Master of Physics (Hons)

at University of Hertfordshire - De Havilland Campus United Kingdom

This degree involves a practical workshop programme, establishing and refining your understanding of the tactile qualities and properties of materials and how they can be manipulated to express your ideas. In the First Year you’ll learn contemporary approaches to designing and making across a range of 2D and 3D media. Then, in the Second Year, you’ll focus your interests in order to reach the high level of refinement necessary for the professional marketplace. Our students produce a richly diverse range of artefacts, such as tableware, experimental objects, sculptures, architectural pieces, tiles and conceptual pieces for exhibition or commission.

• Contemporary Design Crafts Ceramics and Glass degree encourages fresh ideas, inventive use of materials and techniques, and awareness of contemporary markets.
• You establish and refine your interests in the field of ceramics and glass to reach the high level of skills demanded by the professional marketplace.
• Placements develop a versatile understanding of the workplace, establishing our graduates as contemporaries in a competitive professional market.

Social workers help people find solutions to their problems and live more successfully in their communities. Sometimes this includes helping them confront and manage behaviours that put themselves and others at risk. To succeed, social workers must work not only with service users, but also with their service user’s families and friends, as well as other organisations including the police, NHS and schools. This course covers subjects such as law, partnership working, assessment and interventions, social science, mental health, disabilities, and families and children.

During the three-year BSc programme, you will learn the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the social worker role.  In your first year of study you will undertake modules which provide core knowledge and skills, including human development across the lifespan, working with diverse communities and service users, key methods and interventions and the policy and legislation which underpins practice. The second year and third years of teaching builds on this to explore ideas in depth including issues of risk and need which social workers manage.  The programme concludes in the writing of a dissertation on a topic area of interest to you. Your learning will be supported by a total of 170 placement days and 30 skills development days.

In today’s fast-paced media world, people with the ability to write, design and harness new technologies are in high demand.

Studying our BA Media degree will equip you with a portfolio of practical skills as well as a theoretical and critical understanding of Media. Our industry-focused approach, combining theory and practice, will help build your confidence, give you the  communication and technological skills required for the industry and help you plan your career.

You’ll learn how to design your own app proposal, build and edit brilliant websites and create a hard-hitting ad campaign, including PR. You’ll also learn what makes a good news story or feature, and how to write one. Using industry standard software and equipment, our professionally-experienced academics and researchers will help you develop skills across divergent platforms and for different audiences.

These hands-on skills will be underpinned by an understanding of the global media industry, and the legal and ethical contexts of your work. In your first year you’ll explore Global Media and Society, looking at who owns the news, at the influence of the BBC and commercial entities such as Sky and Murdoch’s News Corporation, and consider issues such as fake news.

Other core modules (courses) include introductions to Media Communications and Visual Communications – how to use text and graphics to reach key audiences – while you’ll gain technical skills through Photoshop or animation projects.

In your second year you’ll learn key research methods and skills including how to conduct interviews and run focus groups, and how to pitch to different client groups. You’ll explore radio journalism and social media, while a module on App Design will help you understand the commercial potential for your ideas.

If you’re into music, film, food or travel, you’ll have opportunities to create magazine layouts and pdfs for online publications on whatever subject interests you. A video option will give you the chance to create a brand for a product or service.

In your final year you’ll develop and refine your ideas and skills further. Whether you’re keen to work in web design, social media, customer relations, PR or advertising, the skills you’ve gained will prepare you to be tomorrow’s creative entrepreneurs, confident in using different platforms to get ahead in your chosen career.

• Communication skills (both oral and written),  enabling you to create and publish content across a broad range of formats
• Theory and practice – your critical understanding of Media will help futureproof your practical skills as an author and publications designer
• Individual support – a personal tutor will help you grow in confidence and support your development
• Industry insights – our Media Matters series of talks are delivered by professionals from a wide variety of media including TV, national newspapers and start-ups.
• An international perspective through the chance to study abroad 

• Each student on the programme has their own studio space within the shared PG Art studio area. You will be able to work alongside fellow students in Photography, Fine Art, Contemporary Textiles and Contemporary Crafts, as well as students across the School.
• The School has excellent facilities accessible to all students – darkrooms, print and textiles studio, 3d workshops (including glass, ceramics, jewellery, 3d printing), equipment loan store, and computer suites.
• All the teaching staff are creative practitioners/artists who have national or international standing and expertise. Invited speakers, artists/creatives, curators and theorists, also add to the creative mix. The teaching staff are passionate about the work we make and the work you make!

