Photography has become the major form of image-making and visual communication since its development in the nineteenth century. Its importance has been recognised in many areas of scholarship: history of art, media and cultural studies, literature, memory and memorialisation, gender and identity, philosophy and law. Its role in all fields of the arts and sciences, including those most personal, is being expanded, renewed and questioned by contemporary digital cultures.

Our MA History of Photography enables you to learn about - and to negotiate your individual path through - past and present photographic practices and cultures, in order to develop your interests, whether your engagement with the medium is academic, artistic, personal or vocational.

You will develop subject-specific and transferable research, critical and writing skills that will enhance your career opportunities in the field and beyond, whether in academia or teaching, photography as a practice, galleries and museums, or in the media. The course is also ideally suited to preparing students with a practice-based background considering a PhD, academic or practice-based.

This degree offers you the opportunity to study with internationally recognised experts. Our teaching staff are defining the field, conducting groundbreaking research in the history and theory of photography in its various uses and manifestations. You will work closely with our staff while also benefiting from our diverse and vibrant student body of all ages and backgrounds. The teaching programme is enriched by the international research culture of the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre.

You can take part in exclusive visits to photographic archives and exhibitions, and take advantage of placement opportunities in the Jo Spence Memorial Library and Archive. Alternatively, there are opportunities for work placements with other London museums, galleries and archives.

• In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), Art and Design at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment supporting world-leading and internationally excellent research.
• The School of Arts offers a number of bursaries for postgraduate students.
• We encourage you to become involved in the lively research culture of the department through the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, the Architecture, Space and Society Centre, the Centre for Museum Cultures and the Vasari Research Centre, which has pioneered the field of digital art history.
• You can attend a wide range of events, including those organised by the Postgraduate Research Seminar, which brings art historians from all over the UK and beyond to speak at Birkbeck, the biennial Murray Lecture, the programme of exhibitions and displays at the Peltz Gallery, the School of Arts' purpose-built exhibition space, and events across the School of Arts and at the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities. You can also attend Arts Week, a programme of public events and activities, held each May. Find out more about our staff and student activities on the Birkbeck History of Art blog or join us at one of our information evenings, held throughout the year.
• You will have access to an incredible range of resources, including the Birkbeck Library and our in-house resources centre, the Jo Spence Memorial Library and Terry Dennett Archive, the British Library, and specialist libraries at the University of London, Courtauld Institute of Art and National Art Library. You can also visit the photographic collections and exhibition spaces of the V&A, Museum of London, National Portrait Gallery (Heinz Archives), Photographers’ Gallery, Tate, Barbican, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Hayward Gallery and INIVA, as well as commercial galleries and photography book dealers.
• You will have the option to join our study trips, offered each spring. Cities visited in the last few years include Florence, Paris, Venice, Vienna, Rome, Berlin and Moscow.
• The School of Arts is an official partner of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Opportunities for students have included a year’s free membership of the ICA, private views, discounts on all talks and events, free members' screenings and £3 cinema tickets on Tuesdays, up to 25% off ICA Artists' Editions and a monthly e-newsletter.

The course consists of a compulsory module, two option modules, a research exercise or work placement, and a dissertation. These assessed elements are supported by a series of research skills workshops.

• The compulsory module, Frameworks: Histories and Theories of Art, Architecture, Photography, is designed to explore methodologies and issues involved in the current study of the discipline. Elements of the module are taught to a combined group of History of Art, History of Architecture and History of Photography students, while others are specific to the History of Photography course.
• Options cover a wide range of photographic practices and cultures, past and present, and allow you to explore diverse methodologies and internationally 'local' practices.
• The research exercise offers you the chance to undertake independent research, or you may apply for a work placement.
• You will complete the course with a 15,000-word dissertation.

The option modules listed below are a selection of those offered in past years.