Historical Research

• This MA degree offers you practical training in advanced research skills that can support progression to PhD study.
• Birkbeck was ranked in the top eight universities in the UK for its History research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.
• Our research is unique in its range across geographical and chronological boundaries. We are the only university in London to include historians, classicists and archaeologists in the same team of academics investigating every period from prehistory to the early twenty-first century. We see the study of the past as crucial for our understanding of present-day society, culture and politics.
• All Master’s students are eligible to apply for our prestigious Eric Hobsbawm Scholarships, subject to availability. One of the most influential historians of the twentieth century, Eric Hobsbawm taught at Birkbeck for over five decades and embodied what is central to our teaching and research: a continued commitment to critical enquiry and public engagement.
• We are at the heart of academic London with access to unparalleled research resources. Situated very close by are: the Institute of Classical Studies, with its library, training facilities and seminars; the British Museum, with its extensive collection of classical antiquities; and the British Library, the largest national library in the world.
• We are home to 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. These include the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, the Raphael Samuel History Centre and the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities.

On successfully graduating from this MA Historical Research you will have gained an array of important transferable skills, including:

• a solid grounding in historiography and history
• training in critical reading and writing
• training in the organisation of research and design of a research project.

Studying this course will prepare you for further postgraduate research or study, or for roles in a range of fields and professions including any role that requires critical reading and evaluation of texts and sources. You may decide to pursue or further a career path working in:

• secondary or sixth form school teaching
• the heritage sector
• journalism
• law.

Graduates from this course have gone on to be employed by the Historical Association, British Museum, BBC and Channel 4 News, and a number of different secondary schools.

We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.