MA Contemporary Crafts is an award that sits within the PG Art Programme at the School of Creative Arts. Within this masters programme there is strong emphasis on professional practice and the real-world applications of art and design. You will develop key research skills and gain a good understanding of the work of other practitioners in your field.

The aim of the programme is to equip you with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to practice at an advanced level, to foster your creativity and enhance your employment opportunities. You will work alongside artists and designers who are involved with a wide variety of media and forms. Induction, seminars and social events for students and staff mean that you will be part of a friendly and supportive postgraduate community, which also includes film makers, musicians and professionals working in new media. Senior research staff and internationally renowned artists work with postgraduate students, helping you to develop original and challenging work.

Contemporary Crafts is an area of creative practice that has a growing reputation through the recent heightened public exposure via the media. On this course, you will explore and challenge the boundaries of your practice and, through discussion and debate with other students, explore some of the key ideas and concepts that inform contemporary applied arts practice.

We focus on helping you develop the entrepreneurial skills you need to further your career and explore funding opportunities and employment in the creative and cultural spheres. You may develop and exploit your talent across a wide range of activities and develop a practice as a maker of individual objects, a designer of batch-produced products, an artist working to commission or establish a mixed portfolio career.

You are encouraged to challenge the materials you use through practical research and sampling and refine your professional practice through the application of process, development of technical skill, material understanding and conceptual underpinning. You have the opportunity to specialize in one area or work across a wide range of disciplines and materials - jewellery, textiles, ceramics, glass, printmaking - and be actively involved in sharing ideas and taking part in critical debate.

Through working alongside artists and designers on other postgraduate courses you will explore the possibilities for the applied artist today, questioning conventions and refining your practice and design capabilities by working with and understanding materials. Our staff are experienced in research and professional practice, and you will also benefit from contributions from visiting artists, designers, makers and other arts and design professionals, as well as from involvement with our international exhibitions programme and gallery environment.

All three of our model design courses share the same First Year, giving you an excellent introduction to model making, prop making, sculpture and special effects. Building on this foundation, you’ll learn how to create highly detailed models for a range of disciplines, such as concept cars for the automotive industry, scale models for architects and miniatures for films.

In second year you will learn how to create highly detailed models for a range of disciplines, from concept cars for the automotive industry to the scale models used by architects and ‘movie miniatures’ for films.

In your Final Year you’ll work on major projects and create a professional portfolio to impress employers. Throughout your studies you’ll use the latest computer-aided design technology alongside more traditional machining. This course is accredited by Creative Skillset, reflecting the highest standard of teaching and facilities

Model Design Successes

The Model Design Programme is the only Special Effects course to have been accredited by Creative Skillset, the industry kite mark of quality following a rigorous assessment process by experts working in the Creative Industries and is awarded to practice-based courses which best prepare students for a career in the industry.

The programme has outstanding links with industry and this results in high profile work experience opportunities for our students. In 2013, our students worked on major feature films at leading UK studios, including making action props on Guardians of the Galaxy, Jupiter Ascending, Exodus and Black Sea.

In 2014, 92% of our second year students undertook work experience on four major feature films at Leavesden, Pinewood, Shepperton and Twickenham studios.

Graduates from this degree often work with leading figures in the creative industries and a host of companies including: Anarchy Ltd, Artem, Asylum, Berry Place, Darkside FX, Ferox Effects, Foster + Partners, Gerry Judah, Seymour Powell, Pipers and Zone Creations etc.

The programme regularly exhibits at the New Blades exhibition (held at Holborn Studios in London). In 2013, our graduates won three prizes making a total of thirteen awards we have won at New Blades in the last 4 years.

Articles about the work have featured in a variety of international publications including Wired Magazine and CNN.

Model Design Facilities

Our students’ work in a large airy purpose built studio (with individual spaces for every student), which is situated above an extensive workshop that contain a wide range of traditional and cutting edge technologies. Students are able to use a wide variety of equipment/machinery and state of the art rapid prototyping facilities: laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC milling and routing. Our students also use a well-equipped sculpture studio, which has excellent life drawing and modelling facilities, a plaster mould making area and industry standard extraction in the fiberglass/resin casting room. The sculpture workshops also provide excellent brazing, soldering and welding facilities for most types of metal fabrication and finishing. In addition to these dedicated workshop facilities, our students are taught a variety of computer aided design processes in both 2D and 3D packages in computer suites, which are situated close to the Model Design studio. Our students have access to all of the facilities across the school including excellent photographic equipment/studios and printing.

