MA in Public History

The MA in Public History at Queen’s University Belfast offers an opportunity to study how historical knowledge is produced, mediated, represented and consumed in public spaces in a region where the past continues to resonate powerfully. The close relationship Queen’s enjoys with a broad range of partners across the country, from national cultural institutions, heritage organisations and media through to community-led initiatives, provides an unparalleled opportunity for first-hand experience of how history works and is put to work in many different ways. The close involvement of partner organisations in the delivery of the course through practitioner workshops, guest lectures, field trips and events, as well as the 30-day placement, provides first-hand, practical experience of the wide range of issues, challenges and opportunities faced by the public historian.

This course approaches public history from many perspectives ranging from the local to the global. The city of Belfast offers an exciting opportunity to engage with key issues surrounding contested histories, national narratives, memory, commemoration and community history in a very real and meaningful way and to gain a first-hand understanding of the relationship between history, heritage and public audiences at a local and national level. A global understanding of public history is encouraged through taught modules on difficult public history in a range of national contexts.

Students will carry out 30-day placements in one of a wide range of museums, archives, heritage sites or visitor experiences across the country.

The course combines academic training in historical theory and research methods with specialised topics relating to history in the public sphere, such as negotiating contested pasts, oral history, heritage and tourism, or digital curation, thus linking the analytical and critical approaches of traditional academic history with innovative ways of creating and disseminating histories for a diverse variety of public audiences.

Public History Highlights

Student Experience

Guaranteed work placement with a cultural institution or heritage organisation.

Internships have taken place with the following organisations:

Ulster Museum, Armagh Public Library, Special Collections at Queen’s, Titanic Belfast, HMS Caroline, Ulster American Folk Park, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, BBC, Doubleband Media, Belfast City Council, Hillsborough Castle (Historic Royal Palaces), Mount Stewart and Castle Ward (National Trust), Newry and Mourne Museum, Ulster Rugby Museum, Museum of Free Derry.

The course develops a range of skills such as research methods, archival work, oral history, digital curation, and museum collections.

Industry Links

Close involvement of practitioners from a wide range of organisations in many aspects of the course, including practitioner-led workshops.

Student Experience

You will benefit from being part of a vibrant research culture and postgraduate community. The Centre for Public History, of which you will be part, runs monthly seminars, regular workshops and an annual conference. Students on this course also have access to Queen’s Graduate School, an exclusive postgraduate hub which connects students and researchers across fields and disciplines and provides high-quality, transdisciplinary training and development programmes. Based in the beautifully restored and remodelled Victorian Lynn library, this space offers modern, hi-tech meeting and group study rooms, a silent study area and social spaces creating a vibrant hub for intellectual exchange and collaboration.

Career Development

Many of our graduates have gone on to PhD programmes, and others go into a wide variety of employment, including careers in museums, archives or libraries; journalism or media-related work; teaching; private and public administration' economic development and voluntary sector.