Are you an international student? Find out more about everything you need to know from visas to qualifications and language requirements.
Page
MA in History, Place and Community
You are reading:
Course information>
Explore the fundamental building blocks of human society and identity: communities, places and groups, with this master's in History, Place and Community.
Key features
-
Learn from top experts
Our teachers are recognised experts drawn from the Institute and a range of partner organisations, including Historic England, the National Archives, and the Historic Environment Record network, as well as smaller organisations such as the Bishopsgate Archive and the East End Women’s Museum
-
Unlock world-class resources
Access the world-renowned resources such as the Wohl library, with over 200,000 history books and periodicals, and our range of digital and online resources, as well as unique collections at Senate House Library. The Institute has partnerships with prestigious library and art collections, the cultural and heritage sector, and more.
-
Study in an enriching scholarly environment
Enrich your learning with history seminars, specialist research training programmes, our network of senior, honorary, research and associate fellows and opportunities to work alongside the established research centres in History. You will also benefit from an interdisciplinary research environment, extensive calendar of events, and training opportunities across the federation.
-
Study in a global city
The Institute is located in the heart of Bloomsbury in central London, where you will be able to enjoy everything the city has to offer, from the world-class resources of neighbouring institutions, such as the British Museum and the British Library, to shops, restaurants, parks, clubs and theatres.
Course overview
The School of Advanced Study at the University of London brings together eight internationally renowned research institutes to form the UK's national centre for the support of researchers and the promotion of research in the humanities.
Among them, the Institute of Historical Research is the UK's national centre for history, dedicated to supporting historians of all kinds. The IHR is dedicated to training the next generation of researchers, and to producing and facilitating ambitious, innovative historical research. Through our library, events programmes, seminars, fellowships, training and publications, we offer a wide range of services both onsite and remotely that facilitate excellence in historical research, teaching and scholarship in the UK.
Our academic staff produce world-leading research, conducting nationally-important projects and providing a remarkable range of expertise, with particular strengths in the history of Britain, its colonial involvement and the Commonwealth. A large body of senior and junior research fellows complements the staff and, alongside the institute’s substantial body of doctoral students, ensures a lively and thriving intellectual environment. Staff and students also take advantage of the seminar programmes and academic resources of the University of London colleges, the other institutes of the School of Advanced Study and the other internationally-renowned institutions of Bloomsbury, such as the British Library. Finally, we enjoy the unrivalled resources of the IHR Wohl Library, including its world-renowned collections in placed, place-based and local histories, as well as secondary materials around public history and historiography.
The Institute of Historical Research’s MA in History, Place and Community is an exciting new programme (now in its second year of running) designed to be flexible and centred on your needs: whether you’re building the foundations for higher level research, looking to develop applied skills for your professional development, or simply interested in your own place and its history.
Today, the intersections between history, place and community have never been more visible in public discourse, heritage interpretation, conservation and policy. What does it mean to feel a sense of identity and commonality with a group or with a place? What are the bonds that link people as parts of a greater whole, and how are they created and perpetuated? How are communities imagined and what does it mean for those within them and outside?
The MA encourages you to ask and answer these questions and can be adapted to allow you to draw upon wider scholarship to focus on your own particular favoured areas, localities or research topics. This flexibility in approach also extends to the structure and teaching format: the course is taught using a hybrid, blended approach, making the most of London where appropriate but also allowing for study at a distance, allowing you the maximum opportunity to fit study around your own circumstances and needs.
The independent study element of the course – taking place in term 3 for full-time students or term 6 for part-time – will see you choose between a 15,000-word dissertation, a placement with a partner organisation (of your choice, although the IHR can assist in finding suitable placements) of not fewer than eight weeks, or an 'alternative output', which might be a series of podcasts, a small exhibition or a set of interpretation panels, or a set of teaching materials, or something similar of your own devising; we are open to offers!
Positioned within the rich intellectual environment of the University of London’s School of Advanced Study, the IHR is the perfect place in which to engage with localities and communities. Home to the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community, the Victoria County History and the Layers of London project, the Institute boasts an unrivalled concentration of expertise in both urban and rural places, ranging widely beyond the usual boundaries of history as a discipline. The programme also takes advantage of the IHR’s unique location in the heart of London, and the opportunities for field trips, archive visits, and observation of the historic environment this presents.
NB, please note that acceptance onto the MA in History, Place & Community does not qualify for the purposes of making a UK student visa application; enquiries about flexible learning for international students are, however, welcome.
Full details of the programme structure and modules are available on the course page
A number of bursaries are currently available for this course:
Two awards from the SAS Convocation Trust Bursary, each of £10,000.
One award from the British Friends of the IHR Bursary, offering a 50% reduction on fees for one student from the UK (i.e. paying Home fees);
Terms and conditions apply for each bursary. See the Institute of Historical Research MA Funding for further details.
The deadline for bursary applications is 1 May 2024.
By the end of the programme, students will be able to:
- understand the complex and charged discourses around ‘community’ and ‘place’ and contribute to them with their own original research and analysis
- critically address problems in knowledge or understanding of historical places and communities, Identifying and selecting appropriate methods, tools and analytical frameworks to bring to bear upon them
- use a wide variety of scholarly tools and services to undertake independent historical research
- communicate research findings to academic and public audiences
- apply historical research skills in a variety of professional environments
- frame, plan and execute a substantial historical research project
The programme re-imagines postgraduate taught study for the post-Covid era, with an emphasis on flexibility, student-centred formats, wide geographical accessibility, and bespoke learning. From the start this course has been designed with flexibility in mind, with extensive use made of blended and online learning, and a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous teaching. We understand the need for study opportunities that allow students to combine the MA programme with other activities or employment, and we recognise that they will not always want to be present in London. Both full-time (one year) and part-time (two year) modes of study are available, allowing students to choose a level of commitment appropriate to their circumstances.
