Course summary

This course is designed for students who aspire to be change-makers in the world around them. It provides an opportunity to interrogate the scope and scale of contemporary social issues and transformative social changes.

• Research-enhanced and practice-focused tuition from subject specialists in gender, sexualities, race and ethnicities, social protest, media and contemporary cultures, disabilities, crime and criminal justice.

• Advanced training in social research methods in an active and inclusive community of researchers, some of whom have practitioner experience in their field of expertise.

• You will have the option to apply for a ‘professional experience’ opportunity, designed to further develop your skills and knowledge with the aim of maximising your employability prospects.

• You'll explore natural and anthropogenic catastrophic risks such as climate change, pandemics, terrorism and violence, global population growth and economic recession. This includes socio-economic and political challenges such as the rise of polarising populism, punitive responses to crime and disorder and persistent social injustice linked to legacies of colonialism and widening wealth and generational inequalities. Individual and cultural responses to change including the clash of identity politics in a digitised cultural landscape and the emotional and cultural disruptions wrought by fluid bodies, sexualities and genders occupying real-world and virtual spaces and situations complete these studies of the social complex.

• A key aim of this flexible programme is to equip you with knowledge and skills that are valuable for entering the graduate job market.

• There is a focus on community engagement and developing networks in the public, private, charitable and voluntary sectors, which emphasises collaboration and co-creation in an inclusive learning community. You will gain an understanding of how far academic ideas and research can travel and transform in social, political, cultural and professional contexts – especially in the form of evidence-based policy and practice.

• The course is situated in the School of Humanities which has a strong portfolio of academic research. Course delivery is by a team of experienced, active researchers, with a range of expertise in social science, who offer distinctive, research-informed and innovative teaching, including researchers engaged in impactful projects on diversity, equality and identities (staff are subject to change).