Masters Degrees in the School of Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies

Spend the next year innovating and developing ideas set to change the future

When you study one of our Masters degrees, you’ll have the platform to build on your undergraduate studies and gain an advanced education.

You can choose from a range of Masters degrees and an exciting selection of modules which allow you to dive deeper into different topics that ignite your curiosity. If you're hoping to work in a particular area after you graduate, you can build your degree to focus on a specific pathway, for example, public history, environmental philosophy, or social change.

You'll be taught by expert academics who actively carry out research in their fields of expertise. Your postgraduate lecturers also engage audiences beyond academia as a community of current affairs commentators, presenters, policy advisers, and museum consultants who ensure what you learn is relevant and reflects the world we live in.

Our Masters courses are taught on our Colchester Campus, which is nestled centrally in an area of historical importance, famously known as the oldest recorded city in Britain. Our surrounding area of the Colchester campus is an art and history hub, with close transport links to London, and access to many local facilities such as Firstsite Gallery. As a Masters student, you'll also benefit from our community connections and links with local organisations.

If you're ready to get started, you can browse postgraduate courses by subject area, or see a list of all courses in our School. We'd recommend signing up to our newsletter for our latest insights and advice, and browsing our how to apply pages for more information on taking your next steps.

Browse our Masters degrees

Find your degree

MA Environment, Society, and Culture

MA War, Culture, and Society

MA Social and Political Thought

MA Heritage and Museum Studies

MA History, Power, and Identity

MA Western Marxism and Translation

MA Curating

MA History

MA Philosophy

MA Art History

Philosophy

Browse Masters degrees

History

Browse Masters degrees

Art history and curating

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Interdisciplinary Studies

MA Environment, Society and Culture MA Heritage and Museum Studies

Join the ranks

100% of postgraduate historical and philosophical studies graduates are in employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2026)
13th in the UK for philosophy (The Guardian University Guide 2026)
Top 150 for philosophy (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026)

Meet our postgraduate subject leads

Meet your subject leads below and get to know more about the people who'll be shaping your postgraduate education.

Philosophy

Professor Fabian Freyenhagen

Professor

Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Essex

Philosophy has its lifeblood in the resistance against the common practices of today and what they serve, against the justification of what happens to be the case’ – so writes Theodor W. Adorno, whose work has been a major inspiration for (and focus of) my work. Its role is to make us uncomfortable and to attend to the senseless suffering of our (social) world – and then to seek to change it, deploying all the critical and imaginative capacities we can muster.

History

Professor Alison Rowlands

Professor

Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Essex

I have always been intrigued by the lives and actions of non-elite people in the past, especially in response to experiences of prosecution and trauma, and by the challenge of reconstructing their life-stories and understanding their agency from surviving historical records, few of which were written by them. My research has focused on the histories of witch-trials, magic, and gender, especially in the seventeenth century.

Enhancing your education

You'll have opportunities to get involved in activities within our Research Centres, and have access to special art and library collections including an on-site gallery called Art Exchange. Throughout the year, we run events and seminar series inviting external speakers to provide engaging sessions on research, career advice and other topics that will be extremely valuable to you.