Master of Arts in Social and Political Thought

at University of Warwick United Kingdom

Economics is at the core of Global Sustainable Development (GSD). On this degree you will critically analyse economic models and theories of sustainable development through quantitative and qualitative approaches. Economics modules will provide you with an essential background in micro and macro economics, as well as methodologies for statistical analysis.

Your studies in GSD will empower you to consider the human and environmental implications of development. You will consider challenging questions on climate change, biodiversity, gender equality, and other core components of sustainability. The combination of Economic Studies and GSD encourages you to take a new perspective on our changing global economy.

You can enhance your skills and studies through optional work placements, study abroad, and certificates.

Why is wealth distributed unequally throughout the world? How has the movement of people, resources, capital, and ideas shaped the global challenges of today’s world? What role did the colonial empires play in this? To study History and GSD is to ask these questions.

You will investigate and interpret the past, focusing your interests on Early Modern (between 1500 and 1750) and Modern history (1750 onwards). Meanwhile, you will apply the skills and content of your historical analysis to the present-day challenges of climate change, social justice, and food security.

This transdisciplinary approach encourages you to consider issues from a diverse array of perspectives, to think creatively and to embrace new opinions from your peers.

You can enhance your skills and studies through optional work placements, study abroad, and certificates.

By studying linguistics together with Russian, you will explore the fascinating human capacity for language, while also building your fluency in Russian. As a linguist, you will learn about the structure and function of language, and about relationships between language and society.

You will also study and practice written and oral communication in Russian, and learn broadly about communicating across languages and cultures. Your skills in linguistic analysis will support your language learning, and your knowledge of Russian will complement your work as a linguist. This course opens many career opportunities that require the knowledge and skills of both a modern language and a deep understanding of language, culture and communication.

(75% linguistics, 25% Russian).

Study abroad

If you wish to spend a year abroad (which we thoroughly recommend), this will take place in your third year, meaning that you will complete your degree in four years instead of three. All students have the opportunity to apply for an intercalated year abroad at one of our partner universities. The Student Mobility Team offers support for these activities, and the Department's dedicated Study Abroad Co-ordinator can provide more specific information and assistance.

This course will enable you to pursue your interest in the history, archaeology and art of the ancient world. It looks at the societies and cultures of the ancient Mediterranean through their written texts, visual art and material remains, from grand temples, monuments and villas to the humble residues of everyday life.

You will benefit from many hands-on learning experiences, including handling authentic ancient coins, recreating the experience of a Greek symposium using replica vases, visiting historical sites and museums in the UK, and taking part in our annual classical play, which is staged at a professional theatre and played to a public audience of over a thousand people.

You will have the opportunity to study topics such as Greek democracy, the Roman cultural revolution under Augustus, visual representations of Greek myth, or the Roman Near East, in modules specifically focused on Greco-Roman history, art, archaeology and architecture.

Core first-year modules provide a grounding in approaches to Greek and Roman History and Material Culture while optional modules allow you to explore a range of other topics, including the option to learn an ancient language.

This four-year Ancient History and Classical Archaeology with Study in Europe degree has a similar structure to the three-year course, but alongside learning about the ancient world you will study a modern European language (current options are Italian or German) and spend your third year studying classical subjects at one of our partner universities in Europe.

This is the only Renaissance MA in the UK to offer students the opportunity to spend a full term in Venice. Instruction is in English, and you will be able to take Italian language classes.

This MA covers the period c.1300-c.1650 across Europe. It provides a foundation in the art, history, literature, philosophy, religion and science of the period, exploring their interconnections with the social and political context.

Strongly interdisciplinary, it is taught by academics drawn from the Departments of Classics, English, History, History of Art, and from the School of Modern Languages and Cultures.

Skills from this degree

• Advanced interdisciplinary understanding of Renaissance culture
• Advanced synthetic and analytical skills
• Linguistic, palaeographical, and bibliographical skills
• Research and Information managements skills
• Advanced written and oral communication skills

Our single honors Philosophy course offers a broad range of modules as well as the freedom to choose your own path through the subject. You will learn how to think carefully and critically about a variety of philosophical questions.

Topics you may study include:

• What does it mean to know something, and what can we know?
• What does leading a good life consist in?
• Is the mind identical to the brain?
• Should we impose limits on human enhancement?
• Your first year is designed to help you develop the skills and confidence to succeed on your selected path. You will learn through a variety of teaching and assessment methods in order to foster your development as an independent learner and to help you develop the skills needed to pursue a range of careers.

In your second and your final year, there is a broad array of optional modules to choose from, which allow you to sample a number of different areas of philosophy, or specialise in a particular area of philosophy, such as continental philosophy, or philosophy of mind.

You may also choose to apply for an intercalated year, spent either studying abroad or on a work placement. This extends the duration of your degree to four years and will be reflected in your degree qualification (for example, BA Philosophy with Intercalated Year, or BA Philosophy with Work Placement).

