History

Entry requirements

Applicants should hold at least 2:1 degree in related subject such as History or a cognate subject.

Applications from all candidates will be considered on their merits in the light of the nature and scope of the programme and if they have experience.

A detailed admissions procedure will be forwarded on application.

Months of entry

September

Course content

An understanding of the past is key to understanding the present and the future, and the study of history of publicly important as well as personally enriching. Our Master of Research (MRes) in History will enable you to develop specialist knowledge and research skills.

MRes History offers you the unique opportunity to combine the local and global in historical research.

You can choose to specialise in a broad range of historical places and subjects, and you’ll receive expert guidance along the way as you broaden and refine your research skills.

Amongst our staff we have specialists in Modern Britain and Ireland; European, African and Asian History; and memory, heritage and place.

• Amongst our staff we have specialists in Modern Britain and Ireland; European, African and Asian History; and memory, heritage and place.
• You’ll get to attend monthly research seminars from visiting academics.
• There are opportunities for valuable work placements through our links with various educational and heritage institutions throughout the region.

• We have outstanding library facilities, including our Special Collections which contain the Joseph Livesey Collection, a cornerstone of the British temperance movement of the 19th century, and other important archival material such as the Wainwright Collection of rare books on Irish Home Rule and Ulster Unionism.
• Our History staff are all published historians who work in modern British, Irish, European, American, African and Asian history, mostly with a modern or contemporary focus. Many have specialist knowledge of various aspects of heritage studies and public history, including memorials and memorialisation, oral history, business heritage and material culture.

As you progress through the course you’ll have the option of specialising in a particular historic subject, place or era.

One of the highlights of this course is the option of generating a public history product from your dissertation research which will have real-world impact and could even be used as a resource for the local community and beyond. You can either complete a single written dissertation of 24,000 words or alternatively produce a 12,000 word dissertation with an accompanying product such as a companion exhibition, schools pack, podcast or website.

Our History department has a strong and productive relationship with schools, museums, libraries and archives across the region and students have undertaken placements with many of these in the past. We work particularly closely with the People’s History Museum and the Labour Party Archive located there as well as with the Co-operative College and Archive, Lancashire Archives, the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Lancashire Fusiliers Museum and many other friends and partners across the North West and further afield.

There are opportunities for outstanding and committed students to progress to an MPhil or PhD in History, perhaps with your MRes dissertation serving as the foundation for future research.