Masters Degrees (Birkbeck)

Have you been writing creatively for a while and feel the need for some professional support? Do you wish to be read by like-minded people? Do you sense that you can write but struggle with the mechanics of form and structure? Do you harbour a desire to see how far your writing can get you? Do you dream of being a published author?

For 13 years, our MA Creative Writing has been enabling students to achieve some, if not all, of these goals. In 2016 alone, 11 of our graduates published novels with major publishing houses.

The course is taught through small, dynamic seminars and one-to-one tuition. We offer modules in fiction writing and options in playwriting, poetry, screenwriting and creative non-fiction, and practical courses on publishing, producing and editing creative work.

To find out more, read our programme handbook (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/current-students/postgraduate/).

You will taught by successful, published authors and practitioners, including:

- Julia Bell

- David Eldridge

- Richard Hamblyn

- Russell Celyn Jones

- Toby Litt

- Luke Williams

- Benjamin Wood

- Jonathan Kemp.

Visit the website http://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/2016/postgraduate/programmes/TMACWRIT_C/

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/ref-results/), which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), English Language and Literature at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to producing research of the highest quality, while 91% of eligible staff submitted research, of which 75% was recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent.

Read about Birkbeck research that enriches our experience and understanding of our shared history, culture and art (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/arts/research).

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

- Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.

- Aims to develop the craft of fiction at a professional level and includes practical courses on publishing, producing and editing creative work.

- In addition to working with the established writers who teach the degree, you will have contact with industry professionals, such as publishers and literary agents, who offer a series of platform discussions in the summer term.

- In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), English Language and Literature at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to producing research of the highest quality, while 91% of eligible staff submitted research, of which 75% was recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent.

- Our Department of English and Humanities (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english) is a lively centre of world-class research and teaching.

- We offer a range of world-class research resources (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/study-here/world-class-research-resources).

- Our annual creative writing magazine, The Mechanics' Institute Review, is edited by Birkbeck MA Creative Writing students and features writing from the course as a showcase for the degree, with wide distribution beyond Birkbeck to literary agents, publishers, etc.

- Read an account of how our students created the most recent issue of The Mechanics' Institute Review (http://blogs.bbk.ac.uk/george/2014/10/07/editing-the-mechanics-institute-review-11/).

- MIROnline is an interactive website, edited by PhD students and volunteers, with all the latest news and writing from this programme and beyond.

- Find out more about our range of world-class research resources (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-research).

- Watch videos of our postgraduate students discussing their experience of studying at Birkbeck (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/get-ahead-stay-ahead/student-experience-videos).

Teaching and assessment

- Teaching

Teaching is seminar-based. Each session is generally 2 hours, and there are further regular one-to-one tutorials throughout the year.

- Assessment

4 short creative pieces with critical essays (50%). A dissertation (15,000 words) in one of the following genres: a novella, novel or collection of short stories, with a preface of 3000 words (50%).

Careers and employability

Birkbeck Creative Writing graduates include:

Sally Hinchcliffe

Niki Aguirre

Heidi James

Matthew Loukes

Iphgenia Baal

Nii Parkes

Emma Henderson

Liz Fremantle

Anna Hope

Karin Salvalaggio

Olya Knezevic

Phoebe Blatton

Melissa De Villiers

Nik Korpon

Louise Lee

Tray Butler

Helen Pike

David Savill

Laura Allsop

Sarah Alexander

Nadim Safdar

A. J. Grainger

Julia Gray

Nicole Burstein

Jules Grant

Amy Bird

Stefanie Seddon

Fiona Melrose.

Graduates go in to careers in editing, teaching, and writing professionally. Possible professions include creative writer, magazine or newspaper journalist, or editorial assistant. This degree can also be useful in becoming an academic librarian, English as a second language (ESOL) teacher, or information officer.

Find out more about these professions (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/options_with_your_subject.htm).

Find out more about the destinations of graduates in this subject (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/prospective/careers-and-employability/department-of-english-and-humanities).

We offer a comprehensive Careers and Employability Service to help you advance your career, while our in-house, professional recruitment consultancy, Birkbeck Talent, works with London’s top employers to help you gain work experience that fits in with your evening studies.

Find out how to apply here - http://www.bbk.ac.uk/prospective/postgraduate/apply

Read less

Psychosocial Studies is a leading department in this interdisciplinary field that brings together social, cultural and psychosocial researchers. The department has developed a distinctive approach to research and teaching that draws on a range of critical frameworks including psychoanalytic theory, social theory, feminist and queer theory, cultural and post-colonial studies and qualitative psychosocial methodologies. In our research we aim to connect discussions of our precarious and increasingly interconnected collective fates with our most intimate personal and psychic lives.

