Master of Science in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

at Durham University United Kingdom

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 degree balances fundamental knowledge and practical application in order to provide you with both specialised and transferable skills that are greatly valued in the marketplace. The course emphasises from the start both programming and mathematical skills that allow in the later years engagement through your 'Individual Project' with cutting-edge research being done in the department.

The MSc in Medical Anthropology offers a unique opportunity to engage with anthropological approaches to the study of health drawing on sociocultural, ecological and evolutionary perspectives. The course provides a strong grounding in ethnographic approaches to the study of health, the political ecology of health and the application of anthropology to contemporary public health concerns, as well as a diverse range of options in areas such as theories of the body and evolutionary medicine.

Our unique biosocial approach to the anthropology of health is one of our key strengths and attracts a wide range of students, contributing to a stimulating and exciting learning environment. An emphasis on developing and applying research skills is also central to our degree.

With this route, you could study the same three subjects each year. You could also build on your first-year studies in one or two subjects and then combine advanced modules in these subjects with a new subject(s) in your second year.

You could then study two or three subjects in your third year, all of which you must also have studied in earlier years. With this route, you would graduate with a BSc (Hons) degree in Natural Sciences with your main subjects studied listed on the degree certificate.

At the end of Year 2, the BSc allows you the option of transferring onto either “with Year Abroad” or “with Placement” pathway. Note that these options are competitive and so applicants cannot apply for these pathways through UCAS.

The course is designed as a research preparation masters. It is intended to encourage you to be intellectually ambitious by inducting you into a community of historians. It invites you to understand the relationship between your own specialist field and the historical discipline in general as well as to communicate with wider audiences. You will feel sufficiently confident in your own disciplinary identity and mastery of the subject to be able to converse with those in other fields.

The course is taught with an emphasis on disciplinary training supplied by the Department’s subject specialists with expertise in an outstanding range of areas (Europe, Britain, North America, Africa, China and Japan) and interdisciplinary engagement, while offering opportunities for supported independent study. You will be able – and are indeed encouraged – to access and use Durham’s exceptional cluster of libraries, archives, and special collections.

All students on the MA in History are required to take the team-taught core module Themes, Reading and Sources (30 credits) which runs throughout Michaelmas (Autumn). Depending on whether you opt for the 60-credit Dissertation pathway or the 90-credit Dissertation pathway, you will also take either 3 or 2 optional modules (each worth 30 credits) which run either in Michaelmas or Epiphany or throughout both terms. The options may also be language, skills and content modules, provided by other centres, courses and departments with the consent of all parties concerned. All these elements have embedded within them a range of content, subject-specific skills, and key skills.

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.

This is a four-year multidisciplinary degree in which the compulsory Chinese language and culture modules will be taught at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (MLaC) and in the Department of History. You may choose a selection of other modules relevant to the study of China from other departments, including Anthropology, Education, Government and International Affairs, Economics, and Theology and Religious Studies.

In addition, you may choose to take additional modules offered by MLaC including European languages and Japanese. All students will spend their third year studying the Chinese language at a university in China. Students are not expected to have any previous knowledge of Chinese, but a pathway is available if you have an A level or equivalent qualification in Chinese.

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 MA in Education provides outstanding opportunities to study a wide range of educational issues. It will provide you with a clear understanding of the nature and significance of policy and practice in education, relevant to researchers as well as professionals in schools, colleges and universities.

A key feature of the course is the facility for you to draw on your own professional and personal as well as academic and theoretical interests, through being able to choose from a range of optional modules to study (see below). You will also be able to explore your own interests in depth through the completion of a dissertation.

The degree has been designed to meet the needs of educational professionals, especially those in teaching, management or administration at all levels of education. Students likely to benefit from the course are those who are interested in education, often teachers or people planning to become teachers, who have a commitment to pedagogy, and educational managers in schools, colleges and higher education institutions, as well as those working in educational administration, in the UK and overseas.

Through its flexible delivery routes, the MA in Education is suitable for students from all backgrounds and countries. In addition to a traditional full-time study route, the course is also available part-time. On the part-time route, teaching is delivered through intensive teaching weekends scheduled around (Durham) school half-term holidays making the course more accessible for those working full-time.

This course focuses on the political, social and cultural history of the Greek and Roman world, and their interactions with neighbouring societies. In your first year, you study core topics in Greek and Roman history, as well as a module focusing on ancient historical writing.

These courses prepare you for a wide range of more focused modules about politics, culture and society in the ancient world available in your second and third years. The course includes the option of beginning to learn Greek or Latin language (or continuing, if you have studied the languages already).