We are accepting applications for our MA courses for next year (2020-21)!
Liverpool Department of Philosophy offers two taught MA programmes, the MA Philosophy and the MA in Art, Philosophy and Cultural Institutions. These programmes are primarily taught in small seminar classes and by one-on-one supervision, both of which we will be able to offer from September. We will return to in-person teaching as far as possible, while complying with any new social-distancing rules.
In addition to in-person teaching, next year’s enhanced virtual learning environment will offer many extra opportunities for online learning, including discussion, video-conferencing and audio-visual content. We expect our MA students, along with academics and postgraduate researchers in the department, will be tuning into virtual conferences, talks, museum visits and gallery workshops.
Alongside bespoke research-led core modules for each programme, students can take elective modules from either MA programme. Popular electives include Indian Metaphysics (MA Philosophy) and Philosophy of Film (MA Art, Philosophy and Cultural Institutions). Students are also able to supplement their Philosophy electives with modules from around the School of the Arts.
We hope some of our final year undergraduates will chose to remain with us for another year. Home students are entitled to £1000 fee-discount, and additional reductions are available to international students. UK and EU students who have been in receipt of one of the University’s Widening Access Awards during their undergraduate studies may be eligible for our Postgraduate Opportunity Bursary worth £3000. More information, here.
For students wishing to enhance their C.V. before entering the job market, a Masters qualification from the University of Liverpool will stand out to employers. MA students on either programme can apply to the department’s ‘MA Research and Employability Support Fund’, for awards to support any enhancement activity, including work experience, travel, event organisation, and workshop attendance. The University’s career service offers bespoke workshops and resources to MA students and is also available after graduation.
Many students on our MA programmes go on to do doctoral research or pursue a career in the arts. On MA Philosophy, students take a Research Skills module where they develop the skills required to proceed onto a PhD programme and learn to be part of an active research community. On MA AACI, students undertake a ten-day placement with a cultural institution in Liverpool, providing great opportunities for a career stepping-stone or further graduate study. Through the ‘Insights’ seminar series, MA students meet researchers from other universities to discuss careers in philosophy, and to get advice about putting together a research proposal and presenting philosophical research to different audiences.
Covid-19 has posed many challenges, practical and philosophical, and as we prepare for next year, we are excited about the potential for next year’s MA cohort to help us define and shape our post-Covid department. Our new Philosophy and the Future research programme, which is integrated into our post-graduate teaching, now takes on new urgency as we reflect on the ethical, cultural, political, technological and health implications of a post-pandemic future.
For further information contact:
- Dr Rachael Wiseman, Director of MA Philosophy
- Dr Vid Simoniti, Director of MA Art, Philosophy and Cultural Institutions
(Note to applicants: from next year this programme will be renamed, MA Art, Philosophy and Cultural Institutions)
Testimonies
While the pandemic has made so much of university a lot trickier, School of the Arts’ efforts to make things easy and accessible have been really wonderful. The online seminars, such as the Open Eye workshop, which involved the class, two tutors, and staff from the Open Eye gallery itself, have been really helpful and well-executed, while tutors have been responsive and encouraging. This line from one of our lecturer’s email in the midst of it all will stick with me: ‘Your story, your coping mechanisms, the new skills, the evolution in your thinking and doing will stay with you as a permanent legacy’.
Casey Logue, MA in Art, Philosophy and Cultural Institutions
I’ve made a lot of bad decisions (just ask my first wife) but enrolling in postgraduate study at the University of Liverpool wasn’t one of them. The MA in philosophy was one of the best, if not the best, year of my life. Why? The course gives you the freedom and scope to explore all of the central questions in philosophy. You can keep your reading wide and write essays on any topic of your choosing. Everybody in the department is always keen to talk through interesting ideas. With their support, along with lectures, seminars, and lively discussions in pubs and coffee shops, you’ll find it hard not to enjoy your studies and (if interested) find a topic for your PhD research.
Jack Symes, MA Philosophy, now PhD student at the University of Liverpool
Liverpool’s museums and galleries provided a valuable playground for the theory I read for lectures. My favourite part of this course was being reminded of Philosophy of Film readings while visiting FACT and Open Eye Gallery, or thinking back to topics discussed in Aesthetic Theory seminars while visiting the Walker Art Gallery or World Museum. As an international student, it was encouraging to see many other overseas students on this course and we all benefited from the diversity we brought to our discussions. My unforgettable student placement with Tate Liverpool's exhibitions team led me to further discover and focus my research interests. I'm now writing my PhD at Liverpool on museum ethics and researching the University’s museum collections.
Lauren Stephens, MA in Art, Philosophy and Cultural Institutions, now PhD student at the University of Liverpool