Masters Degrees (Science Fiction)

Science fiction is a very popular genre across a range of media and a deep understanding of it will provide good employment opportunities for anyone interested in working in the creative industries. This course gives you the opportunity to study science fiction literature, films and comics at postgraduate level.

Why study Science Fiction at Dundee?

This new degree programme is designed to provide you with an understanding of the genre of science fiction and its relationship to different genres, national cultures, and media. Over the course of the year you will extend your strategies for the analysis and interpretation of science fiction texts as well as your familiarity with their historical and stylistic development. You will be encouraged to articulate independent critical responses to science fiction across a range of periods and media.

The programme is inherently interdisciplinary in its approach, and will foster creativity and ingenuity in developing critical approaches to the work.

Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre

The MLitt will also benefit from the close relationship between the University and Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre (DCA), which includes a cinema and runs a programme of screenings, talks and events related to the course.

Who should study this course?

The programme will be of great benefit to anyone interested in a job in the popular media and publishing, popular science journalism, museums of science.

Postgraduate culture

The English department provides a lively postgraduate culture, including a regular postgraduate forum, a postgraduate website, visiting speakers and an annual postgraduate conference held in Dundee.

"The English department at Dundee were incredibly supportive in many ways and I left with terrific memories. From performances with the JOOT Theatre Company, through being encouraged to explore my own research interests, to one of the most nourishing environments in which to attend and participate in conferences, it really was a brilliant place in which to learn and develop whether you intended to continue to study or move on to the job market."
Karen Graham, former postgraduate student in the English department

Teaching & Assessment

This course is taught by the English team, based in the School of Humanities. The course starts in September each year and lasts for 12 months on a full time basis or 24 months on a part time basis.

A variety of teaching methods are used, including: small group teaching, supervised study, seminars, presentations, talks by invited speakers, discussion groups, lectures, workshops, practical classes and demonstrations. You will also find a range of activities - including screenings at the DCA, seminars and workshops by professionals (writers and actors) and scholars, and a series of talks, conferences and relevant activities - to complement the Science Fiction MLitt degree.

Assessment

The assessment methods used in this course include weekly journals, presentations, research essays, and dissertations. Some of the option modules include assessment of creative work accompanied by reflective essays. Dissertations are supervised on a one-to-one basis to ensure continuity, and this will provide you with the opportunity to work on an area of science-fiction study of your own choosing (subject to approval by the tutor).

Programme Content

There are two teaching semesters, from September to December and from January to March. During each of these semesters, you will study these core modules plus an option module.

From April onwards, you will write a dissertation in English Studies.

All students must attempt the dissertation. Students whose dissertation fails to satisfy the examiners will be awarded the PG Diploma, provided that the taught elements of the course have been successfully completed.

Core Modules

Science Fiction - Issues and Approaches
New Wave and Contemporary Science Fiction
Option Modules

Science Fiction Film
Science Fiction Comics
Scientific Romance
Difference in Science Fiction

Careers

Graduates will gain a high degree of knowledge and expertise about an important area of literature, art, media, and popular culture, and will explore the relationship between these fields in a highly critical and interdisciplinary way.

Students taking this programme may pursue academic careers, work in the media, or in the creative industries or publishing. An understanding of science fiction extends across publishing, computer games, the internet, television, and film. Students will meet with industry professionals in this course.

Learn more about careers related to the Humanities on our Careers Service website.

Read less

Combine the literary theory of science fiction and fantasy with the study of their language and rhetoric, their various forms and subgenres and their place in the publishing industry on the first interdisciplinary Masters course of its kind in the UK.

Become an expert in one of the fastest growing areas of popular culture.

Explore a variety of fields including literature, film and television, linguistics and creative writing.

Study without disrupting your work / family life with our blended learning delivery.

The study of science fiction and fantasy is over 75 years old and for much of that time has been the domain of English literature specialists. Over the past twenty years, however, strong work has emerged from specialists in film, television, art, publishing and linguistics.

Our MA Science Fiction and Fantasy will introduce you to contemporary work in these genres across a range of media. You’ll benefit from networking and career-building opportunities with professionals in the industry who will give you insight into how materials in these genres are produced and disseminated to their fans.

You will consider science fiction and fantasy as products shaped by interactions between the entertainment industry, reviewers and critics as well as their own fans. By analysing how the boundaries of these genres have been established, policed, challenged and extended, you will learn to apply your own theories to a range of popular works - and produce your own original writing.

Your studies will be supported by our team of published writers and experts in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, including the Course Leader, World Fantasy Award-winning author Dr Helen Marshall (Gifts for the One Who Comes After), Dr Una McCormack (Star Trek – The Missing; Doctor Who: An Eye for Murder), Dr Martin Zeilinger (co-director of the Toronto-based Vector Game Art & New Media Festival), and Honorary Associate Fellow, John Clute (Appleseed; Pardon This Intrusion: Fantastika in the World Storm; The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction).

All your modules will be delivered through blended learning. Each will begin with a period of guided reading, with your personal studies supported by online forums, discussions, tutorials and other resources on our Learning Management System. You will also attend one week of on-site, intensive teaching for each module. This includes lectures, seminars, workshops, student presentations and student-led discussions. For the rest of your studies, you will receive tutorial support via email or Skype.

At the end of the course, you will undertake a Major Project. This can be a conventional academic project or a creative piece with critical commentary - the choice is yours.

Read less

Taught at our Parkgate Road Campus in Chester, our MA in Modern and Contemporary Fiction is an innovative and stimulating course that explores a rich variety of 20th- and 21st-century fiction.