Some of the research strands in the department include: violence, state violence and conflict; intimacy, parenting, care and personal life; human rights, social responsibility and helping behaviour; public cultures, social movements, citizenship and social identities; postcolonial urban cultures and histories of 'race' and racism; gender and sexuality; emotional development, psychic change and ageing.

The MA is designed for graduates from a wide range of backgrounds, who are looking to develop an in-depth understanding of the relation between individual subjectivities and identities, and historical and contemporary social and political formations.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Designed for graduates looking to develop an in-depth understanding of the relation between individual subjectivities and identities, and historical and contemporary social and political formations.
Department of Psychosocial Studies staff are internationally recognised figures at the forefront of this important new field of studies.
The Department of Psychosocial Studies has a formal link with the University of São Paulo, Brazil. This link enables students on this programme to undertake an optional module at the university as part of their programme of study at Birkbeck.
You will have access to both the Birkbeck Library and Senate House Library. All postgraduates at Birkbeck benefit from a wide range of advantages related to the central location of the College, its varied and rich postgraduate life and the diversity of overlapping Master's programmes.
There are also 3 College research institutes of relevance to students on this degree: Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and Birkbeck Institute of Gender and Sexuality. Each organises regular talks and masterclasses, which our students can attend.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Sociology at Birkbeck was ranked 13th in the UK.

Read less

Birkbeck is a leading centre for the study of the origins, history and cultural context of psychoanalysis. Our approach is distinctive and highly interdisciplinary. The MA Psychoanalytic Studies is jointly run by the Departments of Psychosocial Studies and of History, Classics and Archaeology, which allows you to study the origins of psychoanalysis, its history over its first 120 years of life, its main ideas and their applications, both within and outside the therapeutic context, and in particular how it has been taken up and contested in different social and cultural situations.

Taught by a wide range of leading academics and psychoanalytic practitioners, the programme explores how psychoanalytic thought has been used to illuminate pressing social and political concerns, and examines the controversies that have always surrounded it. It focuses on the interface between psychoanalysis as an evolving clinical practice, as a form of knowledge, and as a mode of critique. The programme examines key psychoanalytic concepts in detail and places those concepts in context. It will enable you to closely study the numerous modern developments within psychoanalysis, from Freud through to contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice. You will also explore the methodological, epistemological and ethical issues that have resulted from diverse elaboration and extension of psychoanalytic ideas, not only in a clinical setting, but also in social and cultural inquiries, and in the interpretation of the historical past.

The MA asks how far modern thought on war and other forms of violent conflict, fascism, terrorism, racism and xenophobia has had an influence on the way we think about the unconscious mind, and vice versa. It also investigates how psychoanalytic accounts of inter-personal and intra-psychic relationships have shaped - or been shaped by - wider cultural attitudes to love, intimacy and destructiveness, and about the place of these accounts in discussions of gender and sexuality, racism and postcolonialism.

This programme has good links with the British Psycho-Analytical Society through its teaching staff and also because the Society's Foundation Course in Psychoanalysis can be taken as an option module by students on the MA. For students with strong clinical interests, this arrangement provides an exceptional opportunity to be taught psychoanalytic theory by some of the most senior and eminent psychoanalysts in the country.

Teaching staff on this programme include Lisa Baraitser, Stephen Frosh, Daniel Pick and Jacqueline Rose. This group of academics brings together world-leading researchers in psychosocial studies, history, literary studies and clinical practice.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Interdisciplinary programme stretching across the social sciences, arts and humanities.
Explores the relationship of psychoanalysis to historical and cultural issues.
Provides an opportunity to engage critically with key psychoanalytic concepts and to understand them in their historical and cultural context.
The Department of Psychosocial Studies has a formal link with the University of São Paulo, Brazil. This link enables students on this programme to undertake an optional module at the university as part of their programme of study at Birkbeck.
Birkbeck Library is very well stocked with material relevant to psychoanalysis, history and culture. There are many events relevant to psychoanalysis put on by the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research. The link with the British Psychoanalytical Society ensures connections with practising psychoanalysts.
As well as the core programme staff, lectures on our summer programme are likely to be given by internationally renowned Birkbeck associates.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Sociology at Birkbeck was ranked 13th in the UK.

