Introduction
Advance your understanding of social justice and global sustainability with this multidisciplinary Masters course – and make essential contributions to the ecological and political concerns that affect our present and future.
Our MA Future Humanities is the only postgraduate course in the UK that offers humanities and social sciences graduates a multidisciplinary approach to exploring the connections between social and environmental sustainability.
Take your humanities degree in new intellectual directions: explore why sustaining meaningful social contexts for humanity depends on protecting our diverse natural ecosystems. Broaden your team-based, investigative and research skills, and devise strategies to help us achieve a better future.
As a Masters student at ARU you'll benefit from the established learning strategies and analytical rigour embedded in our undergraduate programmes. Our BA Philosophy courses were ranked the UK’s No.1 in the National Student Survey 2020, while our BA History received an overall satisfaction score of more than 94%. You’ll also benefit from our ‘world-leading’ research in humanities (History: Research Exercise Framework 2014) and regular research seminars.
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Use your current experience in humanities or social sciences to engage in a multidisciplinary examination of the historical and political landscape, reflecting on different ways to work within and across disciplines to construct methods of defining and resolving problems that address the existential challenges facing us on a global scale.
You will identify the impact of the core assumptions made by modern western humanities and sciences, and consider the extent to which they may have obscured formative, as well as destructive and exploitative, relationships between different societies, and nature and humanity.
Every module (as well as the dissertation) will introduce you to new analytical questions and appropriate methods to research answers. You will learn to employ digital resources; analyse data using a wide range of software; critically engage with non-textual sources (including artefacts and visual sources); and develop your skills in problem solving, data retrieval and interpreting documents.
You'll also be an active member of our multidisciplinary learning community. The course will support you to engage with the implications of the division between STEM and humanities subjects, particularly through opportunities to collaborate with MSc Sustainability students, and a series of ‘encounters’ with the theoretical, cultural and applied results of STEM sciences woven throughout the modules.
All your teaching will come from leading specialists across a unique range of human and natural sciences. Thanks to our links with related organisations, you will also have the chance to engage and network with specialists, practitioners, agencies and institutions through guest lectures, workshop events, research projects, and visits (for example, to the Eden Project).
Facilities and showcase
Facilities and resources
All our MA Future Humanities students can:
- conduct research on-campus and online with our large library, as well as in the University of Cambridge’s museums and archives
- request items from other institutions using our free Interlibrary Loan Service
- access digital resources and support for every module through our virtual learning environment, Canvas
- join regular research seminars, talks and lectures
- benefit from links with ARU’s Global Sustainability Institute.
Outstanding student support
Join our postgraduate student community and:
- benefit from award-winning learning facilities, including extensive library and IT resources
- learn from expert staff who will guide your research interests and career development
- receive full support from our Employability Service, while you're studying with us and after you graduate
- access support, should you need it, with study skills, health and wellbeing, and more.
Take a closer look
Our Creative Showcase shines a spotlight on what makes ARU creative and cultural – our spaces, places and people. Find out more about our community, the difference we make, the stories we tell, and the things that inspire us.
Meanwhile, Present is an exhibition that you curate for yourself. Explore the work of our graduating students in this eye-catching virtual degree show.
Careers
Our MA Future Humanities will deepen your academic knowledge, broaden the practical and project-based context in which you can apply it, and help you develop skills in designing, researching and communicating within multidisciplinary teams. These abilities will transfer to a range of careers, including research, NGOs, the new industries (and their related health and wellbeing adjunct), or as a social innovator.
The course will also open the door for you to become a doctoral researcher on our Philosophy, History, Sociology or International Relations PhD programmes. Take advantage of our Alumni Scholarship and save money on your fees.
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