The MA in Public History at Queen’s University Belfast offers an opportunity to study how historical knowledge is produced, mediated, represented and consumed in public spaces, in a region where the past continues to resonate powerfully. The close relationship Queen’s enjoys with a broad range of partners across the country, from national cultural institutions, heritage organisations and media through to community-led initiatives, provides an unparalleled opportunity for first-hand experience of how history works and is put to work in many different ways. The close involvement of partner organisations in the delivery of the course through practitioner workshops, guest lectures, field trips and events, as well as the 30-day placement, provides first-hand, practical experience of the wide range of issues, challenges and opportunities faced by the public historian.
This course approaches public history from many perspectives ranging from the local to the global. The city of Belfast offers an exciting opportunity to engage with key issues surrounding contested histories, national narratives, memory, commemoration and community history in a very real and meaningful way, and to gain first-hand understanding of the relationship between history, heritage and public audiences at a local and national level. A global understanding of public history is encouraged through taught modules on difficult public history in a range of national contexts.
Students will carry out 30-day placements in one of a wide range of museums, archives, heritage sites or visitor experiences across the country.
The course combines academic training in historical theory and research methods with specialised topics relating to history in the public sphere, such as negotiating contested pasts, oral history, heritage and tourism, or digital curation, thus linking the analytical and critical approaches of traditional academic history with innovative ways of creating and disseminating histories for a diverse variety of public audiences.
The programme offers a unique 30-day internship placement with a public history site where in-depth sector and career development experience is gained.
Public History highlights
Student Experience
Guaranteed work placement with a cultural institution or heritage organisations.
Internships have taken place with the following organisations:
Ulster Museum, Armagh Public Library, Special Collections at Queen’s, Titanic Belfast, HMS Caroline, Ulster American Folk Park, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, BBC, Doubleband Media, Belfast City Council, Hillsborough Castle (Historic Royal Palaces), Mount Stewart and Castle Ward (National Trust), Newry and Mourne Museum, Ulster Rugby Museum, Museum of Free Derry.
The course develops a range of skills such as research methods, archival work, oral history, digital curation, and museum collections.
Industry Links
Close involvement of practitioners from a wide range of organisations in many aspects of the course including practitioner-led workshops.
Student Experience
You will benefit from being part of a vibrant research culture and postgraduate community. The Centre for Public History, of which you will be part, runs monthly seminars, regular workshops and an annual conference. Students on this course also have access to Queen’s Graduate School, an exclusive postgraduate hub which connects students and researchers across fields and disciplines and provides high-quality, transdisciplinary training and development programmes. Based in the beautifully restored and remodelled Victorian Lynn library, this space offers modern, hi-tech meeting and group study rooms, a silent study area and social spaces creating a vibrant hub for intellectual exchange and collaboration.
World Class Facilities
All students have full use of the award-winning McClay Library, which blends the best features of a traditional library with the latest technology. The library provides access to vast book and journal collections along with computing and media services, IT training rooms, quiet study and group work areas, a cafe, and a Language Centre.
Internationally Renowned Experts
Research-led teaching by world leading experts who have secured grants by UK and EU funding bodies for research on a range of subjects relating to public history.
Career Development
Many of our graduates have gone on to PhD programmes and others go into a wide variety of employment including careers in museums, archives or libraries; journalism or media related work; teaching; private and public administration, economic development and the voluntary sector.
Student Experience
Queen's is ranked 10th in the UK for graduate prospects (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide).
Student Testimonials
“During my MA in History at Queens in 2011-2012, I had the excellent opportunity to participate in the Public History program. I interned at the Ulster Museum, where I redeveloped a key exhibit in their history department. After graduating, my job in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives archives saw me do much of the work for which this public history programme had prepared me. The Public History program at Queens provides a wonderful basis for students seeking to become public historians, publicly-engaged scholars, civically-minded workers, and community organizers”.
Students may enrol on a full-time (1 year) or part-time (3 years) basis. Individual modules may be studied as a short course. Part-time students typically complete one or two modules per semester. Full-time students typically complete three modules per semester.
Full-time students take five modules across two semesters and work on their dissertation over the summer.
In the Autumn semester they take two required core modules: 'History and its Audiences', which is exclusive to students on the MA in Public History, and 'Historian's Craft' which is taken with the students on the History MA. For their third module students can choose between taking the 'Individually Negotiated Topic' (an extended research essay on a topic of their choice), or the interdisciplinary module, 'Belfast: Place, Identity and Memory in a Contested City'.
