Master of Arts in Education

at Durham University United Kingdom

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.

Advances in fields such as Physics, Engineering, Earth Sciences or Finance are increasingly driven by experts in computational techniques. Notably, people skilled to write code for the most powerful computers in the world and skilled to process the biggest data sets in the world can truly make a difference.

The MSc in Scientific Computing and Data Analysis offers an application-focused course to deliver these skills with three interwoven strands:

• Computer Science underpinnings of scientific computing (algorithms, data structures, implementation techniques, and computer tool usage)
• Mathematical aspects of data analysis
• Implementation and application of fundamental techniques in a domain specialisation (presently Astrophysics, Particle Physics, Financial Mathematics, or Earth and Environmental Sciences

This is a course geared towards preparing you for higher research into the interaction of the classical world with the Near East - partly through direct research training, and partly through modules taught by experts in their field, in small-group seminars.

The relationship between the classical world and neighbouring civilisations is among the most important and most rapidly expanding areas of classical scholarship, and we have particular strength in this field: we offer tuition in Akkadian, and can draw on the resources of the Oriental Museum in Durham and the expertise pooled in the Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East.

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

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.

This is a four-year MChem degree accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry. You will spend the first three years developing an understanding of a broad range of modern chemistry covering organic and inorganic synthesis, physical characterisation methods, and chemistry at the interfaces with biosciences, engineering and physics. You will also gain a broad range of practical skills in synthesis, physical measurement and data analysis. In your final year, you will carry out an individual research project addressing a novel area of contemporary chemistry, whilst following lectures at the research forefront. Throughout the degree, you will develop your chemical understanding, problem-solving and practical skills. Graduates of this course are well-prepared for higher level study, work in the chemicals sector, and roles requiring problem-solving and numeracy skills.

Our BA (Hons) Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) is a prestigious programme offering you the opportunity to explore three subjects – their connections, influences and impact. You’ll gain an understanding of how and why they’ve been so inextricably linked historically, and the ways in which they’ve developed and diverged over the course of the last two centuries, both in content and in method.

Throughout the course you’ll investigate the subjects in theory and practice, gaining the knowledge and skills to pursue different lines of inquiry and interrogate your own ideas. All this provides a rigorous academic framework which is highly-regarded as excellent preparation for a successful career, no matter what path you take.

This course offers students from a wide variety of backgrounds the opportunity to develop their legal knowledge and skills in some of the most intellectually challenging and practically relevant areas of trade and commercial law. The course has a particular emphasis on the international aspects of these areas of legal knowledge and practice.

During the first two terms of the course, you will study taught modules drawn from a wide variety of topics on international trade and commercial law. You then complete your studies by writing a dissertation on a topic chosen by you and supervised by a member of staff with expertise in your selected subject area. Teaching is a mixture of lectures and smaller, student-led, seminar or tutorial groups. The dissertation is pursued by independent research with individual supervision.

Students attending the course are drawn from a broad range of countries, and their previous academic or professional experiences enrich the course. The School is host to the Institute of Commercial and Corporate Law, and students on the LLM are encouraged to participate in its activities.

This MA aims to introduce you to the issues involved in global cultural heritage management as a foundation for both professional and academic paths. It benefits from Durham University’s unique situation, living and studying within a UNESCO World Heritage Site and examines tangible and intangible heritage from international, national and local perspectives. Durham University established the first ever UNESCO Chair in Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage, held by Professor Robin Coningham. The degree has strong links with the Durham World Heritage Site and with other local, regional, national and international heritage sites and organisations, many of whom offer placement opportunities.

There are two routes through the MA: the Cultural Heritage Research route which concludes with a dissertation. The Professional Practice Route which concludes with an analytical case study report.

Criminology is concerned with understanding crime, deviance and institutions of criminal justice.

Criminologists seek to answer questions like: why are some people more likely to commit or be victims of crime than others; how can crime be effectively prevented or controlled; and from a more critical perspective, how do particular activities become defined as “criminal” in the first place and what does this tells us about the nature of power and authority in society?

Overall, the course progressively develops your critical understanding of Criminology through the examination of key concepts and theories as well as substantive issues related to crime and criminal justice. Alongside this, the course teaches critical analytical and methodological skills to equip students with the practical expertise required to engage with and carry out Criminological research. As such, by the end of the course, graduates will be able to draw upon conceptual and empirical material to critically analyse complex Criminological issues in a scholarly fashion.

The degree is based on a modular structure, with students required to take the equivalent of six modules (some of which may be ‘double modules’) within each year of study. Over the course of the degree, modules become increasingly focused on specialist topics and issues, with the chance to undertake a Sociological research project on a specific topic of substantive interest in the final year of study.