MLitt Heritage Museums and Galleries

The Heritage Museums and Galleries MLitt is a researched based programme with sometaught elements. The taught research methods part of the programme provides structured learning. This is ideal if you’re unfamiliar with academic research or have been away from academia for a long time.

The flexible nature of the assignments make this programme particularly suitable for sector professionals. It will suit those interested in advancing their career and knowledge through research. The assignments offer the opportunity for you to explore a variety of smaller topics or carry out in-depth research on a single topic.

The programme is in Media, Culture, Heritage, within the School of Arts and Cultures. We also have links with the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (ICCHS). This is a leading academic centre for research and teaching in museum, gallery, and heritage studies.

ICCHS has a thriving, high-profile interdisciplinary research community of:

• postgraduate research students
• experienced academic researchers who are key figures in their fields

Our research students pursue a variety of topics related to museum, gallery and heritage studies. Our academic supervisors have significant experience in interdisciplinary research and professional practice. Our key research themes are:

Cultural politics and policy

• factors that determine how cultural policy is constructed: institutionally, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally
• how management strategies affect heritage resources
• the impact of large-scale constitutional change upon cultural policy
• intended and unintended consequences of implementing international
• conventions, charters and instruments
• contribution of research to cultural policy construction
• the intersection of political movements and agendas with heritage
• definitions and attributed values of heritage

Identity, community and place

• construction and representation of identities, places and communities through heritage
• how heritage is used by and for communities
• relationships between local, regional, national and international notions of place and identities, communities and heritages
• principles of community museology and ecomuseology practice in different contexts
• relationships between heritage tourism and identities, communities and places
• identities produced through the consumption of heritage
• relationship between identity construction and wellbeing

Media and representation

• how media works in heritage organisations and how organisations work as media
• factors shaping the production, morphology and consumption of media and media representations in heritage organisations
• representations made possible through institutional technologies specific to heritage organisations and how we analyse them to understand culture, society and knowledge
• study and design of digital heritage applications and digital cultural engagement

We have an emphasis on empirical research and its grounding on professional practice in the UK and abroad. As a result, our research alumni have been successful in securing worldwide careers in:

• academia
• other governmental organisations
• the cultural and creative industry sectors

Delivery

We deliver this programme at our Newcastle city centre campus. It combines two taught modules on research methods with two self-directed research-based modules. Research training classes usually take place once or twice a week in the first semester.

The main focuses of the programme are:

• small pieces of independent research
• a research-based dissertation carried out with the support of an academic supervisor

You are also expected to take part in the research activities in Media, Culture, Heritage and the School of Arts and Cultures.

We will support you to complete fieldwork in:

• Newcastle
• other UK locations
• abroad

You will also have access to Blackboard, the University’s virtual learning environment.

Recent MLitt research topics in ICCHS include:

• World Heritage Sites and tourism
• the Frontiers of the Roman Empire as a World Heritage Site

Our current research student profiles in ICCHS show the wide range of topics we can supervise.