Course summary

The Masters in Criminology by research will help you to better understand the harms and conflicts that we criminalise and penalise, the harms and conflicts that criminalisation and penalisation cause, and how we might develop responses which could create fairer and safer societies rather than exacerbating social inequalities. A vibrant research community in criminology supports you to become excellent researchers who are theoretically informed, methodologically skilled and actively engaged in public dialogue about crime and justice. WHY THIS PROGRAMME

• This programme will prepare you for a career as a researcher or for undertaking a PhD in criminological or criminal justice research. It is recognised for an Economic and Social Research Council 1+3 award through the Scottish Doctoral Training Centre.

• You will be able to collaborate with and have access to others who care about doing justice in better ways and to better effect.

• Our staff are involved in many research projects and networks in Scotland, the UK, and internationally. As well as guaranteeing support from postgraduate researcher supervisors at the cutting edge of the discipline, this creates opportunities for students to engage in dialogue with related government departments, criminal justice organisations, NGOs, people with lived experience of criminal justice and activist groups seeking justice reform and/or abolition.

• Glasgow is a founding partner and administrative base of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) which spans five Scottish universities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier, Stirling and Strathclyde). For staff and postgraduate researchers, SCCJR opens up access to a wide range of activities and development opportunities.

• There will be training opportunities in research methods and skills, not just in established quantitative and qualitative methods, but also in mixed methods research and in more recent or emerging approaches such as creative, visual and digital methods.

• You will be able to develop new theoretical, conceptual and interdisciplinary approaches to studying crime and justice.

• There will be opportunities to participate numerous training and professional development activities, many of them student-led, often in collaboration with our partners in the SCCJR.

• We also offer a diverse programme of regular seminars features leading scholars in the field and informal working lunches, where we seek regular postgraduate researcher contributions.

• Sociology at Glasgow is ranked 4th in the UK by the Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025 and 4th in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2025.