Economic and Social History MScR

Research profile

We host one of the largest economic and social history research groupings in the UK. Staff research interests are wide-ranging, including the study of economic development, energy policy, financial history, globalisation, slavery, urban history, consumption, material culture, museums and collecting, leisure, religious belief, popular culture, medicine and disease, gender, sexuality and the family.

The diversity of our research means we can support students’ economic and social history study in a vast range of time periods and geographical regions and from the early modern period to the present day.

Particular areas of expertise available for research are: culture and society in early modern Britain; slavery in the Atlantic world: 1650–1834; the material culture of gender in 18th-century Britain; urban society and civil society in historical context; clothing cultures in comparative historical contexts; cinema and society in modern Britain; gender, crime and deviancy: Britain 1860–1960; energy policy in Britain since 1920; the economic history of China in the 20th century.

The University’s economic and social historians host three research groups: material and visual cultures of the past; enlightenment and popular culture; and economic and social history.

Career opportunities

This programme is specifically designed for students who anticipate progressing to a doctoral programme, but it can also function as excellent preparation for a wide variety of careers.