MA History

The MA in History offers you the opportunity to explore a variety of historical approaches, and many different periods and places. This MA is characterised by a high degree of choice, both in what and how you learn. It offers unique opportunities to get hands-on experience for students looking to move into work in heritage and research.

You can opt to take specialist master's level units, join third-year undergraduate units, or undertake independent solo research projects. Several units also offer the chance to engage with external partners such as the SS Great Britain, BBC History Magazine, or the National Trust.

The wide range of research and teaching expertise in the department means that we are confident you will find units that reflect your interests, whether that's medieval notions of the apocalypse, the English Civil War, maritime empires, race in North America, or something else entirely.

Across the year, students can choose to specialise by following pathways through our programme that reflect our strengths in:

• medieval and early modern history
• contemporary British, European and American history
• global history (with a particular focus on African and Asian history)
• histories of colonialism, empire, and race
• environmental history
• public history
• histories of gender, sexuality, and the body.

Alternatively, you may prefer to obtain a broad knowledge of different historical subjects, themes, debates and methodologies.

As well as benefitting from the research expertise of our staff, you will be immersed in a vibrant postgraduate community at Bristol. This is underpinned by regular seminar series, guest speakers, and skills workshops, as well as social events organised by our History Society and student reps. You will also be connected to several prestigious research groups in the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences in which the Department of History plays a prominent part. This includes our centres for Medical Humanities, Black Humanities, Environmental Humanities, and Medieval Studies.