Read less

This unique course in intercultural communication will expand your awareness of different cultures and workplace diversity, enhance your understanding of intercultural communication, and encourage you to reflect on your own culture and language use. You will also improve your professional and business communication skills, including written, oral and interpersonal skills, in international settings. The programme, which is based within Birkbeck's MA Intercultural Communication in Business and Professions, values the importance of bridging the gap between theory and practice in the field of intercultural communication and is structured to strike a balance between ideas and real-world experience.

This course is specifically designed for intercultural trainers, coaches and consultants interested in enhancing their existing knowledge and experience, and for professionals working in fields such as communication, public relations, human resources, management and business consulting, who want to expand their global perspective and increase intercultural effectiveness. You will develop the professional and business communication skills you need to proceed to a career in the international business world.

The programme benefits from a combination of knowledge-based and skills-oriented training, world-class experts in intercultural communication, Birkbeck's flexible, student friendly support, and London's position as an international multicultural and multilingual city.

If you unable or unsure about committing to a full Master's, this programme will help you gain cutting-edge, practical knowledge of the field of intercultural communication. Upon completion of the course, you can choose to go on to complete Birkbeck's MA Intercultural Communication for Business and Professions, if you wish.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
Our intercultural communication programmes are internationally recognised higher professional qualifications, which could help you improve your employment prospects.
This multidisciplinary programme brings together communication studies, applied linguistics, language studies and business studies.
Applied linguistics has been taught at Birkbeck since 1965, making this one of the oldest departments in the world. You will be taught by leading researchers in the field.
The programme takes an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approach, with staff expertise in a wide range of sub-disciplines, from humanities to social sciences and life sciences. Teaching and research take place within a strong research culture.
Birkbeck’s central London location and unique evening study is ideal for working professionals. A unique advantage of studying this programme at Birkbeck is that students who are working professionals in London are taught side-by-side with others coming from across Europe and around the world.
We have a multimedia library and computing facilities. Birkbeck Library has a large holding of books, as well as over 40 current print journal subscriptions in the subject area, with an additional 100 available electronically. We are located within walking distance of the British Library and libraries at the Institute of Education, School of Oriental and African Studies, University College London and Senate House.
Birkbeck's Applied Linguistics Society, an official University of London society, was formed to bring together students interested in applied linguistics and related fields (for example, multilingualism, intercultural communication, TESOL etc) in the London area. You will also benefit from intercollegiate seminars and lectures offered by various departments located in Bloomsbury.
Birkbeck's Centre for Multilingual and Multicultural Research hosts visiting scholars from all over the world and runs regular research seminars given by speakers from overseas and other UK institutions. The centre also supports postgraduate training in applied linguistics, bilingualism, intercultural communication and translation.

Read less

This Master's degree provides experience of both in-depth theory and hands-on research in the emerging area of educational neuroscience. It covers: the critical appreciation of existing research and research methods; running a neuroimaging study; the biological basis of learning and development in children and its implications for the classroom; the relation between genes, brain and cognitive development; managing and reporting on an extended research project; and subject-specific IT skills.

The MA is ideal for teachers, educational psychologists and policy-makers who wish to develop an in-depth understanding of contemporary education and neuroscience that can inform their continuing practice.

This programme is delivered jointly with the Institute of Education. It leads to a joint award from the Institute of Education's Department of Psychology and Human Development and Birkbeck's Department of Psychological Sciences, and is taught across the 2 adjacent sites.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Access to world-class researchers in developmental cognitive neuroscience and educations.
Combines basic behavioural neuroscience and educational research to provide a better understanding of children’s learning and development.
Delivered in partnership with the Institute of Education - half the modules will be taught by Birkbeck and half by the Institute of Education.
The Department of Psychological Sciences has an outstanding research tradition, with an outstanding international reputation in all aspects of cognitive neuroscience, and especially developmental cognitive neuroscience.
You will have the opportunity to interact with world-class researchers in developmental cognitive neuroscience, genetics, neuroimaging, education and cognitive development and learning, and to attend research seminars organised by Birkbeck, the Institute of Education and a number of other local research centres and institutes.
Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck were ranked 5th in the UK in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) and we achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to research of world-leading quality.
Psychological research at Birkbeck has ranked 5th in the world in a category of the Best Global Universities Rankings 2016, an important and influential index of research quality.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck were rated 5th in the UK in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) and we achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to research of world-leading quality.

Read less

This multidisciplinary Master's programme explores debates on 'race' and racism, multiculture and postcoloniality. It explores connections between histories of empire and contemporary social formations and inequalities in the UK, and considers how local debates on 'race' and racism are shaped by the global geopolitics of the twenty-first century.