Study abroad

We run successful undergraduate exchanges with Queen’s University, Ontario, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, enabling second-year Philosophy students (single or joint honors) to compete for the chance to spend a full year studying in North America. Modules and examinations are taken at Queen’s and Madison count towards your degree.

All students have the opportunity to apply for an intercalated year abroad at one of our partner universities, which currently include: Bourgogne, Dijon; Erasmus, Rotterdam; Copenhagen; Friedrich Schiller, Jena or Cologne; Vienna; Autonoma or Complutense, Madrid or Seville; Rome or Turin; and Koc, Istanbul. The Study Abroad Team offers support for these activities, and the Department’s dedicated Study Abroad Co-ordinator can provide more specific information and assistance.

This course will enable you to develop expertise in both Latin and ancient Greek, as part of a holistic study of the languages, literature and thought of Greece and Rome, setting these within the broader cultural, social and political contexts of the classical world.

You will study a broad range of texts, taught in innovative and dynamic ways by staff engaged in groundbreaking research. Teaching will develop a range of core linguistic skills as well as skills of literary criticism and in theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches to Classics.

You will spend half of your degree in detailed study of Greek and Latin language and literature, with opportunity to study both well-known texts and less familiar ones, in topics such as ancient Greek theatre, or concepts of humour in Latin literature. You will also be able to widen your knowledge of the ancient world through exploring aspects of ancient art, archaeology, or history, or contemporary philosophical responses to ancient texts, themes, and concepts.

Study abroad
The following Classics and Ancient History degrees enable you to spend your third year studying classical subjects at one of our partner universities in Europe, before returning for your final year at Warwick.

Placements are under review and specific locations cannot be guaranteed; currently we have placements with partner universities in Italy (Bologna, Padua, Rome or Venice) and Germany (Berlin and Tübingen).

• Classics (Ancient Greek) with Study in Europe
• Classics (Latin) with Study in Europe
• Classical Civilisation with Study in Europe
• Ancient History and Classical Archaeology with Study in Europe

Alternatively, you may choose to spend a year at our partner university of Monash, Australia, at the end of your second year. The Study Abroad Team offers support for these activities, and the Department's dedicated Study Abroad Co-ordinator can provide more specific information and assistance.

Are you passionate about examining the relationship between education, sustainable development, and the challenges facing the education sector? Are you enthused about sustainability challenges?

The course seeks to prepare you to become Global Citizens with a conscience, equipped with knowledge and understanding of the key issues of sustainable development from across a broad range of disciplines.

Adopting a problem-based approach, which fosters the investigation of issues using a range of means of enquiry used by researchers from the sciences, arts and social sciences fields, you will work with peers from other Global Sustainable Development (GSD) courses to explore the different approaches and solutions offered, their implications and limitations and their inter-connectivity.

You’ll be stimulated to think critically and creatively about contemporary problems of global significance and to explore ethically and morally complex areas in the search for positive interventions with a beneficial impact. Embracing new opinions from your peers across the world, we will challenge you to become an active participant in your own learning.

You can enhance your skills and studies through optional work placements, study abroad, and certificates.

The MSc Finance will help you to develop a deep theoretical and conceptual knowledge of finance and quantitative skills, preparing you for a range of careers in the financial industry.

Go beyond the application of skills and develop your ability to challenge, evaluate, and rethink established paradigms. As the anticipation of jobs being challenged by Artificial Intelligence becomes a reality, we aim to share the skills and depth of understanding needed to design, develop, and supervise these new forms of financial intelligence.

WBS benefits from excellent links to key financial institutions and employers, and this course has benefited from industry recommendations.

Skills from this degree

• Gain hands-on experience of using lab software to perform calculations and conduct simulations
• Access to dedicated CareersPlus service with specialist careers coaches
• Choose your elective modules to help you specialise, or explore new areas

Digital media today affect all aspects of everyday, professional and public life, and understanding its significance requires interdisciplinary knowledge. Based at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM) at the University of Warwick, the MA Programme in Digital Media and Culture is an advanced one-year postgraduate degree that addresses the role of digital technologies, media, and infrastructures in relation to culture, economics, politics, and society.

Drawing on multiple disciplines, the degree supports critical approaches to key topics in digital culture, including:

• Platformisation
• Participatory culture
• Media activism
• Digital labour and political economy
• Privacy and surveillance
• Behavioural design
• Data critique
• Environmental sustainability

Our teaching combines theory, research methods, and creative practice. By selecting from a diverse offering of modules, students will have, for instance, the opportunity to learn data analytics and visualisation, to engage with speculative design and media art, and to discuss concepts in fields ranging from software studies to environmental humanities.

Based at a research centre promoting cutting-edge scholarship in these areas, our degree is primarily research-driven. MA students will be encouraged to select their own path through the degree and contribute to the culture of CIM by attending invited talks, participating in workshops, and organising interdisciplinary symposiums.