MA in History

Our brand new History MA

Starting 2026-27

Writing History

This 2 term 60 CAT core module covers recent theories and methodologies in history writing.

It also includes preparation for the dissertation, including research and writing skills.

Dissertation

An exciting opportunity to do in-depth research on your favourite topic with support from an expert supervisor. This 15,000 word dissertation is the culmination of your MA study.

How to Apply MA FAQs Funding Find out more

Optional Modules

Students can take 2 or 3 optional modules. Modules on offer will vary according to staff availability and student interest.

Students can also take optional modules in cognate disciplines from the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences.

The following modules are sample History modules.

Doing Global History

This module introduces students to the practice of global history, and critically reflects on the history and future of this field. The module discusses key concepts such as (dis)-connectivity, (im)mobility and scales and covers topics including empire, environment and the movement of people and things. The module reflects on different archival and methodological approaches and encourages students to seek out their own areas of research.

Inventing Truth

Inventing Truth: Facts, Lies and the Crisis of Authority in Early Modern Britain

In our contemporary world, claims about truth have become destabilised by fake news, disinformation, and political lying, whilst postmodernism has suggested that truth is relative and constructed. But these are not just modern phenomena: they can be found in pre-modern Britain too.

This team-taught module explores truth, fact, lies, probabilities and certainty over a ‘long early modern period’ (c.1500-c.1800) through the themes of religion, politics, print media, fiction, witchcraft, social anxieties and the rise of the ‘new’ science. Moving from religious authority to public opinion and scientific and mathematical ‘fact’, it examines changing umpires of truth over the course of the period.

Non-Human Histories

This module introduces students to recent approaches in history and the humanities that take seriously the role of non-human agents in shaping past and present worlds. From microbes and animals to rivers, forests, and climates, the course explores how historians, anthropologists, and science and technology scholars have expanded the boundaries of what counts as historical subject matter. Students will engage with theoretical debates on material agency, cosmology, and perspectivism, while also considering concrete case studies drawn from a wide range of global contexts. The aim is to encourage critical reflection on how history is written when humans are not the only protagonists.

Everyday People

Writing the Stories of Everyday People in the Past

The vast majority of people living in the past did not leave extensive archival papers, memoirs, or collections of letters, but instead appear in the historical record only fleetingly, and often without their consent. In recent years, the archival fragments of peoples’ lives have been made increasingly available due to the growing genealogy industry, which has led to the mass digitisation of primary source databases including census rolls, newspapers, and medical and immigration records. This module asks: what can, and should, historians do with these readily available fragments of past lives? How do we tell their stories?

This module explores how historians can study the lives of people in the past using these online records, with particular focus on enslaved people, people of colour, women, and working class people living in nineteenth century Britain and the United States. It emphasises the ethical questions and methodological challenges posed by our access to these sources: just because they are available at the click of a button does not mean that we know the whole story, nor that that the people detailed on our screens would want us to tell it.

Anglo-German Encounters

Amity, Antagonism and Appeasement: Anglo-German Encounters, 1871-1945

Sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile, always complicated, the relationship between Britain and Germany has been of central importance to the United Kingdom’s relations with continental Europe since the end of the nineteenth century. No other modern European state has inspired such a variety of responses – fear, admiration, envy, and revulsion – or been regarded by turns as such a valued partner or deadly enemy. Nor has any other relationship had such an enduring fascination for historians.

Specialising

You can choose to graduate with an MA in History or an MA in a more specialised route of study.

The following routes are available:

MA History
MA History (Early Modern)
MA History (Global and Comparative)
MA History (Medicine, Science and Technology)
MA History (Modern)

To graduate with a specialised route title, you must:

Pass at least 30 CATS of History modules in the relevant subject area
Complete a dissertation in the relevant subject area
Attend research seminars and events in that area and reflect on your learning from these events.

Life in the department

MA students are strongly encouraged to get involved in the research culture of the department, including

Department research seminar
Research centres
Reading groups
PG Work in Progress presentations
PG Conference

After the MA

Our MA students go onto a range of careers, including further study. The department offers bespoke careers support and is well placed to support PhD applications.