The next entry for this course is October 2019.

Why Study Modern and Contemporary Fiction with us?

This distinctive course is taught by a dynamic and experienced team with research strengths in modern and contemporary British, Irish, American, and South African fiction. Department members have published on a wide range of modernist, postmodernist, and postcolonial authors; on genres including science fiction, historical fiction, and crime/detective fiction; and on representations of addiction, terrorism, apartheid, fashion, and the female body. Two of the teaching team edit Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine.

The Parkgate Road Campus library is well stocked with texts on modern and contemporary fiction, and houses the Flash Fiction Special Collection, the world’s largest archive of flash-related books and magazines.

What will I learn?

The course comprises six modules. Shorter Fiction typically covers flash fiction, the short story, and the novella. Novel Histories: Past, Present, Future considers historical fiction, representations of the contemporary, and ‘future histories’ (including utopian/dystopian fiction), while Popular Fictions analyses such ‘genre fictions’ as crime/ detective fiction, science fiction, and the campus novel. Special Author(s)/Topic(s) focuses on an area in which the Department has particular expertise, and Research Methods will equip you to pursue your own interest in the Dissertation.

How will I be taught?

Typically, the first five modules are each taught by nine two-hour seminars. These are distributed over 23 weeks, generally with two two-hour seminars per week. One-to-one tutorials are also available. For the Dissertation, you will work one-to-one with a supervisor.

The total workload (including reading, preparation, seminars, tutorials, research, and writing) is approximately 37.5 hours per week.

How will I be assessed?

Modules are assessed by coursework. The first five modules each have 4,000 words of assessment, followed by the 16,000-word Dissertation. There are no exams.

Postgraduate Visit Opportunities

If you are interested in this courses we have a number of opportunities to visit us and our campuses. To find out more about these options and to book a visit, please go to: https://www1.chester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/postgraduate-visit-opportunities

Request a Prospectus

If you would like to know more about the University please request a prospectus at: http://prospectus.chester.ac.uk/form.php

Read less

This is the only degree which offers students the opportunity to specialise as a translation expert in audiovisual translation and in the translation of popular culture.

Who is it for?

This course is for you if you:
-Are interested in popular culture, films, TV, literature, comics or graphic novels
-Love languages, other cultures and their differences
-Are interested in translation and want to learn about systematic decision-making
-Know about translation and want to specialise
-Have an amateur or fan background in translation and want to become a professional
-Have studied foreign languages, linguistics, literature, media, film, theatre, drama or cultural studies.
-Are looking for a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of translation.
-Want to gain an insight into professional practice in audiovisual translation or in literary translation.

The course aims to make students fit for the market as properly trained and highly qualified translation experts.

Objectives

This course:
-Provides you with training in audiovisual translation techniques.
-Uses industry-standard software for subtitling, dubbing and voice over.
-Specialises in the translation of children’s literature; crime fiction; science fiction and fantasy; comics, graphic novels, manga and video games.
-Introduces you to the different conventions and styles associated with popular culture in its varied forms and genres.
-Focuses on the specifics of genre translation and how these shape translation decisions.
-Provides a theoretical framework for the practical application of translation, working with a wide range of source texts from different popular genres and media.

The course:
-Aims to give you a secure foundation in theoretical strategies underpinning and supporting the practice of translation.
-Develops your awareness of professional standards, norms and translational ethics.
-Works closely with professional translators and the translation industry helping you to develop a professional identity.
-Has optional modules in dubbing, translation project management, screenplay translation and publishing.

Placements

There are no course-based placements on this course. Literary translation does not offer placements, while audiovisual companies offer internships which are competitive.

We support and guide our students through the application process for audiovisual translation internships and have a very good record of achievement. Each year, several of our students win one of these very competitive internships and they tend to be offered full time work on completion.

The course is very industry-oriented and we work closely with the translation industry. Industry professionals teach on the course, supervise students or give guest seminars and lectures.

Academic staff have run Translation Development courses, for example in genre translation for professional translators for the Chartered Institute of Linguists, and they are involved in running Continuing Professional Development courses in specialised translation.

We run a preparatory, distance learning course for the professional Diploma in Translation examined by the Chartered Institute of Linguists. We organise a Literary Translation Summer School each July which is taught by professional, literary translators and with lectures by prestigious translators, academics or writers.

The Translation department runs the John Dryden Translation Competition for the British Comparative Literature Association. The competition is sponsored by the British Centre for Literary Translation and the Institut Français. We offer one internship per year in working on this Translation Competition, interacting with translators, translation judges, managing competition entries and learning about the judging process.

Teaching and learning

The course is taught by academics, industry professionals (for example, audiovisual translation project manager) and translation professionals (for example, award winning literary translators, experienced subtitlers).

Teaching is delivered in a combination of lectures, seminars, practical workshops and lab-based sessions for audiovisual translation. In workshop sessions students work individually, in pairs, group work or plenary forum in a multilingual and multicultural environment.

In all translation modules, there is also a translation project prepared in independent guided study under the supervision of a translation professional in the student’s language pair and language directionality. You can expect some on-line learning, supported by seminar sessions, and industry visits to audiovisual translation companies.

In the Translation project management module, students work in project groups performing real-life translation roles and tasks in a collaborative environment.

Assessment

Assessment is 100% coursework – there are no examinations.

