Master of Biosciences

at Durham University United Kingdom

Our one year, full-time MSc in Management programmes are designed to provide you with the tools, techniques and knowledge to succeed in business.

Effective management of human resources is vital to business success. The MSc Management (HRM) will develop your knowledge of human resource management and can help you prepare for a career in human resources.

Our MSc Management (HRM) is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD). The CIPD is the largest professional body of HR and Learning and Development professionals with some 140,000 members across the globe. As a student on the MSc Management programme you have the option to join the CIPD (additional fee applies). Upon successful completion of your MSc (in line with the requirements of the CIPD) you will be eligible for the award of the CIPD’s Advanced Diploma in Human Resource Management; your CIPD membership will be automatically updated to Associate Member, confirming your credentials as prospective HR professional.

The programme consists of a set of core and elective modules, culminating in a practice-based business project or a research-based dissertation.

The Music and Philosophy joint degree course at Durham enables you to pursue your interest in both disciplines, explore the fascinating intersection between them, and enjoy belonging to two particularly vibrant departments. In Philosophy, a wide selection of modules is on offer, addressing the most fundamental questions that arise in diverse areas of human concern, from religion and politics, to morality and the sciences. In Music, the learning of techniques such as harmony, counterpoint, and aural skills are juxtaposed with an investigation of the most up-to-date thinking in musicology, critical theory, composition (acoustic and electroacoustic), analysis, ethnomusicology, cognitive musicology, and performance.

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.

he study of philosophy at Durham does not follow one particular school. The Department is unique in the UK in its wide-ranging expertise in anglo-american analytical philosophy and continental philosophy. Each of these has its own distinctive set of issues and approaches to resolving them. We also have special expertise in the philosophy of science, and social science, and the history of science and medicine. So at Durham, you will follow one of the widest-ranging philosophy degrees in the country.

Philosophy is a new subject for many students, so in your first year, you follow a range of introductory courses, introducing the fundamental philosophical subject areas.

Education Studies is a broad multi-disciplinary degree, designed for the intellectually and practically curious. From the philosophical foundations of schooling, to the political implications of policy, education is a vast field that has multiple avenues to approach a seemingly straightforward subject. Our degree goes far beyond any classroom and considers education, people and their relationship to the ever-changing world.

The breadth of our modules allows for the creation of pathways through the course. This may be linked to one of the degree's four strands of educational expertise: pragmatic; sociological-philosophical; psychological; and international-intercultural education. You will also study modules in the Department of Geography.

Our taught MA course in Studies in Poetry offers choice, flexibility and the opportunity to specialise within this field. You can learn from the rich variety of research expertise in the Department and you also have the chance to concentrate on a particular area of literary study within the field. Our commitment to research-led teaching means that students are able to explore the cutting edge of the discipline - from John Milton to Romantic forms of grief, to the study of modern poetry. We provide an intimate, dynamic and supportive environment for students of all backgrounds and nationalities.

Our course offers up-to-date training in research methods and skills.

You will choose three modules, at least two of which are from within the pathway, and you will write a dissertation on a subject related to studies in poetry.

The Primary Education degree offers Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and is ideal for those committed to a teaching career in a primary school. In addition to preparing you to teach the whole curriculum, the course enables you to become a specialist in a particular curriculum area: English, Mathematics or Science.

The degree aims to help you develop an appropriate repertoire of professional knowledge and understanding to provide a foundation for effective teaching in a primary school; an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the core subjects of the National Curriculum; personal skills which would enable you to contribute to a school as a curriculum specialist in one of the core areas; knowledge and understanding of the other subjects in the primary curriculum to a level which will support effective teaching; understanding of schools and the National Curriculum as the framework within which children’s formal learning takes place; classroom effectiveness by drawing upon the expertise of practising teachers; a personal educational philosophy and a professional approach to your work; an understanding of the responsibilities and roles of the primary teacher.

The Primary Education degree offer closely aligns with the research focus and outputs of the department, offering evidence-based, recent and relevant materials alongside other academic elements, which will fully support the developing primary practitioner. There is an opportunity to personalise the degree from the range of optional modules on offer in Years 1 and 2. There are excellent opportunities for the consideration of international and intercultural perspectives; increasingly relevant with current UK policy looking to overseas pedagogies to inform curriculum development.

The course also offers forward-looking professional development opportunities such as the development of the role of the teacher-researcher and the opportunity to explore the role of subject leadership within schools for future career development.

The program consists of a set of core and elective modules, culminating in a practice-based business project or a research-based dissertation.

Our focused MSc in Management is designed to prepare you for becoming a successful manager. You will cover at an advanced level, the fundamental subjects needed to manage a business within a complex changing environment.

This MSc course is aimed at UK and international students who are seeking access to cutting-edge behavioural science research, advanced training in quantitative methods, and instruction in the application of behavioural science principles to everyday problems faced within the public, private, and third sectors.

The MSc has been designed to provide you with an understanding of factors that impact behaviour, including the role of ‘nudging’ in behaviour change, and the research and analytical skills to enable an analysis of business problems from a behavioural perspective. It will provide you with a wide range of knowledge (both of a theoretical and a practical nature) and transferable skills including various professional ways of disseminating knowledge.

This course will prove valuable for those intending to enter the public, private, or third sector, including business, charities and government, local authorities and international organisations, by providing you with the tools to apply behavioural principles to problem-solving and decision-making in these domains. It will provide behavioural insights to help individuals build confidence, influence others, think and cooperate inter-culturally, set and achieve goals, negotiate mindfully, and teamwork effectively.

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.