The programme explores debates on empire and the formation of modern Britain and contemporary transnational political communities, social identities and urban cultures. The MA aims to draw connections between interlocking colonial histories across the globe and our ordinary, local, everyday life here in contemporary Britain.

The programme focuses on subjects such as histories of colonisation, systems of slavery, the concept of 'race' and the invention of 'the West'; colonial cultures, class, nationalisms, 'respectability' and the invention of 'whiteness'; histories of criminalisation and imprisonment; human rights; 'the war on terror'; diaspora, place and belonging; psychoanalysis and 'race', 'hybridity', 'mixedness', 'whiteness', 'race' and 'beauty' and 'race', gender, sexuality and desire. It offers the opportunity to study a wide range of different subjects in this broad multidisciplinary area.

The MA is convened by academics who have interests in racialisation, postcoloniality, urban multiculture and psychoanalysis. You can also choose from a range of option modules convened by other academics in other departments across the College.

This innovative, interdisciplinary postgraduate programme will be of interest to those who want to develop careers in social research, education, law, journalism, youth and community work, urban planning, housing, politics, the arts and cultural industries, health and social care, and numerous other areas. It will also be of interest to those who wish to pursue an academic career in sociology, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, urban studies, psychosocial studies, or in the social sciences or humanities more generally and to those who simply wish to develop an advanced understanding of 'race' and racism, multiculture and postcoloniality.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

The programme introduces you to different historical and political debates and theoretical perspectives in the broad multidisciplinary area of 'race' and racism, multiculture and postcoloniality.
You will participate in a vibrant, stimulating and diverse intellectual environment. There is a Race Forum and several other research institutes at Birkbeck that focus on relevant subject areas.
The programme is flexibly designed for students from all backgrounds to pursue their own particular research and professional interests.
The MA draws from sociology, cultural studies, history, urban studies, literary studies, psychosocial studies, philosophy and politics.
The Department of Psychosocial Studies has a formal link with the University of São Paulo, Brazil. This link enables students on this programme to undertake an optional module at the University of São Paulo as part of their programme of study at Birkbeck.
You will join a flourishing and diverse postgraduate student community and a growing research culture. Birkbeck Library has an extensive teaching collection of books, journals and learning resources in sociology, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, psychosocial studies and related disciplines. You will also be able to use the rich research resources nearby including Senate House Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science (the LSE Library), the SOAS Library and the British Library.
There are also research institutes which focus on relevant subject areas such as the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck Law School Centre for Law and the Humanities and the Centre for Media, Culture and Creative Practice and reading groups such as the Postcolonial Studies Reading Group.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Sociology at Birkbeck was ranked 13th in the UK.

Read less

Birkbeck’s MA Contemporary Literature and Culture offers you the opportunity to specialise in twenty-first-century literature and culture, as well as exposing you to the most important literary and theoretical developments of the last few decades. This MA considers the legacy of postmodernism, the effects of new technologies on narrative form, and the aesthetic, spatial and political coordinates of writing produced in an increasingly networked and globalised world.

Through a range of literary and interdisciplinary options, you have the opportunity to pursue your own interests, whether they lie in contemporary poetics; in fiction from Britain, the US, Europe or postcolonial nations; in the changing forms of the book in a digital age; or in historical approaches to issues like nation, race, gender and sexuality. The MA's programme of study opens up the aesthetic, historical and political dimensions of contemporary literature and culture.

Key staff teaching on this programme

Grace Halden (Programme Director 2016-2017)
Caroline Edwards
Anna Hartnell
Joe Brooker
Roger Luckhurst
Carol Watts
Esther Leslie
Joanne Winning
Mpalive Msiska
Stephen Clucas
Peter Fifield.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
Introduces you to the cutting-edge of contemporary literature and culture, offering the unique opportunity to specialise in the post-2000 period.
Provides grounding in some of the key concepts that shape understandings of the contemporary world, including consideration of terms like hybridity, performance, trauma, memory and the uncanny, as well as wider cultural conceptualisations like globalisation and postcoloniality.
Exposes you to a wider community of scholars and thinkers via a uniquely rich and diverse research culture, involving graduate seminars, reading groups, guest lectures - including those by practising writers - and the wider arts network accessible in Central London.
In particular, this environment is fostered by close links between the MA and the Centre for Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck, which runs a wide variety of talks and conferences in this field.
You will also have access to a host of other relevant research centres in the School of Arts, including the Contemporary Poetics Research Centre, the Centre for Contemporary Theatre and the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre.
The School is also actively involved in a number of College-wide institutes specifically designed to foster work across disciplines at Birkbeck and beyond: Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck Institute for Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism. These institutes are driven by the work of world-class scholars including Laura Mulvey, Slavoj Žižek, Lynne Segal and David Feldman.
Birkbeck is at the geographical centre of London’s research library complex, a short distance from the British Library, the University of London Library and the Institute of Historical Research.