Coursework assignments are a mixture of essays, translation projects, translation commentaries, subtitling and voice over files or project work. The dissertation is 12,000 to 15,000 words long and can either be a research project on any topic relevant to Audiovisual Translation or Popular Literary Translation / Culture or it can be practice oriented: a translation of an extended text or AV clip with critical introduction to and analysis of the translation.

Coursework assignments: 66.6% (120 credits)

Dissertation: 33.3% (60 credits)

Modules

There are five compulsory taught modules plus three elective taught modules, selected by the student from a pool of module choices, plus a dissertation which can be a research dissertation or a practice-oriented dissertation of an extended translation with critical introduction and analysis.

Each taught module is an estimated 150 hours of study. Teaching consists of lectures, seminars and workshops plus independent individually supervised work.

The first part of the translation modules is taught in three-hour sessions (lecture + seminar + practical workshop). In the second part of each translation module, students work on a translation project which is individually supervised by a translation professional who gives written feedback on drafts and provides tailored advice and guidance in individual supervision sessions.

Students can expect between ten and 12 hours of classroom-based study per week, plus time spent on preparatory reading, independent study and research, preparation of assignments.

The dissertation is 60 credits and an estimated 600 hours of study. There are four two-hour research method seminars guiding students through the process of writing a dissertation, plus individual supervision sessions.

All taught modules are in term 1 and term 2 (January – April). Term 3 is dedicated to the dissertation (and completion of assignments from term 2 modules).

Core modules
-Principles and practice of translation theory (15 credits)
-Translating children’s literature (15 credits)
-Subtitling (15 credits)
-Translating crime fiction (15 credits)
-Translating science fiction and fantasy (15 credits)

Elective modules - choose three:
-Principles of screenwriting and the translation of screenplays (15 credits)
-Creating and managing intellectual property (15 credits).
-Dubbing and voice over (15 credits)
-Translation project management (15 credits)
-Translating multimodal texts (comics, graphic novels, manga, video games) (15 credits)
-International publishing case studies (20 credits)

Dissertation - 60 credits
-Dissertation option A (discursive/research)
-Dissertation option B (extended translation with critical introduction and analysis)

Career prospects

The degree is designed to produce graduates who are fit for the market, either working in translation agencies / companies or as a freelancer, addressing the need for properly trained and highly qualified translation experts.

Career options come in a wide range of jobs in the translation industry, ranging from self-employed translator, staff translator or localisation expert to editor, researcher or project manager.

Recent graduate destinations include: video game testing and localisation at Testronic Laboratories; video game translation at Sega; Dubbing, subtitling and voice over at VSI London; translation at the World Health Organisation; project management at Maverick Advertising and Design and at Deluxe Media Europe; freelance translator creative and literary texts.

The degree also lays the foundation to continue to a research degree / doctoral study in any area of translation studies. Currently, graduates from the course are pursuing doctoral study at City, specialising in crime fiction translation.

Read less

Dunedin is a UNESCO City of Literature, supports an International Science Festival, and is the wildlife capital of New Zealand, with colonies of seals, albatross and penguins in the city's boundaries. It is perhaps no accident, therefore, that it has also become a hub for natural history filmmaking. The outstanding natural environment and dynamic cultural environment provide an excellent setting for the University of Otago’s Centre for Science Communication, the home of story-telling and science. Three Science Communication endorsements are available in the MSciComm: Creative Non-Fiction Writing in Science, Science and Natural History Filmmaking, and Science in Society. Students in each endorsement produce a thesis comprising a creative component (e.g. film, book, exhibition etc.) and original research.

Structure of the Programme

-Every programme of study shall be as prescribed for one of the options listed above.
-A candidate may be exempted from some or all of the prescribed papers on the basis of previous study.
-A candidate shall, before commencing the investigation to be described in the thesis, secure the approval of the Director of the Centre for Science Communication for the topic, the supervisor(s), and the proposed course of the investigation.
-A candidate may not present a thesis or other material which has previously been accepted for another degree.
-For the thesis, the research should be of a kind that a diligent and competent student should complete within one year of full-time study.

Read less

“Science fiction, fantasy, musicals, and period films offer the most obvious platform of eye-catching design, but it should be remembered that even if the subject is contemporary, or the style emulates documentary, we are still witnessing an illusion which has been designed.”
Peter Ettedgui — Production Designer

The MA Film Production course is for gifted and emerging filmmakers seeking to learn on the job, to go beyond the short film, to define themselves as artists within a working film production crew, and to gain that vital production experience demanded by the industry.

Work Placements | In line with the courses’s emphasis on industry experience, you will be encouraged to undertake, seek out short-term work opportunities in your field. These can occur when your pathway is normally not involved in a particular production stage, for example with production designers during post-production. This opportunity is available for all students, Home/EU and for International, details can be found on our Working during and after page. The experience you and other students gain through this work out in the industry enhances and -compounds the learning and collaboration on the course.

NAMED AWARDS AVAILABLE IN

MA Film Production (Producing)
MA Film Production (Directing)
MA Film Production (Production Design)
MA Film Production (Cinematography)
MA Film Production (Editing)
MA Film Production (Sound Design)
MA Film Production (Documentary)
MA Film Production (Screenwriting)

Mirroring the working patterns of film production these named awards also reflect the degree of physical production engagement for these disciplines. With Producers, Directors and Documentary makers taking their films through all the stages from first idea, through to development, pre-production, production, post, and on right through to delivery to the audience. Whilst the disciplines of Production Design, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Design, and Screenwriting, over that same time period, will be engaged in the physical production, post of two or more films.

For the Portfolio Short Films made on the course, the budgets are seed funded. For other units, all the basic costs of materials and equipment are covered.