This is a unique combination of three interrelated degrees with a combined first year (Model, Character and Special Effects). The lecturing staff all have extensive subject knowledge gained from careers in the creative industries, hence students achieve professional standards in their work. We have excellent links with industry and provide placements on major movies at leading UK film studios.

• You will learn how to create highly detailed models for a wide range of disciplines from concept cars for the automotive industry and product prototyping, through to the scale buildings used by architects or ‘movie miniatures’ used in films.
• Excellent workshop facilities for both traditional model making machinery and cutting-edge prototyping technologies including; CAD, 3D printing, laser cutting and CNC machining sit alongside the specialist industry standard facilities for model making, product prototyping and prop making
• Outstanding work experience opportunities and collaborative projects provided by our very close contacts in the creative industries
• Industry professionals teach across all three pathways of the programme
• Model Effects students achieve consistently high graduate employment rates

MA Interior Architecture & Design is a Masters award within the MA Art and Design programme at the School of Creative Arts. Within the programme there is strong emphasis on professional practice and the real-world applications of art and design. You will develop key research skills and gain a good understanding of the work of other practitioners in your field.

The aim of the postgraduate programme is to equip you with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to practice at an advanced level, to foster your creativity and enhance your employment opportunities. You will work alongside artists and designers who are involved with a wide variety of media and forms and will benefit from visiting interior designers, architects and design professionals. Induction, seminars and social events for students and staff mean that you will be part of a friendly and supportive postgraduate community, which also includes film makers, musicians and professionals working in new media. Senior research staff and internationally renowned artists work with postgraduate students, helping you to develop original and challenging work.

The MA Interior Architecture & Design degree will be of interest to interior and spatial designers, architects, and design professionals in related disciplines. It gives you a forum to explore a wide range of issues, including creative practice and the psychology of space as well as the use of materials, scale and form in the creation of private, commercial and public spaces.

Through working with a strong experimental ethos and developing solid technical skills, you will examine the connection between architecture and interior design and the creation of both real and virtual spaces.

Interior architecture & design have a dramatic impact on our understanding of the spaces in which we live and work. This course is dedicated to helping you advance your practice against the expanding profile of this subject area.

This course covers the three main disciplines of sport science: physiology (including nutrition), biomechanics and psychology. You’ll gain a fundamental understanding of physiology, anatomy, psychology, biomechanics, sports performance, biochemistry, nutrition, and strength and conditioning – and then apply your knowledge through practical classes and research. During your studies you’ll have many opportunities to use our state of-the art human performance labs, where you’ll learn to assess and improve sporting performance, as well as gain invaluable knowledge on the role exercise plays in improving health and wellbeing.

You’ll also develop the analytical, written and verbal skills expected by employers. The course is also aligned to  a vocational qualification accredited through the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) with the option after year one of becoming a qualified fitness instructor. Furthermore, this course is a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) recognised undergraduate programme, allowing students to complete the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist qualification near graduation.

Our excellent facilities ensure we can deliver a comprehensive programme of practical work to support lecture material. A focus on Personal Transferable Skills throughout the first and second year enables you to develop competence in a range of skill areas which will be of benefit professionally and personally and which are essential to success in a competitive employment market.

Other additional opportunities include

• Guest lecturers: e.g. GSK, HSV, Felicity Aston (first woman to walk the Antarctic solo)
• Work Experience: including local, national and international employers taking students for their work experience module in final year (e.g. football, rugby clubs, hospitals, other universities)
• Opportunities for students to support applied testing and research in the labs
• Opportunities to gain internationally recognised qualifications:
• Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA)
• ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist

Study with a top history department and be taught from the cutting edge of historical research. We are ranked first among all History departments in the country for the social and cultural impact of our research and fifth for the overall quality of our research. Our world leading experts have published widely, won prizes for their work, and contribute to national and international television and radio. Our publications include a contribution to Harry Potter: A History of Magic, the companion book to the recent exhibition of the same name at the British Library.