Read less

We offer research-based teaching in a wide range of philosophical subjects. We foster our students' professional development. A proportion of our recent PhD graduates have permanent academic posts in leading universities.

The MPhil/PhD is the direct route to the PhD and is suitable for students who are ready to start writing a PhD thesis.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
Birkbeck's Department of Philosophy enjoys an international reputation for research. The department has a flourishing community of research students, and is committed to providing them with a first-rate philosophical training.
In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Philosophy at Birkbeck was ranked 15th in the UK, with a research environment judged conducive to producing internationally excellent research.
In the Philosophical Gourmet Report 2014-2015, Philosophy at Birkbeck was ranked among the strongest in the UK, and was highly ranked in philosophy of action, philosophy of art, seventeenth-century philosophy and feminist philosophy.
The research interests of the department encompass a range of areas within the discipline: ancient philosophy, history of early modern philosophy, Kant, Nietzsche, history of analytic philosophy, logic, language, metaphysics, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, philosophy of psychology, ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, social and feminist philosophy, epistemology, and philosophy of science.
The department has been highly ranked for the standard of its research across a broad range, and especially our research and teaching in the area of feminist philosophy.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Philosophy at Birkbeck was ranked 15th in the UK, with a research environment judged conducive to producing internationally excellent research.

In the Philosophical Gourmet Report 2014-2015, Philosophy at Birkbeck was ranked among the strongest in the UK, and was highly ranked in philosophy of action, philosophy of art, seventeenth-century philosophy and feminist philosophy.

Read less

This innovative course offers a unique insight into the global dimensions of crime and punishment in today's world.

Exploring both cutting-edge criminological theory and current real-world phenomena related to crime and punishment, the programme provides a multidisciplinary platform for you to engage with the complexity of contemporary criminological challenges.

You will be introduced to the theoretical debates that underpin understanding of the relationship between global, national and local questions of crime and punishment. You will also learn about the range of research methods that are used to explore such questions.

In addition to the 3 modules that form the compulsory core of the programme - International Criminological Theory, Research Methods in Criminology and the Global Criminology Dissertation - you will choose a further 3 option modules from a wide range offered within the School of Law, including an internships option that will give you the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the reality and importance of the idea of 'the global' for organisations engaged in criminal justice and related work.

By insisting on a genuinely international perspective that looks at, but also beyond, the experiences of affluent societies that have characteristically dominated criminological scholarship to date, the programme encourages you to think broadly and innovatively about this dynamic, burgeoning field of study.

The course will appeal to those seeking to develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of the key theoretical and practical issues that have shaped and currently play a major role in influencing matters of crime and punishment from a global perspective.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

This programme offers a unique combination of cutting-edge theory, research methods training, an integral dissertation component, and an optional internship module.
Teaching on the programme is provided by experts in respective subjects, including by members of the renowned Institute for Criminal Policy Research, which has long contributed to policy-making, scholarship and public debate about crime and criminal justice.
Birkbeck's School of Law is also home to the Birkbeck Criminology Seminar Series, which provides a platform for leading and cutting-edge research and features guest speakers from around the world.
The Institute for Criminal Policy Research and, within it, the International Centre for Prison Studies, make the School of Law a dynamic and prestigious hub for criminological research and study, as well as an exciting arena for global criminological scholarship and teaching more particularly.
The School of Law is home to an exceptionally international range of empirical and theoretical scholarship conducted by its members, which is reflected in the teaching offered.
The School is also an internationally recognised centre for critical and interdisciplinary research in law, which provides a highly stimulating environment for research and teaching. It is the home of Birkbeck Law Press and publishes Law and Critique: The International Journal of Critical Legal Thought.
IT resources, such as electronic learning environments, are used at Birkbeck to enhance teaching and learning. Birkbeck Library has an extensive teaching collection of books, journals and electronic resources in law and related disciplines, such as economics, politics and sociology. It provides access to over 17,000 electronic journals, which are available online 24 hours a day. Find out more about our teaching and learning resources.
Students can also take advantage of the rich research collections nearby, including those of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Senate House Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science (LSE Library) and the British Library.
Birkbeck’s commitment to flexible learning and provision of evening teaching makes it an appealing choice for professionals and practitioners and is ideal if you want to combine studying with working during the day.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

We are among the top 10 law schools in the UK and in the top 3 in London in the Times Higher Education 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) rankings, while our research environment was judged conducive to producing research of the highest quality.