Read less

Our newly designed programme takes account of twenty-first-century developments in the field, giving students a trans-historical and often multi-disciplinary research approach to a set of broad, founding concepts and making sure they are up-to-date with the evolving digital focus of recent research in English studies. Our research specialisms include American studies and the literary periods Early Modern, Victorian, and Modern and Contemporary.

Additional areas of expertise include linguistics, Irish studies, drama, and the history of the book. We guarantee all students that each module will include components relating to our stated research specialisms.

Alongside our flagship ‘Research Mentoring’ module—where students work under the mentorship of a range of literary experts, studying the research they are currently undertaking – this allows students to follow a specific specialism through their MA.

Study areas include resources for advanced research, research mentorship, icons and iconoclasts, boundaries and transgressions, texts and technology, and a dissertation.

See the website http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/programmes/departments/arts/english/

Programme modules

This is not a conclusive but typical structure of the programme.

Programme modules:
Semester 1

- Icons and Iconoclasts
This module considers issues in literary history, particularly those of canonisation, the politics of reputation, fashion, and posterity, and the processes by which certain writers and texts become culturally embedded and certain others do not. It also examines ideas of formal and generic convention and reception history. In seminars, students will look at either a single text (which could be ‘iconic’ and canonical, ‘iconoclastic’ and unassimilated by cultural institutions such as universities, or a text which is deemed canonical despite its apparent rejection of convention, respectability, etc., e.g. Ulysses), or pit an ‘iconic’ and an ‘iconoclastic’ text against each other. The module will be driven by authors and texts rather than by overarching theoretical considerations. For example, one could read an H.G. Wells scientific romance' such as The Time Machine (1895) against a less well-known example of Victorian or Edwardian science fiction, or pit a familiar early modern drama alongside one which is less often studied or performed. The course will fashion a series of dialogues between writers, texts, history and audiences. These dialogues will range across historical eras appropriate to the research interests of staff teaching on the module, so coverage may vary from one year to another.

- Resources for Advanced Research
The module aims to introduce students to a range of different research methods; develop their research skills to Master’s level; and enhance their library skills. It also aims to introduce them to different ways of engaging in research cultures appropriate to the focus of their studies; enable them to develop a research profile; and gain skills in the presentation of their research. The module prepares students for the Dissertation module and aims to provide them with skills useful for disseminating the results of their dissertation after they graduate.

- Research Mentorship
From a list of available faculty, students choose four staff members (mentors) to work with in three-week blocks throughout the semester. They study what the staff member is currently researching, giving them a unique insight into current research as it happens. The process is one of mentorship and academic shadowing. The reading is likely to be a mixture of primary and secondary texts, and potentially an introduction to specific research questions and methodologies. Staff will be offered in groups, e.g. for every three weeks, there should be between three to five members of staff to choose from and, as far as possible, there will be a spread of expertise so that students can follow an area of faculty research specialism as much as possible. This may include the early-modern, Victorian, or Modern and Contemporary literary periods, American studies, or Irish Studies.

Semester 2:
- Boundaries and Transgressions
This module aims to identify and explore forms of transgression in a wide range of written texts from the early modern period to the present. Working with members of staff with a variety of research specialisms, students will assess what is at stake – aesthetically, culturally and ideologically – in boundary-crossings of very diverse kinds. ‘Boundaries and Transgressions’ will be issue-led, analysing some of the conceptual, temporal and spatial crossings performed by literary texts. This module offers students an exciting opportunity to consider mutations in literary transgression during some four hundred years. Cultural boundaries will appear as violated rather than safely policed (as when gender divides break down, or the body and the mind mingle promiscuously, or the human is entangled with – not shielded from – the animal). Elsewhere, the module will explore texts that cross periods (writings in which, for example, Victorianism and modernism interweave) or range across plural geographies (American literature, say, that refuses a posture of national autonomy and traverses the Atlantic or the Pacific).

- Texts and Technologies
This module focuses upon how texts and technologies have developed in intertwined manners. As technology changes, so can texts, their modes of distribution, their social and cultural significance and influence, and their manner of being collected, stored, and accessed. The module seeks to explore how texts and technology have influenced each other in different historical periods; to examine the response to communication technology in literary and theoretical texts; and to trace fundamental changes in literature and literary research brought about by radical technological developments such as the printing press, the internet, digital analysis, and digital data storage. How do changes in technology alter the way we experience texts and how we use them?

Summer
- Dissertation
The module enables students to initiate, devise, develop and successfully complete a research-based dissertation, and to further their knowledge and practical experience of research methods and techniques in English Studies. Students will identify an area of study that they would like to develop further. The module will consist of independent research, but students will meet with, and receive oral and written feedback from, an individual supervisor. The supervisor will give guidance on the subject matter, focus, structure and research area of the dissertation. Between Easter and the end of semester they can submit up to 5,000 words in draft form for comment and discuss the development of their chapters with their supervisors. Students will then work independently after the end of the semester to produce a 15,000 word dissertation.

Careers and further study

This programme meets the needs of students seeking to qualify for entry to a research degree, teachers of literature and those wishing to update their knowledge or develop their own research skills.

Why choose Arts, English and Drama at Loughborough?

The School of Arts, English and Drama is renowned as one of the world’s top places for studying the visual, literary and performing arts, offering outstanding opportunities across its wide remit. Each course is designed to inspire talented individuals with the drive and determination to succeed.

We provide many exciting ways to enhance skills, including research-led teaching by recognised international scholars, access to multi-million pound facilities, contact with prominent industry links, and superb entrepreneurial support.