In the Spring semester full-time students take the 'Case Studies in Public History' module and their double weighted internship module.
The MA is awarded to students who successfully complete six taught modules (120 CATS points) and a 15,000 - 20,000 word research dissertation (60 CATS points).
Exit qualifications are available: students may exit with a Postgraduate Diploma by successfully completing 120 CATS points from taught modules or a Postgraduate Certificate by successfully completing 60 CATS points from taught modules.
HAPP Dr Leonie Hannan is a social and cultural historian working on intellectual life in the long eighteenth century, with a focus on themes of gender, material culture and domestic space. Over the last ten years, Leonie has also worked extensively in museums and heritage and built collaborative working relationships between researchers, teachers, curators, museum collections and heritage sites.
HAPP Dr Niamh Cullen is a specialist in modern European history and a social and cultural historian of modern Italy. She is particularly engaged with the themes of social change, family, emotions, gender and sexuality.
HAPP Professor Purdue's research interests have focused on the social history of nineteenth and twentieth-century Ireland, especially issues of poverty, welfare and public health. She also has a strong interest in the practice and experience of Public History particularly in divided societies. She is a Director of the Irish Museums Association and a Project Board Member for the redevelopment of the Ulster Museum.
Teaching Times
Teaching takes place at a variety of times from 12-6pm Monday – Friday.
Learning and Teaching
Learning and Teaching
Educational Aims of the MA Public History Programme
Intellectual aims
This will give students the opportunity to:
• develop an advanced knowledge and understanding of the core theories, issues, concepts and scholarly debates in the field of Public History
• explore critically the range of ways in which history is presented to and experienced by public audiences, and how history is engaged with and used for a variety of purposes in the public realm
• understand a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and intellectual contexts when considering the relationship between the past and public realm
• explore and understand issues relating to the exploration, presentation, and consumption of difficult or contested historic narratives in the public sphere in a number of comparative contexts.
Skills development aims
This will give students the opportunity to:
• develop skills in presenting history to a range of public audiences for a variety of purposes using a range of methods (including public presentation, media, photography, exhibition design, online curation, oral history collection)
• develop a range of academic and professional skills including the ability to engage in independent research
• work collaboratively with practitioners in the cultural and heritage sectors
• work independently and as part of a team in presenting aspects of history to a range of public audiences.
Impact development aims
This will give students the opportunity to:
• understand how their learning, knowledge and understanding equips them to contribute to debates around the practice, purpose and understanding of history in the public realm
• contribute to academic impact by stimulating and shaping intellectual debates in Public History
• work with practitioners and academics to build capacity in the heritage and cultural sectors across Northern Ireland and beyond
• develop their own academic and professional impact across a wide range of developmental skills through training events, peer engagement, engagement with public audiences and heritage professionals, and a placement.
Knowledge and Understanding
Critically evaluate the communication of historical knowledge and understanding by bodies outside the academy. Understand how the content and communication of knowledge can be adapted to meet the needs of a range of audiences. Understand the challenges presented in conveying contested historical narratives to public audiences.
Learning and Teaching
Learning and teaching takes place through seminars, practitioner workshops, field trips and placements.
Learning opportunities associated with this course are outlined below:
Recognise and use appropriate theories, concepts and principles from history and relevant cognate disciplines. Understand and communicate complex ideas and concepts to both academic and public audiences. Critically evaluate the theory and practice of history in academic and public spheres.
Subject Specific Skills
Demonstrate an ability to use effectively relevant archives, finding aids and online resources in completing a major personal research project. Undertake a public history project in the workplace both individually and as part of a team and to reflect critically on their practice. Handle, catalogue, describe and organise historical sources and artefacts. Develop skills relating to the assessment and analysis of sources.
Transferable Skills
Communicate complex ideas effectively to a range of audiences.
Manage time and resources and work effectively as part of a team. Demonstrate an ability to conceptualise, plan and see through to completion a major personal research project to a high standard of historical professionalism. Demonstrate competency and a professional approach to undertaking research and the presentation of project work.
Assessment
Assessments associated with the course are outlined below:
Assessment is by coursework:
• essays
• projects
• critical commentaries on primary sources
• portfolio and reflective essay
• blogs and placement related assessment
• power point presentations
• practical work on documents or placement related assessment
• dissertation
Feedback is given appropriately across the range of assessments given.
The information below is intended as an example only, featuring module details for the current year of study (2024/25). Modules are reviewed on an annual basis and may be subject to future changes – revised details will be published through Programme Specifications ahead of each academic year.
