All postgraduates within the Department are provided with comprehensive research training.
Postgraduates are trained in areas such as research skills (including information about working in libraries and archives, and using information technology), disciplinarity, methodology, current scholarly debates, and (most importantly) the development of a cogent research project. Training is delivered in the form of master classes, workshops, seminars, colloquia, tutorials, and extensive extramural instruction.
We provide two main schemes:
Each MA programme has been carefully designed to serve as the foundation for undertaking further research in the field towards a PhD. Our programmes are fully compatible with the Arts and Humanities Research Council's increased emphasis on ‘research preparation’ in its award scheme for MA courses.
In the first semester of your MA, students enrolled on Pathways 1, and 3-7 will all take a compulsory, unassessed research module: Resources for Research. Several Pathways also provide additional research training.
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The Department runs a series of workshops on research methods and resources for new PhD students. These cover core research skills such as using electronic resources; record-keeping and bibliography; methodological issues relating to interdisciplinary research; theory; and practice-based research. The individual sessions are led by academic staff within the Department, giving students the opportunity to learn from and put questions to a range of experienced researchers within their field.
In addition to these introductory sessions, students are encouraged to attend workshops organised by the Humanities and Social Sciences Graduate School. Previous topics for these workshops have included ‘Preparing for Year Two’, ‘Publishing in the Humanities’, and ‘Beginning an Academic Career’.
The Centre for Academic and Professional Development at Queen Mary also has a varied and wide-ranging training programme aimed specifically at PhD students. Details of the courses they run can be found on the CAPD website.
New students will be guided towards the training that relates most closely to their project and career aims by their supervisors and by the head of Graduate Studies.
London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP)
QMUL is an associate member of the London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP). LAHP is an AHRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership between UCL, King’s College London and the School of Advanced Study. As an associate member of LAHP, PhD students in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at QMUL can attend a wide range of subject-specific initiatives (courses, seminars and events) taking place across the LAHP member institutions. These events are listed here: http://www.lahp.ac.uk/current-students/student-development-and-training/subject-specific-initiatives/.