Read less

This intensive 1-year programme offers you the opportunity to develop your understanding of the history of art and architecture. You will learn to critically analyse and interpret art objects and buildings, and will engage with the concepts, values and debates that inform the study and practice of the history of art.

If you want to study history of art, or a similar course, at Master's level (either at Birkbeck or elsewhere) but have a first degree in another subject, then this programme can be used as a conversion course. You will acquire and develop skills and knowledge of the discipline up to final-year undergraduate level.

If you are not intending to progress to an MA, the programme will allow you to continue your exploration of the history of art and architecture at a higher level.

We offer taster events and information evenings for prospective students interested in our history of art programmes throughout the year.

As well as regular museum and gallery visits, the department offers an exciting study trip every spring.

Staff teaching on this programme

Charlotte Ashby
Prasannajit de Silva
Nick Lambrianou.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
Prepares you for entry to Birkbeck's MA History of Art, MA Museum Cultures and other Master's programmes offered by the School of Arts.
Museum and site visits form a regular feature of the course.
Tutors have a first-class reputation for teaching and learning, and their teaching is informed by their research.
You will have access to the Birkbeck Library. Our location in Bloomsbury gives you easy access to specialist libraries of the University of London, including the Senate House Library, but also to a wide range of art institutions in central London, and to their collections and temporary exhibitions - from the British Museum and the National Gallery, to the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Keep up-to-date with our research on the Birkbeck History of Art blog.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Art and Design at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment supporting world-leading and internationally excellent research.

Read less

Exploring the past is exciting, thought-provoking and sometimes revelatory. This postgraduate course in history will help you develop the skills needed to become a historian, with a taught foundation module in the first term that will acquaint you with the theory, tools, techniques and research skills of historical analysis. We will look at the varied primary sources through which we study the past, from laws and official reports to diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers, oral testimony, paintings, cartoons, music, film, architecture, landscape, archaeological remains and the internet. We will consider how a secondary source differs from a primary one and the problems involved in interpreting a source and ascertaining its truthfulness and reliability.

Thereafter, the course offers 2 routes for you to choose between: the first route is research focused and will support you in producing a dissertation of 7000 words on the historical subject that most interests you; the taught route lets you select 1 module from any of the extensive range of option modules offered by the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology.

This programme is ideal for those who wish to pursue their passion for the past, those who want to experience postgraduate historical study without committing to a full Master’s degree, and those who are changing direction and moving to history from a different undergraduate subject.

Visit the website http://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/2016/postgraduate/programmes/GCGHISTO_C/

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/ref-results/), which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), History at Birkbeck was ranked 6th in the UK for the percentage of our research deemed world-leading or internationally excellent. 94% of our eligible staff submitted research and we achieved 100% for a research environment supporting world-leading and internationally excellent research.

Read about Birkbeck research that crosses disciplines and focuses on pressing questions within the social sciences and humanities (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/sshp/research).

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

- Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.

- This postgraduate course in history provides the opportunity to pursue your passion for history and undertake independent study and research in the time periods and subject areas that most interest you.

- If you have a degree in a subject other than history, but would like to study history at postgraduate level, this course is ideal for making the conversion between subjects.

- We are located 5 minutes' walk from the British Museum and the British Library, while the Museum of London is easily reachable. Other nearby specialist centres of research include the Institute of Archaeology, the Institute of Classical Studies and the Institute of Historical Research, all of which have internationally renowned library collections and run seminars that you can attend.

- Our Department of History, Classics and Archaeology (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/history/) is ranked in the top 20 nationally and is a world-renowned centre of original, influential research.

- Our academic staff are international authorities in their respective fields, delivering stimulating teaching.

- The department is home to thriving student societies and a number of affiliated research centres that actively run seminars, conferences and other events where some of the world's best scholars present their latest research.

- Find out more about why you should study with us (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/history/prospective-students/why-study-with-us).

- Birkbeck Library has an extensive history collection, including the major specialist journals, and access to online materials.

- Watch videos of our postgraduate students discussing their experience of studying at Birkbeck (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/get-ahead-stay-ahead/student-experience-videos).

Course structure

To gain the graduate certificate, you must successfully complete modules worth 60 credits.