Public History Internship(MA Public History pathway)
Overview
Students will hold an internship in an institution such a museum, heritage site, library or archive. They will organise the placement themselves and establish a programme of work to be carried out, in consultation with and subject to the approval of the School’s internship co-ordinator. The assessment will reflect on the practical aspects of the internship and the theoretical debates around Public History.
Learning Outcomes
- Learning more about the discipline of public history
- Learning about the operation and management of cultural institutions
- Gaining a more in-depth knowledge of a specific aspect of history
- Gaining experience in disseminating academic history to a popular public audience.
Skills
Students should be able to develop the following:
Subject specific skills
• the ability to identify and locate primary and secondary source material relevant to a particular field of study
•the ability to present the results of historical research in an appropriate format
•the ability to work with and learn from experienced public history professionals
Cognitive skills
•the ability to plan, undertake, evaluate and report on a project
•the ability to Understand, evaluate and present different interpretations of historical events
•the ability to identify and assimilate evidence relevant to a particular enquiry from a variety of sources
Transferable skills
•an elaborated awareness of how to relate academic study to a work environment
•an enhanced ability to organise and manage work tasks
•an enhanced knowledge of potential careers for history graduates
•an enhanced set of effective written and oral communication skills
The module will examine the purpose of historical research and writing, the main genres of historical writing, techniques of bibliographical research, footnoting, the handling of quantitative and non-quantitative evidence, and practical writing skills. An ancient history strand will include study of specialised methodologies relating to ancient writers and epigraphy.
Learning Outcomes
Students provide an understanding of the purpose, nature and specific techniques of historical research and writing.
Demonstrate an ability to locate relevant primary sources from a range of archives, both physical and virtual
- Development of the student’s understanding of the various methodologies used by professional historians
- Development of a deeper awareness of the value of inter-disciplinary study
- Demonstrate an ability to communicate to various audiences
Bibliographical research; handling of evidence, writing and referencing techniques.
An ability to communicate historical research to an academic and a non-specialist readership
An ability to apply a critical apparatus to a dissertation on a historical topic (bibliographical research; handling of evidence; writing and referencing techniques)
An ability to synthesise the aim and purpose of an academic seminar or workshop
An ability to reflect on personal development through attendance at seminars and workshops Improved verbal and oral skills
An in-depth examination of key concepts of public history and their methodological application across a range of case studies. The module will cover a range of issues regarding the ways in which the past is presented to, and consumed by, public audiences. Students will be asked to engage theoretically with core historiographical themes including collective memory, oral history, materiality and visual cultures and will also work with Special Collections to explore issues relating to the use of textual and visual material for public consumption (IPR, copyright etc). These sessions will be accompanied by case studies drawn from the locale and beyond that will enable students to develop their understanding in relation to practical examples. The module will thus provide students with a strong historiographical grounding in both theories and concepts of public history whilst at the same time allow for an understanding of these issues in relation to ‘real life’ scenarios that will prepare them for the remainder of their studies.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module students will have
- an in-depth understanding of the way the past is presented to and consumed by members of the public
- A clear understanding of changes and developments in public history in different national contexts
- familiarity with relevant theories and concepts of public history, and a critical engagement with the relevant historiography
- An ability to distinguish various approaches to and methods used in public history
- An understanding of application of these issues in a range of practical settings
- An ability to present work in a way that is expected of historians to both academic and public audiences
Skills
Students should develop skills relating to the assessment and analysis of various forms of public history; to effectively using a variety of methods to engage a range of audiences; and to understand and articulate concepts around the practice of history in public spheres
Belfast: Place, Identity and Memory in a Contested City
Overview
This module introduces students to themes in Irish Studies through an interdisciplinary case study of Belfast. Throughout the module students will be encouraged to consider the ways in which Irish and other identities (municipal, regional, ‘British’, religious, class, gendered etc) have been constructed and contested in the urban environment, in language, literature, political affiliations and social interactions, from the establishment of Belfast as a colonial settlement in the 17th century, to the present day. Students will also be introduced to the ‘Belfast’ approach to Irish Studies as a subject of study dating to the foundation of the Institute in the 1960s, and encouraged to debate its continuing relevance and redefinition.
Outline of classes.