Through our diverse and inclusive curriculum students will learn about an array of cultures and identities. Topics range from magic and witchcraft, to propaganda and popular protest, to health and family life.

What links our work is our focus on people’s history and everyday lives. This is represented strongly in our first year programme, which will give you an insight into the making of the modern world through exploration of faith, magic and medicine, campaigns for freedom and equality, Africa and the world, and America from Hamilton to Trump.

The modules you take in your second and third year allow you to concentrate on areas you find especially interesting; you might focus on a region, such as Europe, or a particular period, such as the twentieth century. Whichever path you choose, you will find challenging and stimulating courses.

In your final year, you demonstrate your research skills by producing a dissertation on a topic of your choosing. Previous students have been inspired by their year of study abroad, while others have worked on the history of jiu jitsu, women code breakers at Bletchley Park, the Notting Hill riots, and vice and sexuality in 17th-century London. One of the recent presidents of the University’s Students’ Union wrote her dissertation during her final year of study with us on changing perceptions of the devil, while one of our final year students won the British Commission for Maritime History Prize in 2016 for his dissertation on the East India Company.

We give you: 

• An exceptional academic team, conducting world-leading research
• Stimulating, innovative courses - our students reported almost 94% overall satisfaction with their course (2018 National Student Survey)
• A flexible programme of study, allowing you to concentrate on areas you find especially interesting
• The opportunity to write a dissertation on a topic about which you are passionate
• CV-building potential through work placements and extra-curricular activities

The University of Hertfordshire MA in Creative Writing offers you the opportunity to develop your creative, critical and professional writing skills in a stimulating and supportive environment.

Through writing workshops and intensive tutorial-based supervision our teaching staff - all established authors themselves - will help you improve your own writing as you explore the advanced craft, theory and techniques of poetry, prose and drama.

Whether you have an unfinished novel you’re passionate about or want to learn how to write powerful dialogue or create memorable characters, this MA Creative Writing offers a range of modules that give you both literary context and practical professional guidance.

In all modules you will be taught by lecturers who are themselves professional practitioners and who bridge the gap between creative and academic approaches to their fields. These include two award-winning playwrights, Simon Vinnicombe, whose work has been produced at the National Theatre, Old Vic and around the world, and Drew Pautz, who is additionally a screenwriter and director whose work has also been performed at the National Theatre. As a feature film screenwriter he has worked with UK and European production companies.

Guided by our staff, you’ll take two core Writing Workshop modules examining creative and critical processes in your first two semesters. These workshops provide supportive spaces for you to contribute your own writing, reading your work to your fellow students and learning in turn to critique their work from a writer’s point of view.

Other modules may change but could include Working as a Writer and People and Places. As part of Working as a Writer you’ll submit your work to magazines and creative writing competitions, helping you to gain a practical understanding of the publishing world and how to approach editors and prepare your work for publication.

People and Places focuses on aspects of writing with communities, including the methods and approaches writers have used to portray communities or locations in creative work, and the tradition of writers working with communities to create joint artistic projects.

In your final semester you’ll complete a dissertation. This can take the form of a novel, script for stage, TV or film, a work of creative non-fiction, short story or poetry collection. Wherever your writing ambitions lie, this is your opportunity to add polished work to your portfolio and look ahead to your future writing life.

We give you:

• Teaching staff who are all published authors, poets or dramatists
• Visits and talks by writers, editors and agents working across the creative writing industries
• Opportunities to create and develop a portfolio of work, whether poetry, prose or drama
• A platform for publishing your work and a springboard for your future life as a writer

One of a range of degrees from the taught Master's Programme at the Department of Computer Science

This course examines current research and practice in software engineering. You will develop knowledge and skills in the models, methodologies, measures and tools that can be employed in software development considered as an engineering discipline.

Why choose this course?

• This MSc is available with an optional one-year industry placement. The 'with placement' programmes give you additional industrial experience by applying the skills you have learned throughout your studies.
• One of a range of advanced courses within our postgraduate Master's programme in Computer Science, this particular course provides you with a specialism combining theoretical knowledge and practical skills in advanced computer science.
• This MSc develops graduates’ practical skills of producing models of software engineering processes and artefacts using appropriate modelling techniques, and applying measures to software engineering processes and artefacts and use the data produced to evaluate software engineering activities.
• Taught by a highly-regarded and long-established computer science department with strong links to business.