the main university campus in Clifton but you will also spend time at the clinical campus in Langford. Years four and five are taught at the Langford campus, with an extended final clinical year. 

Accredited by:

• The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
• The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS)
• The European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE)
• The Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC)
• The South African Veterinary Council (SAVC)

Physics is an inherently international activity carried out by scientists in institutions throughout the world, sometimes competing and often collaborating. This degree will give you an early introduction to this key aspect of physics. It offers you the chance to combine in-depth training as a physicist with the experience of living and working as a researcher overseas.

During your third year overseas the programme you follow will be agreed with a tutor at Bristol and the working language will be English. You will be based at a partner university abroad, spending most of your time taking advantage of opportunities available locally. This will usually mean carrying out a full-time research project as part of a research team at the host university. This might entail nanophysics in Brazil, astrophysics in Canada or particle physics in the US.

Alternatively, you can take taught courses through Bristol's Global Opportunities programme. You will continue to study core physics via distance learning in readiness for returning to Bristol for your final year.

The course gives you the opportunity to develop a physicist's broad range of skills, including problem solving, numeracy and communication, and to supplement these with the experimental, theoretical and analytical skills needed for a career in research and industry.

You will join a friendly department with a very active, award-winning society. Our physics graduates have an excellent record of employment, a testament to the value that employers place on the transferable skills that you gain on this course.

If you are creative, enjoy design and aspire to improve the built environment we live in then civil engineering is for you. This degree will equip you to find solutions to environmental problems and to design large and unique structures, such as buildings, bridges, dams and coastal defences.

At Bristol you will have access to our world-class laboratory facilities, including the most advanced earthquake shaking table in Europe.

The first two years provide a strong foundation in engineering, including mathematics, structures, soil and fluid mechanics, computing and surveying, as well as optional units.

In your third year you will undertake a major research project and continue to develop key professional skills. In the fourth year we introduce more optional units, which allows you to specialise in your areas of interest.

Design is central to the course and this is reflected in the projects you will undertake. In the first year you will develop a solution to an open-ended problem, such as designing and making a model bridge.

The second year includes steel work, reinforced concrete and geotechnical design. Among other activities in the third year you will design a water supply system.

You will take part in an exciting group design project in the fourth year. This project combines all your learning as you tackle a realistic design challenge identified through our industry links. Design projects range from transportation to smart cities and from skyscrapers to sustainable housing.

We equip you with the skills needed to become a future leader in civil engineering. Our graduates are highly sought after by top employers, including civil engineering consultancies, utility companies, the army, public transport, power generation and supply companies.

This course offers you an opportunity to pursue a career in accounting, with the benefit of spending one year studying abroad. It provides access to subjects accredited by professional accountancy bodies, including the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). Alternatively, you may pursue a career in finance and investment banking through our outstanding finance-oriented courses.

This four-year course is underpinned by theory and practice. It aims to foster collaboration and creative thinking in the use of case studies. Places on the course are allocated on merit depending on first-year examination results and availability of spaces at destination universities.

The course offers rewarding opportunities to participate in a summer internship and the Bristol PLUS Award. You can also benefit from the faculty's Professional Liaison Network, which offers a range of specialist employability services, including a professional mentoring scheme with alumni, insight talks and internships.

In the past, graduates have gone on to work for the Bank of England, JP Morgan, UBS, PwC, KPMG, EY, Microsoft, IBM and many other blue-chip organisations.

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. 

Our education master's degrees give you the opportunity to design a tailored programme of study that suits your cultural and learning needs. You will be able to specialise and receive an award in a particular disciplinary area.

This pathway is designed for UK and international mathematics teachers and other professionals working in mathematics education, from primary schools to post-16 education. You will be supported in integrating the theory and practice of teaching and learning mathematics by:

• Being an active researcher of your own and others' practice, including reworking your own practice;
• Carrying out small-scale research projects, one of which can act as a pilot project for the major work of your dissertation;
• Engaging with research literature, especially the current journals and activity of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education;
• Engaging with new developments in teaching and learning mathematics;
• Updating your mathematics knowledge;
• Writing assignments that show the emergence of a theoretical frame, presenting a literature search and developing ideas from a seminar;
• Becoming confident with presentation, argumentation, research and ICT skills.