Public History MA

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our Academic experience page, which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2024-25.

See our terms and conditions and student complaints information, which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Module information is intended to provide an example of what you will study.

Our teaching is informed by research. Course content changes periodically to reflect developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback.

Full details of the modules on offer will be published through the Programme Regulations and Specifications ahead of each academic year. This usually happens in May.

To find out more please see our terms and conditions.

Optional modules availability

Some courses have optional modules. Student demand for optional modules may affect availability.

Teaching will take a variety of forms, with online resources available for you to prepare for taught sessions. These sessions will include:

• small group seminars
• skills workshops
• supported and independent research
• fieldwork
• group work
• guest lectures

Your taught sessions will usually be scheduled on 2-3 set days a week to allow you time to continue part-time paid or voluntary work.

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

• Design or creative project
• Essay
• Oral presentation
• Poster
• Portfolio
• Problem-solving exercises
• Reflective log
• Research proposal
• Research paper

Much of your assessment will be public-facing work. This may include policy briefings, grant applications, blogs and more.

Use of project-based and practical assessments throughout the course means you’ll graduate with a portfolio containing a wide range of work. You can use this to demonstrate your knowledge and skills to future employers.

Your final assessment will be an independent project. You’ll develop your project in consultation with a practitioner-mentor and a member of academic staff from history at Newcastle University. Your project could take the form of, for example, a physical or online exhibition, a podcast, a film, or a community engagement or a policy-focussed public history project.

You can apply for funding of up to £200 to cover travel costs associated with your final project.

Your teaching and learning is also supported by Canvas. Canvas is a Virtual Learning Environment. You'll use Canvas to submit your assignments and access your:

• module handbooks
• course materials
• groups
• course announcements and notifications
• written feedback

Throughout your studies, you’ll have access to support from:

• peers
• academics
• personal tutors
• our University Student Services Team
• student representatives

You'll also be assigned an academic member of staff. They will be your personal tutor throughout your time with us. They can help with academic and personal issues.

Our staff have expertise in a wide range of areas including:

• public history
• oral history
• historical justice
• colonialisation and decolonisation
• deindustrialisation and place
• digital humanities
• memory and narrative
• political uses of the past, including the struggle for democracy and civil rights
• representations of sexuality and ethnicity

In addition, we have strong regional, national and international links to public historians working in civic institutions, media, cultural and historical sites.

Key staff:

Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips

• Degree Programme Director and Lecturer in Public History
• Areas of research expertise:
• public history
• oral history
• commemoration
• solidarity
• Australian studies
• https://www.ncl.ac.uk/hca/people/profile/alisonatkinson-phillips.html

Professor Graham Smith

• Professor of Oral History and Director of the Oral History Unit and Collective
• Areas of research expertise:
• oral history
• public history
• community history
• history of the family and social mobility
• history and sociology of health and medicine
• ethnicity and migration
• https://www.ncl.ac.uk/hca/people/profile/grahamsmith.html

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here.

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See our searchable postgraduate funding page for more information. 

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section.

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.