A unique range of post-graduate taught programmes and research opportunities encompass art, design, history, theory, performance, postmedieval literature, linguistics studies.

We offer a unique range of postgraduate taught programmes and research opportunities which encompasses art, design, theory, performance by practice, post-medieval literature, creative writing, linguistics and theatre

- Facilities
Our students have full access to our state-of-the-art facilities, which offer a tantalising number of creative possibilities. They provide industry standard outputs, and you will receive an unparalleled level of professional training in using them.

- Career Prospects
Over 92% of our graduates were in employment and/or further study six months after graduating. Our students develop excellent transferable skills because of the range of topics studied on our courses and the diversity of teaching and learning methods we use.

Find out how to apply here http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/programmes/departments/arts/english/

Read less

Film and Television develops technical skills in compositional techniques and studio-based work. Designed for advanced composers, it provides an in-depth specialist training. Contextual knowledge of mainstream repertoire and significant previous experience of composition and orchestration are required.

Course detail

The MMus in Composition for Film and Television at London College of Music (LCM) is one of the longest-established qualifications of its kind. The course provides an ideal opportunity for in-depth examination of specific techniques (both historical and current) employed in the creation of music for modern media, and for drawing upon these procedures in a practical context by composing music for a diverse range of genres, including…

• television thrillers
• animation
• video game trailers
• science fiction
• dramatic cinema
• silent film
• costume drama
• documentary and…
• …horror!

In addition, you will hone and refine your skills as orchestrators by writing for a variety of specified ensembles. You will also expand your musical and dramatic vocabulary via an imaginative series of compositional pastiche exercises (an integral feature of the portfolio submission during Semester 1).

You will undertake further assessments in film score analysis (taking the form of an extended contextual essay, based upon a score/composer of your own choice) and in-studio ensemble conducting, working 'to click' with a group of 'live' performing musicians.

Modules

• Practical Composition 1 and 2
• Film and Television Score Production
• Business of Music
• Orchestration
• Combining Sounds
• Composers' Workshop Series.

Format

The course is taught mainly through individual tutorials, but may include group work, workshops, seminars and lectures.

Assessment

We assess written portfolio work through portfolios of compositions responding to verbal briefs, and in the second semester (or second year for part-time students), composing direct to picture. There is also a practical assessment in the Film and Television Score Production module and an extended essay project for the Business of Music module. There is a viva voce exam as part of the portfolio submissions in both semesters (or both years for part-time students).

Career and study progression

Course alumni have gone on to compose music for an excitingly diverse range of projects and for an impressive list of clients, including the BBC, BBC Worldwide, BBC Three, The National Theatre, Youth Music Theatre UK, Projection Pictures, The National Theatre, Sky, Channel 4 and the British Film Institute.

Also, in addition to orchestrating their own music, many specialise in orchestrating and conducting the music of other (notable) film composers.

While most students progress directly into the industry after completing this course, graduates may alternatively choose to undertake a PhD or further their compositional studies with a DMus.

How to apply

Click the following link for information on how to apply to this course: http://www.uwl.ac.uk/students/postgraduate/how-apply

Scholarships and bursaries

Information about scholarships and bursaries can be found here: http://www.uwl.ac.uk/students/postgraduate/scholarships-and-bursaries

Read less

As writers now have the ability to produce their own work they need increasingly to know how publishing works. This degree enables aspiring writers to combine business acumen with creative endeavour, equipping them to work within the publishing industry while fostering their writing skills.

Who is it for?

This course will appeal to both experienced and new writers who wish to gain the knowledge and skills relevant to professional practice in commercial settings which produce creative content for print and across digital formats. You will also be introduced to the rapidly developing world of self-publishing. A digital publishing element will teach you how social media and web publishing is now vital to finding and sustaining your own community of readers.

The target market for the programme is young graduates who are seeking to exploit the potential of a humanities degree through modules that focus on their creative writing and on publishing. It is ideal for anyone interested in getting hands-on practice experience and an insider’s perspective on the publishing industry while developing their creative practice.

Objectives

If you have experience of writing or working in publishing (or a related field), and would like to develop your skills further, this course is designed for you. If you are interested in learning how you, as a writer, can engage with the publishing industry and even work within it, this course will develop the skills you need. Creative Writing and Publishing MA enables you to aspire to a professional role that will match your interests and draw upon all of your talents. We welcome writers of all genres with recent graduates developing projects in fantasy, romance, science fiction and young adult fiction.

Placements

An optional professional placement module in terms 2 and 3 runs between January and June, for a period of at least 24 days. This provides students with practical experience of working within a publishing environment, enhancing their classroom learning.

While on placement, you will meet the hosts' standard arrangements for work placement interns and will carry out tasks or projects as agreed with your placement host.

Teaching and learning

You will learn through a mix of formal lectures, writing workshops, individual tutorials, group project work, seminar contributions, study visits, work attachments, project work and independent learning and research. Visiting speakers, including guest authors, regularly support your learning and module projects. You are encouraged, through a variety of strategies, to reflect on professional practice and professional frameworks during all of your applied work.

You will acquire attitudes and values through your interactions with lecturers, many of whom are professional writers or practicing publishers, and through a critical, reflective approach to your writing practice and to working in publishing. Leading writers act as guest tutors and mentors while senior members of the publishing industry regularly visit and often sponsor projects. Publishing and writing masterclasses also enable you to debate current issues within your field. Moodle is also embedded as a learning tool within the programme, offering you opportunities to interact with your fellow students and other programme academic staff outside of the classroom or workshop.

