University of Portsmouth Open Experience Day
28 Feb 2026, 08:30
Portsmouth

Overview
If you work in the social sciences or humanities and want to improve your career prospects or prepare for a PhD, this flexible MRes degree – a postgraduate taught course, featuring a large research project – is the perfect way to achieve your ambitions.
On this course, you'll choose to study within any of the faculty's schools: the School of Education and Sociology (SES), the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics (SLAL) and the School of Area Studies, History, Politics, and Literature (SASHPL).
You'll have the flexibility to choose your learning methods, set your own timetable and specialise in your chosen field. You'll develop your research skills alongside specialist staff, and get a Master's degree without needing to sacrifice your job.
This degree is perfect for progressing your career, and can help you to pursue ambitious new roles, or seek promotion opportunities.
You can choose to study this course over 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time as a campus-based learner or by distance learning.
What you'll experience
On this course you'll:
Focus your research interest in the humanities and social sciences field
Learn to translate your learning into research, such as submitting peer reviewed publications and presentations
Access the University's respected research centres, including CEISR (Centre for European and International Studies Research) and ICJS, one of the UK's largest centres in criminology and criminal justice studies
Benefit from the professional training and supervision of our Graduate School
Access all the books and material you'll need in our library, along with electronic resources, including thousands of online ejournals and newspapers
Depending on your chosen speciality, you'll graduate from the course with one of the following awards:
MRes African Studies
MRes American Studies
MRes Applied Linguistics
MRes Childhood Studies
MRes Communication
MRes Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies
MRes Development Studies
MRes Education
MRes European Politics
MRes Forensic Investigation
MRes Gender Studies
MRes History
MRes International Relations
MRes Literary Studies
MRes Mental Health and Wellbeing
MRes Politics
MRes Public Administration
MRes Security Risk Management
MRes Security Studies
MRes Sociology
MRes TESOL
MRes Translation
Careers and opportunities
You'll graduate from the MRes Humanities and Social Science degree course with knowledge of research methods, training and skills relevant to your current and future employment, and which will aid your future career progression. You can also choose to continue your academic studies with PhD research.
Choose a specific option to see funding information.
Course optionsUniversity of Portsmouth
Mercantile House
Hampshire Terrace
Portsmouth
PO1 2EG
Email:admissions@port.ac.uk
Phone:023 9284 5566