1. Introduction – Belfast’s Irish Studies: definitions and approaches (PG)
2. Belfast – from colonial to revolutionary town, 1613-1800 (Hist – PG/SC)
3. Belfast – industrial giant and cockpit of violence, 1800-1922 (Hist – PG/SC)
4. Belfast – class, gender and religion in a divided city, 1922-1969 (Hist – SOC/OP)
5. Working-class literatures and identities in Belfast: from the Rhyming Weavers to Sam Thompson (English – MPi)
6. Belfast in Contemporary Poetry (English - GMcC)
7. Staging Belfast: Stewart Parker’s drama (Drama - MPh)
8. Languages, place and identity (Irish - MOM)
9. The Politics of Belfast: from the Troubles to Today (Politics - PML)
10. Walls, memorials and murals: the symbolic landscape of Belfast (Anthropology - DB)
11. Parades, Carnivals, and Protests: Ritual and Meaning in Titanic Town (Anthropology – DB)
12. Review and Discussion / Field trip
Learning Outcomes
1. familiarity with the major themes and debates in Belfast’s history, cultural life and social and political development
2. a critical appreciation with the disciplinary and interdisciplinary literature relating to these themes and the ability to engage with this in analysing questions of national, regional, class, gender and other identities evident in Belfast, past and present
3. a critical appreciation of major debates in interdisciplinary Irish Studies, especially those most associated with the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s
4. The ability to write an informed and original analysis of the problems discussed in the module, with particular reference to Belfast in preparation for work on the dissertation
Skills
On completion of this module, students should have developed the following skills:
An ability to assess and extract information from relevant sources
An ability to develop and present a sustained argument addressing interdisciplinary themes
An ability to relate larger themes and debates in Irish Studies to the study of the case study of Belfast
An ability to communicate findings both in writing and to an audience
Please note that this module currently exists as an elective (one of three options) under MHY7089 (Case Studies in History). The following may be subject to change to accommodate staff sabbaticals.
Week 1 Lecture and seminar: Artists facing fascism
Week 2 Lecture and seminar: Women facing fascism
Week 3 lecture and seminar: Jews facing fascism: I
Week 4 lecture and seminar: Jews facing fascism II
Week 5 lecture and seminar: Group presentations
Week 6 lecture and seminar: Difficult oral histories - Introducing difficult oral history
7 Reading week
Week 8 lecture and seminar: Difficult oral histories - Feminist Oral History
Week 9 lecture and seminar: Difficult oral histories - AIDS activism and oral history
Week 10 lecture and seminar: Difficult oral histories - Hurricane Katrina
Week 11 lecture and seminar: Difficult oral histories - Mother and baby homes: Memory, trauma and the debate about Northern Ireland's institutions
Learning Outcomes
Students should acquire knowledge and understanding of
• Key themes relating to the subject area
• An ability to assess primary and secondary sources
• An awareness of the range of sources available in the field of study
• An ability to respond to the oral contributions of others in an informed and constructive manner
• An ability to develop independently a research question and answer it
Skills
This module enhances skills in the following way:
Research skills
Critical thinking
Interpretation of/synthesis of secondary sources
Ability to work independently to develop a research essay
Ability to submit a polished research essay using increasingly sophisticated scholarly apparatus and techniques, argumentation, theories (as appropriate to the task at hand).
Students to undertake and in-depth study of a specific historical area or problem within the field of their Masters programme, as agreed with the History MA co-ordinator and the proposed supervisor.
Please note that this module currently exists as an elective (one of three options) under MHY7089 (Case Studies in History). The following may be subject to change to accommodate staff sabbaticals.
Week 1 Lecture and seminar
Case Study: Black Slavery, White Freedom, and Those in Between—Making Race in the Colonial Period
Week 2 Lecture and seminar
Case Study: Contested Freedom—The Paradox of Black Freedom in the Antebellum South
Week 3
Workshop: “How to Start Thinking about your Dissertation”
Week 4 lecture and seminar:
Who Freed the Slaves? A Contested Historiography
Week 5 lecture and seminar:
Case study of emancipation: The Raid at Combahee Ferry
Week 6 lecture and seminar:
American Anxieties in the Age of the Modern City
7 Reading week
Week 8 lecture and seminar:
Urban Pleasures: Sex, Race and Slumming
Week 9 lecture and seminar:
Case Study: White Women Segregationists under Jim Crow
Week 10 lecture and seminar:
Case Study: Republican Women and Neoconservatism
Week 11:
Student presentations
Learning Outcomes
Students should acquire knowledge and understanding of
• Key themes relating to the subject area
• An ability to assess primary and secondary sources
• An awareness of the range of sources available in the field of study
• An ability to respond to the oral contributions of others in an informed and constructive manner
• An ability to develop independently a research question and answer it
Skills
This module enhances skills in the following way:
Research skills
Critical thinking
Interpretation of/synthesis of secondary sources
Ability to work independently to develop a research essay
Ability to submit a polished research essay using increasingly sophisticated scholarly apparatus and techniques, argumentation, theories (as appropriate to the task at hand).