You take the module Foundations of History: Sources and Debates (worth 30 credits), and then choose either the:
- Research route: work towards a dissertation of 7000 words (worth 30 credits), or the
- Taught route: take 1 undergraduate module from those on offer from the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology (worth 30 credits).

Module:
Foundations of History: Sources and Debates

Teaching and assessment

Teaching
This programme aims to encourage and support students in independent learning and original research. This will be facilitated through a mixture of seminars and one-to-one supervision supporting independent study.

Assessment
Assessment for Foundations of History: Sources and Debates consists of 1 essay of 2500-3000 words and either a second essay of 2500-3000 words or a literature review essay of 2500 words. Students on the research route submit a dissertation of 6000-7000 words.

Careers and employability

Graduates can pursue careers in research and archiving, education, the heritage industry, publication and the media, the charity sector, and journalism. Possible professions include historian, higher education lecturer, or archivist. This degree provides a range of transferable skills, which may be useful in becoming a journalist, heritage manager, politician’s assistant, academic librarian, or museum/gallery curator.

Find out more about these professions (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/options_with_your_subject.htm).

Find out more about the destinations of graduates in this subject (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/prospective/careers-and-employability/department-of-history-classics-and-archaeology).

We offer a comprehensive Careers and Employability Service to help you advance your career, while our in-house, professional recruitment consultancy, Birkbeck Talent, works with London’s top employers to help you gain work experience that fits in with your evening studies.

Find out how to apply here - http://www.bbk.ac.uk/prospective/postgraduate/apply

Read less

This programme introduces you to substantial strands of psychosocial theory: theory that proposes different ways of understanding the interrelationship between the development of subjectivity and identity, and historical and contemporary social and political formations. The focus is on psychoanalysis and social theory.

The Graduate Certificate in Psychosocial Studies prepares you to identify and analyse a range of psychosocial phenomena (such as violence, war, trauma, terrorism, intimacies, communities, care, human rights, agency, resistance, and personal and social transformations). The programme will advance your study skills and provide you with the intellectual and academic foundations for postgraduate programmes in psychosocial studies.

The programme will give you access to the exciting emergent new interdisciplinary field of psychosocial studies and offers a pathway to further study: courses run by the Department of Psychosocial Studies, specifically the MA Psychosocial Studies, MA Psychoanalytic Studies and MA Culture, Diaspora, Ethnicity. Students on the Graduate Certificate will also be invited to our many extra-curricula events in the department, which include guest speakers, masterclasses and film events.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Designed for graduates looking to develop an in-depth understanding of the relation between individual subjectivities and identities, and historical and contemporary social and political formations.
Department of Psychosocial Studies staff are internationally recognised figures at the forefront of this important new field of studies.
You will have access to both the Birkbeck Library and Senate House Library. All postgraduates at Birkbeck benefit from a wide range of advantages related to the central location of the College, its varied and rich postgraduate life and the diversity of overlapping Master's programmes.
There are also 3 College research institutes of relevance to students on this degree: Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and Birkbeck Institute of Gender and Sexuality. Each organises regular talks and masterclasses, which our students can attend.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Sociology at Birkbeck was ranked 13th in the UK.

Read less

This uniquely flexible programme offers postgraduate teaching in central aspects of Western philosophy in the broadly analytic tradition. The curriculum is research-led, with specialist modules taught by leading figures in their fields, and with a consistent focus on the fostering of intellectual curiosity and the development of independent thinking. The programme allows you to follow your own philosophical interests and provides a sound platform for those wishing to proceed to more advanced research work in philosophy.

The MA is open to those with a first degree in philosophy wishing to progress to more advanced levels of study and also to those without undergraduate training in philosophy. If you did not study philosophy as an undergraduate, you take a special route through the programme.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
Our uniquely flexible MA may be studied in the evening or in the day, over 1 or 2 years, and with or without prior philosophical study.
In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Philosophy at Birkbeck was ranked 15th in the UK, with a research environment judged conducive to producing internationally excellent research.
In the Philosophical Gourmet Report 2014-2015, Philosophy at Birkbeck was ranked among the strongest in the UK, and was highly ranked in philosophy of action, philosophy of art, seventeenth-century philosophy and feminist philosophy.
We offer a wide range of modules taught by our internationally recognised research staff.
As a philosophy student, you will be part of the thriving philosophical community in the University of London and eligible to attend the extensive range of seminars and conferences put on by the Institute of Philosophy. Library resources include the department's specialist library, which supplements the main Birkbeck Library and University of London libraries. You will also have access to computer workstations with email and internet facilities.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Philosophy at Birkbeck was ranked 15th in the UK, with a research environment judged conducive to producing internationally excellent research.

