Research Training, MA
We offer a range of research training Masters programmes designed to provide high quality training to enhance your key skills and employability.
We aim to produce graduates who are capable of successfully completing advanced research projects and who can develop careers in research in universities, the public, voluntary or private sector.
The School enjoys excellent ratings for teaching and research. We pride ourselves on the quality of our extensive international networks and research interests, which stand at the leading edge of a wide range of national and international academic and policy debates.
Students can specialise in one of 4 areas given below and each programme is recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council as offering the requisite skills training for preparation for a PhD.
Human Geography Research
Looks at key concepts in human geography – ideas such as space and place, scale and environment – and connects these directly to contemporary issues of globalisation; identity; social inclusion; gender; class and ethnicity. We also examine the evolution and application of philosophical and theoretical debates in social sciences and human geography: debates which shape the way we look at and understand the world around us at local, regional, national and global scales.
Politics Research
Students explore varying theories, approaches and methods in the study of politics and also choose from a range of courses in political philosophy; public policy in the UK and European Union; international relations and foreign policy; the media and the politics of representation and the politics of international development and globalisation.
Regional Development Research
Connects directly with the emerging challenges for contemporary regional development - economic, social and political. It explores contemporary debates in social science with a focus on local and regional disparities and development; the state, government and governance in regional development; regional economic policy; learning regions and clusters; social exclusion and inclusion; regeneration; entrepreneurialism; sustainability; culture and the arts and regional and sub-national governance.
Sociology and Social Research
The focus is on introducing the theoretical traditions and concepts that influence and shape sociology, the ways in which social divisions are generated as structures of power and patterns of inequality and the profound transformations in urban life, social institutions and practices. It introduces the important thinkers, conceptual schools and movements within social theory, including core theoretical traditions and concepts in visual sociology.
All students complete a core of research training, covering research design and dissertation preparation, qualitative and quantitative methodologies and information skills. In addition to modules in their chosen specialism.
Each of these programmes is run full time over 12 months, or part time over 24 months. Partial bursaries may be available for Newcastle University alumni and for applicants interested in pursuing academic research careers.
Contact Details
The Postgraduate Secretary
School of Geography, Politics and Sociology
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)191 222 3923
Fax: +44 (0)191 222 5421
E-mail: gps@ncl.ac.uk