Curating Collections and Heritage MA

Why study with us?

• The course has been developed in partnership with the Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust, Brighton & Hove, and responds to employers’ demands for the collections and heritage workforce.
• Part-time study and flexible learning means the course can be incorporated into workplace professional development. Elements of the programme are designed to support applicants who are undertaking or hope to take their Associateship of the Museums Association qualification.
• Teaching staff include respected University of Brighton academics who develop leading research on the museums and heritage sector, and curating professionals including from the Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, the Design Archives and Screen Archive South East.
• Students can gain industry experience on the course through a 150-hour placement as well as practical workshops with partner organisations.
• We specialise in digital curating and digital approaches to museum and heritage practice are a central component of many of our modules.
• Students can develop their understanding and practice by choosing business management modules and graduate with Curating Collections and Heritage with Management.

• Students have access to internationally important collections including the Royal Pavilion and Museum’s collections of decorative art, world art and natural history and University of Brighton-held collections relating to design history, screen history, and historic dress.
• Off-site study visits, live briefs and hands-on sessions in all modules bring insight into contemporary practice.
• Part-time students can arrange an individual programme of study which suits their needs.
• You will be welcomed into a vibrant research community, featuring visiting researchers and practitioners, reading groups, lectures and workshops. Recent speakers have included practitioners from the V&A, the British Museum, the Museum of Transology, Whitechapel Gallery, and the Museums Association.

Course structure

Your MA will be structured around three compulsory modules:

Museums and Collections in Context and Caring for Collections and Their Users (20 credits each) are partner modules that will support you to consider the critical questions of the museum and collections sector, exploring and debating the role and purpose of museums and collections, the ethical responsibilities involved, and key issues in collections care, learning, inclusivity and audience development. The modules feature seminar discussion, guest lectures and hands-on workshops dealing with conservation and disaster planning. They are also designed to support students who are undertaking or hope to take their Associateship of the Museums Association qualification, and can be taken as freestanding modules.

Heritage in a Global Context is the third compulsory module in which students will consider what constitutes heritage and explore how historical, aesthetic and cultural value is attributed to material forms of the past. The unit combines theoretical and political debate with the opportunity to analyse well-known international examples of heritage, from Stonehenge to Robben Island, and to create local case studies that involve the documentation of site-specific material culture, the identification of techniques of interpretation, and reflection upon the meaning of heritage. 

Alongside these modules, you will also conduct a major 60-credit research project. This can either be a traditional dissertation or respond to a live brief designed to respond to a particular problem or requirement of the heritage or collections sector. It might relate to, for example, a collections management issue, a marketing concern or educational provision.

To complete your degree and cater to your specialist interests and learning requirements, you choose three further option modules, one in semester 1 and that will take place in semester 2 and over the summer months.

See option modules tab for a list of options.

Professor Lou Taylor with a student in the Dress History Teaching Collection

Option modules 

• Exploring Objects or Mediating Objects, both modules designed to get you thinking about material collections, their potential and how they are made meaningful.
• Critical Perspectives on Exhibitions
• Professional Placements in Collections and Heritage – a 150-hour placement that can be arranged according to host and student preference across semester 2 and the summer months, in a block or over a longer period of time. Students are either supported to arrange their own placement, locally, nationally or internationally, or can choose from a placement with one of our partner organisations.
• History of Fashion and Dress: New Directions
• Globalisation and Global Politics

If you wish, one of your options can be chosen from our other humanities MA programmes.

Management modules are taught by the university’s School of Business and Law which specialises in management in the not-for-profit sector. These include:

• International Management and Leadership
• Managing Talent, Performance and Reward
• Sustainable Strategic Management
• Managing Finance in Different Contexts
• Marketing and Communication
• Leadership with Ethics
• Managing People
• Managing Organisational Behaviour
• Entrepreneurship New Business Venturing
• International Trade and Logistics
• Marketing in an International Context

Some of these modules are MBA modules and require previous management experience. Others are available for all students.

Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Resources

Students on the MA will have access to our excellent collections and gallery spaces:

• Our world-class Design Archives, an internationally significant research base with a curatorial team that initiates and promotes collaborative activity through a programme of projects.
• Our excellent art and design library, St Peters House, with its special collection containing rare, valuable, and delicate books, illustrated books, artists’ books and handmade items.
• Screen Archive South East, a moving image archive collection of magic lantern slides, films, video, and associated materials capturing the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day.
• Dress and Textiles Teaching Collection, a vast collection of garments from the eighteenth century onwards.

Students have access to the moving image archive of the Screen Archive South East.

Professional development 

The following modules are all available as freestanding modules for individuals who would prefer to work towards an MA over time, or take individual modules as continuing professional development.

• Museums and Collections in Context: this module focuses on museums as institutions, exploring the role and impact of museums, the policy context for museum practice, the ethical responsibilities of museums, and how museums are governed and operate.
• Caring for Collections and their Users: this module engages with museum collections and their users, exploring the development, care, management and research of collections, as well as learning, public engagement and audience development.

If you are interested in taking a freestanding module, contact c.wintle@brighton.ac.uk +44(0)1273 643089.

Students have access to our renowned Design Archives.

Meet the team

Dr Claire Wintle, course leader

Dr Claire Wintle’s research focuses on objects, collecting and museums and examines the ways in which collections interact with the politics of empire, nationalism and decolonisation. She has a particular interest in the interpretation of India in museums and galleries, in the UK, the US and in India itself.

She has worked in collections and public programmes at National Museums Liverpool, Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry, and Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove.

Other staff who teach on the course include: Dr Megha Rajguru, Dr Veronica Isaac, Dr Lara Perry, Dr Helen Mears, Head of Research at Royal Museums Greenwich, and Kevin Bacon, Digital Manager at Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, Brighton & Hove.

Student views

Lisa Hinkins, graduate and Gallery Explainer and Visitor Service Officer at Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust

"This MA, co-designed and developed with museum staff, gave the course a unique academic and vocational learning programme that was very exciting to me. Further to this, I was able to take MBA optional modules. This allowed me to build on previous job experience and knowledge, enabling me to graduate with Management and to broaden my museum sector career opportunities.

"The excellent tutorial support and guidance gave me the confidence to push myself that resulted in me being a speaker at the Gayness in Queer Times Conference (Brighton) and a co-curator of the LGBTQ community led exhibition, Queer the Pier at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG).

"I have also guest lectured on the Brighton design history undergraduate programme, bringing both my postgraduate learning and exhibition-making experience to students. I have also taken a workforce development placement assisting the curator for the Goal Power! Women and Football exhibition at BMAG."

Chloe Van de Velde, graduate

“My experience of the Curating Collections and Heritage MA was very enjoyable. I loved that the course was not purely lecture based and there were many points where we could have lively discussions with people who currently curate or work in museums. I have gained valuable insight into the heritage field whilst studying in a vibrant and creative city.

A.S.Kalume (aka BeKuto waSirya), graduate

"Working with The Royal Pavilion Trust opened me up to the world of curators during my tenure as part of a community project The fashion cities Africa exhibition; I was intrigued and accepted an opportunity to qualify for this MA course.

"My insight and perception has dramatically changed, gaining experience in research , project management, presentation and analysing data.

"I was head hunted for a curating post by a Chicago based organisation even before I had graduated. My tribe in Kenya has appointed me as the chief negotiator in returning Vigango the future looks Bright(on)."

Course fees

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

The Change Studentship will be awarded to a African diaspora, Asian Diaspora or ethnically diverse Curating Collections and Heritage MA applicant. Find out how to apply...

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2023–24.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

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Support and wellbeing

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