Your intellectual and cognitive skills will be developed through the programme’s range of learning modes, which include lectures, seminars, tutorials, coursework, the option of an assessed work placement drafts of major writing projects and short assignments and in your final project.

Your subject specific and transferable skills are developed in the modules through lectures, seminars, tutorials, coursework, an optional assessed work placement and in your major project.

Assessment

For the Creative Writing Workshop module and the Storytelling module, you will be assessed through an individual assessment, which may include a portfolio of creative writing, a substantial piece of redrafted creative writing with an accompanying self-reflective essay or a critical academic essay or a researched book proposal.

In your other modules, you will be assessed by a range of methods including analytical essays; assessed group and individual projects; presentations with supporting research; and reflective reports on your own portfolios of writing or professional experience.

Modules

The MA CWP runs over one academic year for full-time students who undertake two core creative writing modules over terms 1 and 2, alongside core publishing modules in term 1 and electives in term 2. In the final term students must complete their Major Project. Part-time students undertake the core creative writing modules in their first year of study, undertaking the publishing modules and electives and major project in the second year.

Term 1
-Creative Writing workshop
-Lecture Series on Storytelling.
-Creating and Managing Intellectual Property
-Digitisation and Publishing

Term 2
-International Publishing Case Studies
-Professional Placement
-Design for Interactive Media
-Developing Creative Content
-Digital Cultures
-Libraries and Publishing in an Information Society

Term 3 - Throughout the three terms, you will be invited to attend masterclasses in creative writing, professional development sessions, and group and one-to-one tutorials, as you work towards your Major Project.

Part-time route - Part-time students take the creative writing core modules in their first year of study and in their second year undertake the publishing core modules and electives and the Major Project.

Career prospects

We are delighted that graduate Carlie Sorosiak’s (MA CWP 2015) young adult novel, If Birds Fly Back will be published by HarperTeen in the US, Macmillan in the UK, Penguin Random House in Spain, and Arena Verlag in Germany in 2017.

Holly Domney (MA CWP 2016) won the George Orwell Dystopian Fiction Prize and is currently working in the publishing industry.

At City, you will benefit from our reputation for placing graduate students with agents and with major publishers. Creative writers get exposure to agents, editors and others within both traditional and electronic publishing. For budding publishers, you have the option of a work placement within the industry. We have for many years supported the career prospects of our publishing graduates via supportive links with an industry advisory board as well as alumni.

Read less

Are you a fan of fantasy fiction? Or are you simply curious as to why the fantastic can be found all around us in the twenty-first century, from videogames and films to poetry, songs, television, novel series, and so-called 'mainstream' fiction? This programme allows you to engage with one of the most vibrant literary genres of the last two centuries - and a major cultural phenomenon of our time.

Why this programme

◾You will be supported by a friendly, internationally acclaimed team of scholars working in all areas of the arts, from literature and comics to film, TV, history of art and modern languages.
◾You will have access to world class libraries, museums and teaching/research facilities. And there will be the opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrant cultural scene of Glasgow itself, which attracts major fantasy-related conventions and is famous throughout the world for its musical, artistic, technological and literary energy.

Programme structure

The programme involves core and optional taught sessions, followed by a period of research and writing over the summer when you will undertake supervised independent work on a special topic of your choice, researching, planning and writing a 15,000 word dissertation.

You will take a research training course which will prepare you both to work on your dissertation and to develop a proposal and funding applications for a PhD, should you choose to pursue research at doctoral level.

You will have the opportunity to meet and learn from visiting scholars, writers and publishers from the UK, Europe and the United States. And you will form part of the dynamic graduate/research community of the School of Critical Studies and the College of Arts.

The programme is made up of three components:
◾Core course: taught over two ten-week teaching periods, from October to December and January to March.
◾Optional courses: also taught in ten-week blocks. Full-time students usually study one topic course in each semester.
◾A dissertation: written during the final phase of the course, from April to September.

Core Course

Part 1 introduces you to the history of fantasy literature in English and its attendant theories from c. 1780 to 1950. As well as charting the early history of modern fantasy, including major children’s fantasies where these had a significant impact on the development of adult fantasy literature, the course will introduce you to the most influential critical and theoretical approaches to fantasy and the fantastic.

Part 2 investigates the history of fantasy literature in English from 1950 to the present. It will also consider the unprecedented spread of fantasy in recent decades through comics, films and the new media, and delve into the critical and theoretical approaches to fantasy and the fantastic that have emerged since the 1950s.

Optional Courses

You may choose from the available optional courses offered by any of the Masters programmes in the School of Critical Studies. You may also opt for courses from other Masters programmes in the College of Arts (subject to approval by the relevant convener). One course can be taken at Honours level. Examples of possible options include:
◾Animation
◾Children's Literature And Literacies: Critical Enquiry
◾Core Structures Of Scottish Culture
◾Creative Writing Fiction Workshop (cross-discipline)
◾Decadence And The Modern
◾Finn in Gaelic Literature
◾Magical Narratives: Imagination, Fantasy and the Creation of Worlds
◾Modern Everyday
◾Neovictorianism
◾Religion, Theology and Culture Directed Study
◾Science Fiction

For further information, contact the convener.

Dissertation

The topic normally arises out of the work of the taught sessions, but the choice is very much open to your own initiative. The only restrictions are that the topic should be capable of serious scholarly treatment, and that adequate supervision is available. Your supervisor will help you to develop the proposal and plan the most appropriate reading and methodology.