The degree course consists of a total of seven modules: six twenty-credit taught modules and a final independent study module – either a dissertation or a placement – worth sixty credits. These can be taken full-time (one year) or part-time (two years) for a total of 180 credits. In addition to the full MA, shorter qualifications are also available.
The availability of a module is subject to change.
(HPM010-01)
(HPM020-01)
(HPM030-01)
(HPM040-01)
(HPM050-01)
(HPM060-01)
(HPM300-01)
(HPM400-01)
(HPM600-01)
(HPM500-01)
Dr Adam Chapman, Lecturer in Medieval History & Victoria County History (VCH) Editor
Adam is principal editor for the VCH, based at the Institute, and also teaches on the Institute's MRes and PhD programmes.
Professor Catherine Clarke is Director of the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community at the Institute of Historical Research
Catherine is a cultural historian specialising in the Middle Ages, but she also works across a wide range of periods on questions of place, identity, heritage and uses of the past.
Justin Colson, Senior Lecturer in Urban and Digital History and Deputy Director of the IHR's Centre for the History of People, Place and Community.
Justin is an historian of towns and cities, specialising in London during the late medieval and early modern periods, and uses digital and spatial techniques to study societies and cultures more broadly across time and place.
Claire Langhamer, Director of the Institute of Historical Research.
Claire is a social and cultural historian of modern Britain who specializes in the history of everyday life, especially the experiences of women and girls, and the history of feeling.
Professor Philip Murphy
Professor Philip Murphy is Director of History & Policy at the IHR
Dr Ruth Slatter, Lecturer in Historic Environment & Knowledge Exchange Manager at the Institute of Historical Research.
Ruth is interested in people's everyday experiences of religion, faith and spirituality since the nineteenth century. To explore these themes, she uses architecture and material & visual culture, historical geography and participatory approaches.
Simon Trafford, Director of Studies and Lecturer in Medieval History
Simon convenes and teaches on the MA in History, Place & Community, co-ordinates and oversees the research training programme, and has overall responsibility for all teaching and learning within the Institute.
We have designed this programme to be a new and exciting way for students to explore those fundamental building blocks of human society and identity: communities, places and groups. The taught element will give you the firmest possible grounding in modern historical debates and methods, equipping you with all the skills and knowledge you need to establish yourself as a researcher in your chosen subject area. The degree culminates in either a dissertation or a placement, allowing you to craft your original contribution to historical understanding in whatever way suits both the material and you. With the help and support of our enthusiastic team of expert staff you will emerge as a seasoned historical researcher, ready to go on to further study or further explore your own amateur or professional historical interests.
Admissions
The normal minimum entry requirement is an upper second-class honours degree from a British university, or an equivalent qualification from a foreign institution, in any discipline in the humanities which is related to the course. All students whose first language is not English must provide recent evidence that their written and spoken English is adequate for postgraduate study.
We are not accepting applications for 2025-26.
For more information on how to apply, including deadlines and the documentation you will need to provide on the application form, visit our How to Apply page.
Fees, funding and payment
Fees are set annually and cover registration, tuition, and (in the case of research students) supervision.
Fees are quoted per annum -- that is, you will need to pay at least the fee quoted below for each year of your studies. Please note that tuition fees are subject to annual uplift. The University of London reserves the right to alter or withdraw courses and amend other details without prior notice.
See the Tuition Fees for 2024-25 - listed by Institute.
Our students fund their studies in a variety of ways including scholarships, bursaries and fellowships, as well as government loans and postgraduate loans.
We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries that you don't need to pay back and are awarded based on personal circumstances or academic achievement. Funding at postgraduate level is competitive so it’s a good idea to plan financially before starting your course.
For information about fees and funding from the School of Advanced Study, please visit the SAS Fees and Funding page.
Career opportunities
This programme is designed for those who wish to:
- develop a deeper, broader understanding of historical research – and/or build specific skills – to assist with their professional development (for example, those who work in the arts, in galleries, museums, archives and libraries, and heritage sectors) – there is a growing need for individuals and for institutions to develop research skills in history in many professional environments. The combined methodological and applied approaches adopted in this programme, together with the hybrid mode of instruction, provides appropriate professional training in the relevant areas.
- prepare for further study in history at PhD level – this programme builds a set of research practices and modes of critical thinking that will equip students to approach PhD study with confidence, tackling all of the key skills they will need to build a career in academia or historical research. This course provides students with the skills and awareness to construct and execute a convincing advanced research project at PhD level, and an experience and understanding of research and publishing environments to disseminate their research findings in academic and non-academic arenas.
- explore their own personal interests in history at any stage in life - the programme is also designed for those who wish to pursue personal research interests through a taught programme of study. There is plenty of space for individuals to acquire skills to help them realise their personal research ambitions or to explore a diverse programme of study that seeks to ignite new thoughts and ideas.
The SAS Careers Service works with students and graduates of all ages and at all stages of career development across all the institutes. Our mission is to provide high-quality information about careers and skills, and professional advice and guidance. We help students with their career development, either within their current field of work or in something completely new.
SAS students can access 1-2-1 guidance appointments throughout their studies and for up to 2 years after graduating, to help them plan their next steps, whatever they might be. We also offer CV, cover letter, and application advice as well as mock interviews with the SAS Careers Consultant who will empower you to feel more confident in your interview performance.
Applications open soon
Thank you for your interest in studying with us. Applications are currently closed for this course. Check the key dates section when applications open or register your interest.
