Research profile
We host one of the largest economic and social history research groupings in the UK. Staff research interests are wide-ranging, including the study of economic development, energy policy, globalisation, slavery, urban history, consumption, material culture, museums and collecting, leisure, religious belief, popular culture, medicine and disease, gender, sexuality and the family.
The diversity of our research means we can support students’ economic and social history study in a vast range of time periods and geographical regions and from the early modern period to the present day.
Particular areas of expertise available for research are: culture and society in early modern Britain; slavery in the Atlantic world: 1650–1834; the material culture of gender in 18th-century Britain; urban society and civil society in historical context; clothing cultures in comparative historical contexts; cinema and society in modern Britain; gender, crime and deviancy: Britain 1860–1960; energy policy in Britain since 1920; the economic history of China in the 20th century.
The University’s economic and social historians host three research groups: material and visual cultures of the past; enlightenment and popular culture; and economic and social history
Facilities
Our building offers you exceptional, modern facilities, resources and study spaces, in a stunning location.
Our postgraduate students have access to:
- A dedicated study and computing lab with printing, copying and scanning facilities, overlooking the Meadows, one of the city’s best-loved green spaces.
- Two research rooms, shared with undergraduates, housing some of our impressive book collections and a small selection of computing facilities.
- A large common room overlooking the Meadows, shared by students and staff.
- Our PhD study room. Subject to available desk space, you may apply after semester one of your first year.
- A number of small-scale teaching rooms, well-equipped with facilities such as data projection and smart boards.
- Exhibition areas, filled with artefacts and artwork from our collections.
All of our facilities are in addition to the multiple libraries and computer labs provided across the University’s estate. Many of our rooms overlook the Meadows.
Our location, right in the heart of Edinburgh, means you will be based close to the city’s cultural attractions and facilities, including a wealth of libraries, archives, museums and galleries, which provide uniquely rich support for the disciplines we teach.
Programme structure
This programme is designed to meet Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) requirements as a research training masters qualification. It includes recognised courses in research design and methodology, including quantitative and qualitative methods.
Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, tutorials, and computer-lab sessions. In addition to the skills training elements, you will take an optional course and a directed reading course that will feed into your dissertation research.
You will be examined through coursework and will then work towards an independently researched dissertation of 15,000 words.
You will take the following three core courses:
- Economic and Social Theory for Historical Analysis
- Supervised Reading Course (E&SH)
- Core quantitative Data Analysis 1 and 2
In addition you will choose a pair of skills courses (ERSC funded students must take the first pair).
EITHER
- Research Skills in the Social Sciences: Data Collection
- Research Design
OR
- Historical Research: Skills and Sources
- Historical Methodology
You will then take one further option course of your choice. Option courses change from year to year and those available when you start your studies may be different from those shown.
- Macroeconomics 1 OR Microeconomics 1
- Economic and Social History Courses
- Online History Courses
Career opportunities
This programme is specifically designed for students who anticipate progressing to a doctoral programme, but it can also function as excellent preparation for a wide variety of careers.
Visit the
Economic and Social History (MScR)
page on the University of Edinburgh website for more details!
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