Social Science MRes (PGCert)

Course in brief

This MRes programme provides social science graduates from any discipline with the opportunity to extend their research skills to advanced postgraduate level.

It is ideally suited to students who enjoyed the final year of their degree and are thinking of pursuing academic work, but it is also appropriate for working professionals who are looking to enhance their career opportunities.

During the course, you receive a thorough grounding in qualitative and quantitative research, research ethics and the philosophy of the social sciences, topics which altogether form the basis of your self-directed research project. We offer specialist supervision in sociology, criminology, social policy, social work, politics, psychology and anthropology.

Scholarships

Scholarships are available for this course. Find out if you are eligible in the fees and funding tab below.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer

Full-time 1 year
Part-time 3 years

Apply online

Please make sure that you meet the entry requirements before applying. If you have any questions the course team will be happy to help.

Apply now for your place

Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course if you wish to begin studying with us in 2017. They should be used as a general guide.

We operate a flexible admissions policy – this means that you could receive a lower conditional offer than the typical offer, informed by our assessment of your complementary non-academic achievements and experiences. For courses that require interview or portfolio review, this may also be considered in the level of any conditional offer that follows if your application is successful.

Degree and/or experience
2:1 honours degree in any social science discipline.

English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 overall, with 7.0 in writing. You must have taken the test in the last two years.

As this is a research degree programme applicants must provide a brief outline of their proposed area of study (ie discipline and/or sub-discipline) and research topic in their online application.

Course in detail

Syllabus

The taught components of the course - ie the Research Methods and Principles of Social Research modules - take place across one semester, and you attend a weekly session for each module. The dissertation takes place across the year and allows for a flexible mode of study based on one-to-one supervision sessions.

Modules

Research Methods in the Social Sciences
Principles of Social Research
MRes Dissertation

Research

All research in the School of Applied Social Science is carried out under the auspices of the Social Science Policy and Research Centre (SSPARC).

SSPARC offers a vibrant research culture for staff and students working both within and across the disciplines of sociology, psychology, social policy, politics and criminology, as well as the practice-based fields of social work, counselling, psychotherapy and substance misuse.

Much of our research is undertaken collaboratively with agencies, organisations, groups and individuals, both in the local community and wider society, to ensure that our research has relevance and impact beyond the academy.
Research in SSPARC covers three broad and overlapping research themes or 'clusters':

Care, health and wellbeing
Crime, resistance and security
Culture, identity and society

Careers and employability

The Social Science MRes provides the necessary research training for doctoral work. It also enhances your career opportunities in areas including central and local government, non-governmental organisations, social research, teaching, journalism and the media.

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (full-time) 6,120 GBP

International (full-time)12,830 GBP

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.

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2017–18. Tuition fees are payable for each year that you study with us.

Where UK/EU students are subject to regulated fees, the annual fee increase cannot exceed the UK government’s maximum regulated tuition fee limit set for the relevant year. For all other students, ie those not subject to regulated fees, tuition fees are subject to a maximum annual increase of the higher of 5% or RPI.

You can find out more about our fees in the 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- 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.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Brighton has been called the happiest place in the UK, and it’s easy to see why. With five miles of pebble beach, more than 300 pubs and a packed festival calendar, Brighton is the ideal place to spend your student years.

Arts and culture: The Royal Pavilion is the most famous landmark in Brighton, opening its doors to around 400,000 tourists every year. Right next door is the Brighton Dome, the south coast’s premier multi-arts venue, and the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, which holds a diverse collection of decorative arts, textiles and archaeological artefacts.

Festivals: The Brighton Festival is now the largest arts festival in England and a major milestone in the international cultural calendar. Meanwhile, The Great Escape has been established as the UK’s leading event for new music, with over 300 bands playing 30 venues across the city over three days.

Nightlife: Aside from the many nightclubs that line the city’s seafront, student favourites include The Haunt, Concorde 2 and Patterns, which attract leading bands and DJs from around the world. If you don’t feel like dancing, you can take your pick from the many hundreds of pubs and bars that dot the city centre.

Shopping: The quirky North Laine district houses Brighton’s finest collection of boutique shops and independent cafes, while the narrow, winding streets of the South Lanes house collections of jewellery and antiques. Churchill Square is the city’s main shopping centre and serves all of your high street needs.

Sports: Brighton’s seaside location offers the perfect opportunity to try paddle boarding, kayaking and windsurfing. Further into the city, The Level has a skate park for skateboarders and BMX riders to practise their skills.

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Surrounded by the South Downs National Park and just five miles from the centre of Brighton, our Falmer campus has benefited from over £60million of investment over the past 10 years. 7,000 students are based here, studying subjects including English, education, social science, nursing and medicine.

Recent developments include the Falmer Sports Centre – with its fitness suites and sports hall – and the innovative Checkland Building, which has natural ventilation systems and an insulating green roof.

Falmer has also recently installed more than 600 solar panels, which reduce the campus’s carbon emissions by more than 80 tonnes. The renovation has made us one of the top universities in the UK for on-site renewable energy production.

Accommodation

Brighton

Our Brighton halls of residence are located across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

Our Grand Parade campus is in central Brighton and has one hall of residence, Phoenix Brewery, within walking distance. We have around 300 rooms available in Phoenix Brewery, which are all ensuite and self-catered.

Moulsecoomb is two miles from the city centre and also has one hall of residence, Moulsecoomb Place, on campus. All accommodation in Moulsecoomb Place is catered, offering breakfast and an evening meal during term time. There are more than 150 rooms available here, with six to eight rooms per flat.

Varley Park offers the biggest choice of student accommodation with ten halls of residence. The site is four miles from Brighton centre but within walking distance of Falmer train station.

Falmer campus has two halls of residence: Great Wilkins and Paddock Field. Great Wilkins offers 150+ self-catered single rooms and one-bed couples flats, while Paddock Field offers 450+ catered and self-catered single rooms only. All rooms in Falmer are en-suite.

Aside from halls, you have the option of Unihomes, which we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords. The rent covers all utilities and includes £5,000 of contents insurance for your personal belongings.

You can also choose to join the many students who live away from campus in private rented accommodation. We have a list of high-quality, university-endorsed private sector accommodation and can help you find housemates to move in with.

Find out more on our Brighton accommodation webpages and if you have any questions, our accommodation team will be happy to help. You can contact them by email at accommodation@brighton.ac.uk or by telephone on 01273 644100.

Paddock Field