In addition, you will attend seminars in the School Research Training Programme and the College of Arts Graduate School Research Training Course. Topics include:
◾Use of library resources
◾Advanced humanities computing
◾Research skills and research management.

Career prospects

The critical and analytic skills you develop and the ability to conduct rigorous independent study make this programme an ideal step towards an academic career.

Graduates from English Literature have also gone on to careers in writing, editing, publishing, teaching and the media.

Read less

MLitt in Theology, Imagination and The Arts

This programme can be a stand-alone qualification (for those wanting to broaden and deepen their understanding of the relationship between theology and the arts) or a natural stepping stone for those considering doctoral research in the field. In particular, the course offers students an opportunity to:

• Gain a theoretically inflected and historically contextualised introduction to the field of theology and the arts.
• Explore how art might facilitate religious experience or serve as a theological text.
• Engage with diverse forms of culture, such as the visual arts, poetry, science fiction and pop music.

Features

Scotland’s oldest university offers a rich heritage of academic excellence in theology extending from its founding in 1413. Probably the two most important factors in choosing a place for advanced study are the academic staff and the research environment.

* Divinity has 22 members of staff undertaking research in a wide range of specialisms, an undergraduate student population of around 100 full-time equivalents, and 90 postgraduates, of whom 20-30 are in MLitt programmes.

* A closely-knit community of academics and postgraduates provides a context in which to engage in stimulating theological explorations.

* St Andrews has gathered one of the most outstanding communities of internationally-renowned scholars.

* Four weekly seminars cover Biblical Studies; Religion and Politics; Theology, Imagination and the Arts; Systematic Theology. There are also regular workshops on the theme of Scripture and Theology.

* Intellectual abilities are promoted as part of a broad package of development, including the enhancement of effective communication and leadership skills, in preparation for your future career.

* The School is home to the Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics, the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts and the Institute for Bible, Theology and Hermeneutics.

Postgraduate community

The School of Divinity promotes a friendly atmosphere with a cross-flow of ideas between the disciplines, while providing the depth and breadth necessary to ground the pursuit of scholarly activity at an international level.
Our biggest asset is not our distinguished history or our fine facilities but rather our people – both staff and students. It is a popular place for visiting scholars from all over the world.

Library resources

As a result of enjoying copyright status during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the University is rich in theological, historical and biblical works from that period. In more recent times, the University has further developed its library resources, strategically investing in key publications for research and teaching. In addition to the holdings in the University Library, Divinity has a further collection of its books housed in the King James Library which adjoins the College quadrangle and study facilities are also available there.

Careers

The close contacts of many St Andrews staff with North America, including regular attendance at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature, provide an important network for aiding graduates in finding academic positions. This is strengthened by our own alumni who have, over many decades, become established in teaching positions in the United States and Canada. Over 70% of graduates from this programme go on to do a PhD – 60% apply to continue here at St Andrews.

Read less

The English MA general pathway offers a flexible and bespoke route of MA study. You will acquire the necessary research skills for advanced literary scholarship, while having the opportunity to pursue areas of interest across historical periods and in various genres. For example, with you being able to select from across three period pathways, this MA pathway opens up possibilities for the study of Victorian realism alongside contemporary science fiction, Renaissance travel writing alongside contemporary women’s poetry, eighteenth-century Gothic novels alongside postcolonial novels, and Shakespeare alongside Postmodernism.

In addition to this transhistorical approach, you will also be encouraged to take a global perspective on changing literary, cultural and political landscapes, as well as exploring current critical and theoretical debates.

Why English?

Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), we ranked 10th out of 89 in the UK for 4* (world-leading) and 3* (internationally excellent) research.

Strong postgraduate community

With over 150 taught and research students from all over the world, you will be part of a genuine international community. You will be able to participate in our lively research culture through attending regular seminars and lectures by guest speakers as well as our own staff and students. A legacy from former tutor Miriam Allott has allowed the department to host a creative writing fellow (currently the poet Sean Borodale), and a vibrant series of international poetry readings. Recent conferences include ‘On Liberties’ at St Deiniol’s Library, and ‘Renaissance Old Worlds’ in collaboration with the British Library. As a doctoral student you can participate in the optional English Graduate Teaching Programme, which allows doctoral students to get the best of the teaching opportunities available without making significant demands on their time.

Career prospects

The independence of study, clarity of expression and management of time demanded by all our taught programmes equip the successful graduate with the skills and knowledge base required for further academic study and research in English and other areas.

However, many graduates choose to enter careers such as teaching, publishing and journalism, or to work in the business sector, often in human resources, administration, marketing or sales.

Successful alumni have gone on to teach English at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels in schools around the globe. A significant number of MA graduates have also continued their studies to PhD level.

Successful alumni have gone on to teach English at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels in schools around the globe. A significant number of MA graduates have also continued their studies at PhD level.

Read less

Our Masters in Comics and Graphic Novels is the only course of its kind in the UK, and Dundee is one of only a handful of institutions in the world offering the opportunity to study comics at postgraduate level. Our expert staff are involved in making comics, researching comics, organising major comics conferences, and co-editing peer-reviewed journals in this expanding field.

Aims of the Course

This course will provide you with an understanding of the comics medium and the comics industry, and their relation to different genres, national cultures, and various media. You will be encouraged to think critically about these ideas, and to appreciate the importance of relating critical close analysis of style and form to theory, context, politics and history.

You can also practice creating comics from script writing to thumbnails, pencils, inks, lettering, colouring and production methods.