Normally a strong 2.2 Honours degree (with minimum of 55%) or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University in a Humanities or Arts subject or an acceptable cognate discipline.
Applicants who hold a 2.2 Honours degree below 55% in one of the disciplines specified above or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University, who can demonstrate relevant professional experience will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Further criteria may be applied as placements are limited. This will include ranking applications on the basis of academic performance and/or an interview.
Applicants are advised to apply as early as possible and ideally no later than 15th August 2025 for courses which commence in late September. In the event that any programme receives a high number of applications, the University reserves the right to close the application portal prior to the deadline stated on course finder. Notifications to this effect will appear on the application portal against the programme application page.
International Students
Our country/region pages include information on entry requirements, tuition fees, scholarships, student profiles, upcoming events and contacts for your country/region. Use the dropdown list below for specific information for your country/region.
English Language Requirements
Evidence of an IELTS* score of 6.5, with not less than 5.5 in any component, or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University is required (*taken within the last 2 years).
International students wishing to apply to Queen's University Belfast (and for whom English is not their first language), must be able to demonstrate their proficiency in English in order to benefit fully from their course of study or research. Non-EEA nationals must also satisfy UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) immigration requirements for English language for visa purposes.
If you need to improve your English language skills before you enter this degree programme, INTO Queen's University Belfast offers a range of English language courses. These intensive and flexible courses are designed to improve your English ability for admission to this degree.
Academic English: an intensive English language and study skills course for successful university study at degree level
Pre-sessional English: a short intensive academic English course for students starting a degree programme at Queen's University Belfast and who need to improve their English.
The Public History MA can be regarded either as an end in itself, culminating in the distinction of having obtained a postgraduate degree and enhanced your employability skills as a researcher, or as a stepping stone to the higher research degree of PhD. Many graduates have gone on to PhD programmes . Others go into a wide variety of employment including careers in museums, archives or libraries; journalism or media related work; teaching; private and public administration; economic development and the voluntary sector.
The MA in Public History provides you with the essential skills and in-depth knowledge of history and its public audiences for career development at any stage – from students straight from an undergraduate degree with limited to no priori professional experience to those seeking continued professional development. The programme enables you to broaden your horizons, providing you with a competitive edge in a global graduate market in a wide variety of areas, such as museums, archives, heritage, culture and tourism, or media. http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/sgc/careers/
Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award for extra-curricular skills
In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised from a world leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall. We call this Graduate Plus/Future Ready Award. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.
1EU citizens in the EU Settlement Scheme, with settled status, will be charged the NI or GB tuition fee based on where they are ordinarily resident. Students who are ROI nationals resident in GB will be charged the GB fee.
2 EU students who are ROI nationals resident in ROI are eligible for NI tuition fees.
3 EU Other students (excludes Republic of Ireland nationals living in GB, NI or ROI) are charged tuition fees in line with international fees.
All tuition fees quoted relate to a single year of study unless stated otherwise. Tuition fees will be subject to an annual inflationary increase, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
There are no specific additional course costs associated with this programme.
All Students
Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs which are not covered by tuition fees, which students will need to consider when planning their studies.
Students can borrow books and access online learning resources from any Queen's library. If students wish to purchase recommended texts, rather than borrow them from the University Library, prices per text can range from £30 to £100. Students should also budget between £30 to £75 per year for photocopying, memory sticks and printing charges.
Students undertaking a period of work placement or study abroad, as either a compulsory or optional part of their programme, should be aware that they will have to fund additional travel and living costs.
If a programme includes a major project or dissertation, there may be costs associated with transport, accommodation and/or materials. The amount will depend on the project chosen. There may also be additional costs for printing and binding.
Students may wish to consider purchasing an electronic device; costs will vary depending on the specification of the model chosen.
There are also additional charges for graduation ceremonies, examination resits and library fines.
How do I fund my study?
The Department for the Economy will provide a tuition fee loan of up to £6,500 per NI / EU student for postgraduate study. Tuition fee loan information.
A postgraduate loans system in the UK offers government-backed student loans of up to £11,836 for taught and research Masters courses in all subject areas (excluding Initial Teacher Education/PGCE, where undergraduate student finance is available). Criteria, eligibility, repayment and application information are available on the UK government website.
