Master of Arts in Socio-Cultural Anthropology

at Durham University United Kingdom

The MA Social Research Methods is part of a suite of advanced postgraduate methods-based courses delivered across the University faculties. The MA aims to provide core accessible and inclusive cross-disciplinary advanced research methods training across the social sciences with specific subject-specific training in research practices related to a chosen field of social policy, criminology, sociology or social work.

The course will equip you with the research and employability skills required to transition successfully to enhanced careers in academia, commercial companies, public sector, non-governmental organisations or other sectors. This degree will provide academic rigour and coherence, whilst allowing a degree of flexibility and choice within the chosen course in terms of disciplinary focus and advance research approaches.

The course covers conceptual and practical underpinnings and implications of research, looking at various research techniques and the rationale behind them. It will enable you to develop essential skills in both quantitative and qualitative work and to apply those skills to social research in a particular subject area (criminology, social policy, sociology, social work).

The programme aims to give students a systematic and rigorous understanding of the disciplines of Politics and International Relations. Teaching is structured around three main streams: Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. Students move from introductory in each of these areas in their early years to more specialised options, enabling students to focus on a specific sub-field or topic, analyse the politics and international relations of specific regions and countries, and engage in theoretical examinations that help us make sense of a complex, inter-connected, and rapidly changing world.

Students will gain an appreciation and a more nuanced understanding of, as well as the ability to engage with current issues and debates, including those at the forefront of current research and enquiry. Upon completion of their studies students will be able to describe and comment on current research and possess knowledge and skills that enable them to complete their own research, employing appropriate techniques and analysis methods.

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.

Our innovative MSc Accounting programme sits within Durham’s portfolio of Masters programmes. A one-year full-time programme, it provides an opportunity for you to develop an in-depth understanding of the theory and practice of accounting as well as the critical thinking skills so valued by employers. The MSc in Accounting covers key accounting topics including financial statements and their preparation and analysis, the practical limitations of financial reporting, contemporary and evolving practice in financial and non-financial accounting and reporting, management information for decision-making, and the practice and concepts of auditing.

This is an ideal programme to choose if you’re looking to pursue a career in accountancy. The programme is intended for graduates in any subject or discipline; no previous study in accounting is necessary. Accounting undergraduate students, or students who have completed a professional accounting qualification may find some content of this programme overlaps with their prior learning.

The MA in Archaeology can be studied on a full-time and part-time basis. Through sets of specialist modules, skills-oriented classes and workshops, and dissertation research it provides the opportunity to advance your skills and knowledge in archaeology with a view to progressing either to doctoral-level research or to gaining specialist and transferable skills to develop a career in commercial archaeology or in the wider employment market.

The MA Archaeology is designed to take advantage of the exceptionally wide research interests of the staff in Durham Archaeology, which range from the Palaeolithic of western Europe, through Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, to the Classical archaeology of the Greek and Roman worlds, through Egyptology, the archaeology of the ancient and Islamic Near East and Arabia, to Buddhism in South Asia and trade in the Indian Ocean, and the archaeology of the medieval, post-medieval and historic periods.

From this widespread students are able to select a combination of specialist taught courses and a dissertation topic in precisely the areas that interest them. At the same time, they will form part of a large cohort of students taking this and associated courses creating a student community amongst whom some courses in research, presentation and practical skills are shared, along with discussions and events. This structure offers the opportunity for interdisciplinary exchange combined with specialist training in key archaeological skills and knowledge, as well as making friendships and contacts from around the world.

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

Liberal Arts offersyou the opportunity to design your own programme of study. The Liberal Arts degree complements Durham University’s Single and Joint Honours programmes, enabling you to study modules in up to four subjects in, and beyond, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. If you are looking for the freedom to follow your intellectual interests, wherever these might take you, then Liberal Arts might be the right degree for you.

In Liberal Arts, it is not only possible to study any subject in the Arts and Humanities, but also most subjects in the Social Sciences. It is possible, therefore, for students to combine History and Politics, for example, but also to study subjects in combinations less likely to be available in a Joint Honours programme, such as Theology and Anthropology, or Music and Sociology, or Philosophy and Geography.

If the subject which you regard as your primary interest is in the Social Sciences, you should apply for the Combined Honours in Social Sciences degree.

Geophysics is the application of physical principles to the study of the structure and dynamics of the Earth and increasingly other planets. Geophysics has many practical applications and forms an essential part of the economic exploitation of hydrocarbon and mineral resources. Geophysicists are also involved with assessing and mitigating natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.

The Geophysics with Geology degree shows progression from the first year through to the third year. In the first year, you share the core modules with the other degree courses, but it also includes additional core modules which specialise in Mathematics and Physics. In the second and third years, you deal with material that is specialist, numerically based and at the cutting-edge of geophysical research.

Graduates from this degree have secured employment across the geoscience sector, within the mineral exploration and extraction industries, in petroleum exploration companies, and with environmental and hydro-geological industries. The advanced quantitative skills developed during this course can provide a strong base for securing employment outside geoscience, for example, in finance, insurance and banking.

This dynamic course brings together the rigour of the scientific laboratory and the excitement of fieldwork. It will help you to understand archaeology across the world, drawing on the latest scientific techniques, such as DNA analysis, bone chemistry and the study of archaeological bone and plant remains.

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

This course is designed for students with an undergraduate degree in a subject other than anthropology who would like to prepare for research in socio-cultural anthropology or for a career requiring expertise in anthropology.

High profile social anthropologist researchers at Durham, with experience of conducting fieldwork all around the world, introduce you to both classical and contemporary writing and research in the discipline. There is equal emphasis on theoretical and methodological questions, and plenty of opportunities to apply this new knowledge to issues of pressing social concern.

The full-time course consists of two terms of teaching, during which you are introduced to the range of research questions and methods used in social or cultural anthropology, and a dissertation, involving the design, development, and implementation of an independent research project. You will work closely with academic staff from our highly respected Social Anthropology Research Group receiving enhanced levels of support as part of the ‘conversion’ to anthropology, including fortnightly small group meetings with the course tutor, and have the opportunity to become involved in active research projects.