Read less

History of art is a rich and dynamic discipline, combining the rigorous investigation of the visual arts with the creative exploration of their connections to culture, politics and society. Postgraduate study in this area trains you at a high level in looking at, thinking about and researching art and its histories.

Birkbeck's MA History of Art offers the opportunity to study with internationally recognised experts. Our teaching staff are defining the field, conducting ground-breaking research in periods from medieval to contemporary, focusing on painting, sculpture, print culture, architecture, photography, digital art and museology.

The MA History of Art exposes you to key art historical approaches, and allows you to focus in depth on areas and periods of particular interest to you, in early and modern (including contemporary) periods, through taught options (see an indicative list of modules on the 'course structure' tab) and independent research. The course also offers opportunities for work placements with London museums, galleries and archives.

The course develops your visual acuity and your understanding of art's histories, while stimulating critical debate and stretching your research skills. In addition to independent written work, you will take part in group discussion, give oral presentations and engage with the Department of History of Art's research culture.

In all of this, you will work closely with our staff while also benefiting from our diverse and vibrant student body of all ages and backgrounds. The teaching programme is enriched by museum and site visits, visiting speakers, screenings and opportunities to get involved as volunteers in research and community outreach activities. The department also offers an exciting study trip every spring.

Students are encouraged to become involved in the lively research culture of the department through the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, the Architecture, Space and Society Centre and the Vasari Research Centre, which has pioneered the field of digital art history. In addition to the core teaching and individual research support, students benefit from many events in the Department of History of Art at Birkbeck, including: the postgraduate Research Seminar, which brings art historians from all over the UK and beyond to speak at Birkbeck; the biennial Murray Lecture; the Murray Seminar on Medieval and Renaissance Art; and the programme of exhibitions and displays at the Peltz Gallery, the School of Arts' purpose-built exhibition space. Students are also welcome to attend other seminars and events across the School of Arts and at the Birkbeck Institute for Humanities.

We offer taster events and information evenings for prospective students interested in our history of art programmes throughout the year.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
You will work closely with leading international experts in the history of art.
You can choose to specialise in a wide range of periods and geographies, from medieval European architecture and cityscapes to contemporary global art practices.
You can study flexibly, full-time or part-time, with all teaching in the evenings.
On class visits and in your independent research you will have access to London's world-class art collections, museums and libraries.
Your fellow students are from a wide range of backgrounds and are often already working in the field, offering a high level of discussion and excellent networking opportunities.
You will have access to the Birkbeck Library and an in-house resources centre. In addition, our location in Bloomsbury offers excellent access to specialist libraries in the University of London. These include the University of London Library, Institute of Historical Research, Warburg Institute and School of Oriental and African Studies, together with the major national resource of the British Library.
You will also have easy access to specialist art libraries not far from Birkbeck, including the library of the Courtauld Institute of Art, the Royal Institute of British Architects library and the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), as well as the great visual resources of the British Museum, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern and V&A, commercial galleries and salesrooms. Temporary exhibition galleries like the Barbican Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Hayward Gallery and Royal Academy also make London a particularly good place in which to undertake research.
You can participate in the rich research culture of the Department of History of Art.
Keep up-to-date with our research on the Birkbeck History of Art blog.

Read less

This Master's degree provides in-depth training in both the quantitative and qualitative methods employed in contemporary psychological research. It covers: critical appreciation of existing research and research methods; philosophical foundations of approaches to research within cognitive and social psychology; formulation of hypotheses; designing and reporting experiments using a range of research methodologies; and subject-specific IT skills.

The programme combines Birkbeck’s strengths in qualitative and quantitative psychological research methods. It provides you with the opportunity to conduct supervised research in a wide range of areas within contemporary psychology, such as psychosocial studies, brain and cognitive development, and computational cognitive neuroscience.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Designed for graduates in psychology and related disciplines who are seeking a specific research training.
Provides you with a range of appropriate research skills and experiences for research at PhD level or in the private sector.
Opportunity to attend research seminars organised by Birkbeck and a number of other local research centres and institutes.
This course is delivered by the Department of Psychological Sciences.
Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck were ranked 5th in the UK in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) and we achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to research of world-leading quality.
Psychological research at Birkbeck has ranked 5th in the world in a category of the Best Global Universities Rankings 2016, an important and influential index of research quality.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck were rated 5th in the UK in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) and we achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to research of world-leading quality.

Read less