These analytical and creative skills, combined with assessments that test presentational and communication skills and problem solving abilities, are essential in the workplace. The fact that the course is interdisciplinary in its approach (looking at writing and visual culture together) means that we foster creativity and ingenuity in developing critical approaches to the work.‌

How you will be taught

The MLitt is led by Dr Chris Murray with the MDes led by Phillip Vaughan.

A variety of teaching methods are used, including: small group teaching, one-to-one teaching, supervised study, seminars, tutorials, presentations, invited speakers and discussion groups, lectures, workshops, practical classes and demonstrations.

How you will be assessed

The assessment methods used in this course include weekly journals, presentations, research essays, dissertations and projects. Some of the option modules include assessment of creative work accompanied by reflective essays.

Dissertations and projects are supervised on a one-to-one basis to ensure continuity, and this will provide you with the opportunity to work on an area of comics study or creation of your own choosing (subject to approval by the tutor).

What you will study

There are two teaching semesters, from September to December and from January to March. You'll study the core modules below, plus your choice of optional modules

From April onwards, you'll write your dissertation or produce your major project.

Core Modules for MLitt

Critical Approaches to Comics and Graphic Novels
International Comics Cultures
Dissertation

Core Modules for MDes

Creating Comics
Comics Production
Major Project

Optional modules (shared between both courses):

Critical Approaches to Comics and Graphic Novels
International Comics Cultures
Creating Comics
Comics Production
Comics and Film
Science Fiction Comics
Autobiographix: Documentary and Autobiographical Comics

Employability

This course offers good employment opportunities for anyone interested in working in the field of comics, either critically or creatively. You will also meet many industry professionals during the course, and have the chance to make valuable connections.

Students taking this programme may also choose to pursue academic careers, work in the media, or in the creative industries or publishing. An understanding of comics cuts across publishing, computer games, the internet, television, and film.

You'll have networking opportunities throughout the course, you'll meet with industry professionals and there will be opportunities to attend and organise major comic conventions. There are also opportunities for internships.

Additionally, the high levels of analysis, problem-solving abilities and the presentational and communication skills that you will develop on this course are highly valued by employers.

Read less

The interaction and communication between billions of devices produces and exchanges data related to real-world smart objects. This MSc develops your skills in data mining and Big Data analysis to better understand, utilise and leverage this data.

A futuristic connected world, where we increasingly interact with smart objects, on-body, in buildings, in cities and in distant, harsher environments, was once science fiction. This is now a reality: parts of buildings can now interact with each other, smart vehicles can be autonomously controlled and humans can interact with all these using smart phones and wearables.
This innovative Internet of Things (IoT) MSc programme will help you adapt to become one of the highly skilled and in-demand engineers who are able to fully exploit the potential that these technologies offer.

The Internet of Things (IoT) focuses on a vision of more connected, different, things (or digital devices) than in previous visions of the Internet. More ‘things’ are part of the physical world that connect to form smart environments. Humans are constantly increasing the frequency and range of ‘things’ (sensors, tags, cards, phones, actuator, wearables) they interact with in the world. Machine-to-machine interaction will allow more physical things to interact with other things without human intervention for scalability.

Read less

This programme is intended to look at the representation of particular cultural issues across a range of texts. You will be asked to consider the representation of a particular topic or concept in a range of texts across time and to ask how these representations respond to each other and to the changing political and social circumstances for the text. You will also be asked to consider how a range of texts from a short historical period respond differently to a shared set of historical circumstances. Modules ask you to engage with the major contemporary theoretical and critical issues in modern literary studies.

For the MA, you take three 30-credit modules, two 15-credit research methods modules, plus a dissertation (equivalent to four 15-credit modules). The Postgraduate Diploma requires three 30-credit modules (plus the research methods modules) and the Postgraduate Certificate requires two 30-credit modules. Assessment of modules is normally by coursework, either two pieces of about 2-3,000 words, or one piece of 4-5,000 words.

The English Literature subject group organises a range of literary activities including visits from influential speakers, a postgraduate research forum and conference, and a number of highly successful international conferences. These include the Open Graves Open Minds conference on the literary undead; Worlds Apart Science Fiction Conference, The Bram Stoker Symposium and the Locations of Austen Conference.

For details about the planned suite of modules please contact the Literature MA Co-ordinator, Dr Anna Tripp, on 01707 285654 or email [email protected]

Why choose this course?

The MA in Modern Literary Cultures offers you the opportunity to explore culturally charged themes and critical debates across a diverse range of texts. You will be asked to consider the representation of a particular topic or concept in a range of texts across time and to ask how these representations respond to each other and to the changing political and social circumstances for the text. You will also be asked to explore how a range of texts from a short historical period respond differently to a shared set of historical circumstances. Modules ask you to engage with the major contemporary theoretical and critical issues in modern literary studies.

Careers

The advanced research skills the programme gives you are of value in a wide range of careers.

Teaching methods

Assessment is normally by coursework only. Taught modules require either two pieces of coursework of approximately 2-3,000 words, or one piece of coursework of 4-5,000 words. The dissertation is an extended piece of research, normally 15,000 words in length.

Structure

Modules
-Dandies, Decadents and New Women: Fin de siecle Literary Culture 1880-1900
-Earth Words: Literature, Place and Environment B
-Literature Dissertation
-Literature Research Methods 1: Critical and Theoretical Debates
-Literature Research Methods 2: Advanced Research Skills B
-Reading the Vampire: Science, Sexuality and Alterity in Modern Culture

Read less