Department of Geography | MRes Geography

MRes Geography at Durham University

Our Masters by Research degree (MRes) provides an opportunity to develop your research expertise and advanced skills. The MRes is (when taken full-time) a one-year Masters degree that is undertaken as a research project. It emphasises independent but supervised research; our MRes students work closely with at least two supervisors, who provide support through each stage of designing and completing an original piece of research. Many of our students go on to publish their work in leading journals.

The MRes offers a research-intensive alternative to taught masters courses, and provides the opportunity for you to work within a vibrant, world-leading research environment, often on aspects of active research projects. Our MRes can be taken to achieve either an MSc or MA. It provides a further qualification for a career where independent research skills will set you apart, and provides an excellent platform and research experience for subsequent PhD research.

Our postgraduates come from all walks of life, and they head into an equally wide range of rewarding careers. Many of our postgraduate students pursue advanced degrees on leave from existing careers to which they return in business or government. Others pursue PhD studies to further establish themselves in their fields of expertise or shift gears into new interdisciplinary fields to pursue research in the Institute of Hazard, Risk & Resilience, Durham’s Energy Institute or the Institute for Medical Humanities.

Our programs are designed to prepare you for diverse opportunities through career development and communication workshops. Many of our PhD graduates choose to pursue academic careers within geography and many others move into adjacent fields. Many others choose to apply their research skills in business, civil society and government. The time you spend with us is designed to equip you for what comes next, and postgraduates benefit from our extensive networks of national and international expertise.

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