Masters Degrees (Battlefield Archaeology)

This Masters in Conflict Archaeology & Heritage specialises in the archaeological approaches to conflict and historic battlefields. The course reflects the importance of archaeological manifestations of conflict as a vital component of the world’s cultural heritage, providing a firm grounding in the latest methodologies, concepts, and applications within this exciting multi-disciplinary field.

Why this programme

• The programme is based within the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, which is an internationally renowned centre of excellence for the study of conflict heritage and archaeology.
• The Centre is consistently engaged in high profile fieldwork and research projects covering a wide geographical area and chronological span; the scope of research includes battlefields, memorialisation, military infrastructure, cultural resource management, etc.
• The programme’s focus on conflict landscapes makes fieldtrips an integral part of the MLitt: amongst the significant battlefields you will visit will be the iconic sites of Bannockburn and Culloden.
• Conflict sites, both ancient and modern, have come to be accepted as important elements of the world’s cultural heritage, and this programme provides an ideal grounding if you are interested in the management of these fields of conflict; the Centre has played a lead role in the development of government policy on the conservation and management of historic battlefields in Scotland.
• You will benefit from a unique portfolio of ongoing research and archive material, including artefacts, historic documents, and other resources; you will also have access to a wide range of specialist archives, museums, professional archaeological units, and scientific institutions.

Programme structure

From battlefield archaeology, to the anthropology of warfare, to archaeologies of confinement, the programme will explore in depth the many and varied ways that human conflict can be interrogated via an archaeologically focused interdisciplinary approach, encompassing time periods from the prehistoric to the modern. In addition to taught elements, the course will encourage students to engage with the subject on a practical basis and will involve fieldtrips to a number of battlefields and other sites relevant to their studies.

The programme consists of three core courses which will provide a general framework for the study of conflict archaeology and heritage, accompanied by three more specialised optional courses. For the MLitt you will produce a dissertation on a specialist topic agreed with your supervisor.

Core courses

• Research and Professional Skills
• The Art of War: Concepts and Theories
• Method & Practice in Conflict Heritage

Optional courses

You need to choose three options in total; two options are selected from the following:

• Modern Warfare
• British Battlefields

One option is selected from any of the specialist courses offered in the Archaeology, War Studies or other relevant programmes.

Career prospects

The Centre has an excellent track record of students going on to employment in universities, museums, commercial archaeology, government agencies, and archives both here and abroad. The MLitt in particular has proved to be an excellent platform to progression into PhD studies at universities both in the UK and overseas.

Tourism has developed into one of the prime industries in the global economy. According to the World Travel & Tourist Council, the tourism sector supports 1 in 10 jobs on the planet.

Travel agencies, governments, heritage centers and publishers are increasingly looking for academically trained professionals who can creatively and critically reflect on tourism as a cultural phenomenon, and who are capable of nourishing the cultural interests of tourists with enticing ideas and well-informed stories.

Become an expert in cultural tourism

There is a growing need, both among young adults and older generations, to include new types of travel experiences in mass tourism. For example a journey in the footsteps of Harry Potter or Marcel Proust. Or think of battlefield tourism or 'dark tourism' to former Nazi camps.

At the same time, traditional destinations for cultural tourism such as cathedrals, palaces, museums or ruins face the challenge to adapt to rising levels of education conflicting with shortening attention spans.

By combining historical, literary, art-historical and other disciplinary approaches, and by integrating academic research with practical challenges, this new Master’s specialisation will train you to become an academic expert in cultural tourism.

Find out more on the website: http://www.ru.nl/masters/tourism

Unique Characteristics

• The only Master’s in Cultural Tourism Studies in The Netherlands
• Integration of academic research and practical on-the-job training through research projects, policy papers and workshops with public or commercial partners
• Interdisciplinary approach: combines history, literary and cultural studies, art history, and heritage studies
• Well-established contacts with leading players in the field of cultural tourism, which will help you to build up your professional network and to learn from state-of-the-art expertise
• International field work, for instance at renowned academic institutes (such as the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome)

Career prospects

As an academic expert in cultural tourism, you will be able to offer a creative, critical and well-informed contribution to the tourism industry and the cultural sector.

Depending on your own initiative and talents, this Master’s specialisation will help you to become (for example):

• a publicist for a lifestyle magazine or the cultural appendix of a newspaper,
• a policy maker at a municipality,
• a communication or education officer at a museum,
• a consultant for tourism companies,
• an entrepreneur who develops new formats for city tours or B&B’s

The combination of solid academic training and hands-on work experience in the field, also offers an outstanding preparation for journalistic, research and policy functions in other fields than the tourism industry.

Visit http://www.ru.nl/masters/tourism to check out the full details of the programme and start your application now!