Research profile
The MSc by Research in History is aimed at students who have a specific topic of interest into which they wish to conduct their own research.
The programme provides structured research training while at the same time enabling you to pursue a research project that you design yourself, in consultation with supervisors. It serves as both a self-contained research degree and a preparation for further study for the PhD degree.
History at Edinburgh is one of the largest and most distinguished departments of its kind.
Research interests within History are extremely wide-ranging and include medieval culture, religion, gender, and law; historical theory; early modern witchcraft and the occult; the Italian Renaissance; North America from the colonial era; intellectual history from Machiavelli to Marx; genocide; Nazi and post-war Germany; Russia and the Soviet Union; the Cold War; and political, social, and cultural aspects of the history of China, Japan, and India in the modern era.
In particular, we host expertise in:
- Pre-modern and early-modern history: our research interests lie in the social, political, religious and cultural history of Europe – from the fall of Rome to the Renaissance, with particular emphasis on England, France and Italy.
- Modern British and Irish history: we have particular interests in early modern religion, belief and intellectual history (including the Scottish Enlightenment); social and political history; relations between Britain and Ireland; Irish migration; and international relations and warfare.
- Modern European history: specialisms include astrology and belief; Renaissance Venice; 18th-century political and intellectual history; genocide; France; Germany; Russia and the Soviet Union; and Spain.
- American history: our expertise includes revolutionary and early national America; the Civil War; US diplomatic history in the 19th and 20th centuries; politics in the 20th century; African-American history and the civil rights movement.
- Asian and African history: we research African history; the history of the British Empire and Commonwealth; modern India, Pakistan, and China and Japan since the early modern period.
Programme structure
The programme consists of two compulsory training courses common to all History MSc degrees, two directed reading and research courses and a dissertation on a topic chosen by the student.
Two supervisors are assigned at the outset of the course for each student's dissertation.
This programme requires completion of a long dissertation of 30,000 words. Students will additionally audit two training courses Historical Research: Skills and Sources and Historical Methodology.
Training and support
You will be assigned two supervisors who will provide expert academic guidance on your chosen research topic. You will meet regularly to discuss your progress and research plans, as well as drafts of your thesis/dissertation chapters, conference papers and potential articles.
In addition to individual supervision, you will also have access to research training and postgraduate seminars.
Facilities
Our home is the William Robertson Wing, an A-listed building on the southern edge of Edinburgh’s Old Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Designed by the distinguished 19th-century architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, the building – part of the University’s Old Medical School – has recently been refurbished to an exceptional standard, providing state-of-the-art facilities for research, teaching and study.
Graduate students are able to use two further large School study and resource rooms, which are open to all staff and students. There is access to lockers equipped with laptop charging facilities as well as standard lockers.
The building is wireless enabled and includes state of the art teaching rooms, meeting rooms, a common room, a refreshment area, and open social/breakout areas.
Learning outcomes
The programme will enable you to:
- develop a specific body of advanced knowledge
- become competent in advanced historical methodology and in the evaluation of evidence through the close study of relevant primary and secondary sources
- become familiar with historiographical debates and modes of historical explanation
- develop rigorous historical argument
- conceive and execute a coherent project in historical research and writing
Career opportunities
The concentration on research under supervision makes this degree suitable for those contemplating doctoral study, whether in our own School or elsewhere, and many who take this degree follow that route.
But undertaking substantial and independent research and a writing project is equally excellent preparation for a wide variety of careers.
Visit the
History - MScR
page on the University of Edinburgh website for more details!
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