Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Geography
Masters in Research in Human Geography
The Masters in Research (MRes) in Human Geography is a newly designed programme of study that offers a broad range of advanced research skills training to students in the social sciences. Note: this course replaces the former MSc in Human Geography Research Methods which is no longer open to new students.
If you would like to do a Masters degree as preparation for a PhD in Human Geography, either at The Open University or elsewhere, the MRes may be the programme for you. The programme is also relevant to those who want to equip themselves to work in other research environments. You would join a highly successful Geography department and would have an opportunity to develop your research ideas in association with an individual member of staff.
The MRes programme draws upon thought-provoking original teaching material produced by interdisciplinary teams from across the Open University. Our aim is to make complex ideas accessible to our students in imaginative and exciting ways.
All students must take four modules, which are shared by students from other disciplines:
- Module A: An Introduction to Social Research
- B1: Qualitative research methods
- C1: Quantitative research methods
- Module D: Dissertation
Additionally students are required to take the Human Geography Module Human Geography, Philosophy and Social Theory. This guides students towards producing philosophically informed geographical exploration into human and non-human worlds. It has been designed and written by internationally recognised researchers from within the Open University's Geography Department.
The programme starts in October each year and finishes in September of the following year. You will attend module tutorials and seminars at the Open University campus in Milton Keynes. For the geography module, for example, there are five tutorials and five seminars, together with a similar number of optional faculty post-graduate research seminars.
Research environment for MRes students
We have a lively graduate student community which forms an important part of our research culture. Students participate in the full range of on-campus departmental research events and are seen as valued members of the department. The department consists of a highly research active group of academic staff, research students and post-doctoral fellows based on campus in Milton Keynes. We have regular activities most weeks ranging from reading meetings to seminars with invited speakers and students are members of our research themes. Research within Geography at The Open University is strong in a number of key areas so we have organised some of our activities into three research themes where we explore cutting edge of debates in:
- Culture, Space, Politics
- Materiality and the challenge of the Non-human
- Environment, Politics and Justice
Alongside regular departmental seminars these groups meet to experiment with approaches to prominent issues and develop research plans. Postgraduate students play an important role in those groups. There are also conferences and international workshops hosted by the department and occasional discussion and reading groups set up within the department around particular topics, often led by students themselves. Students have also organised their own events and activities, with occasional social events and also external trips to meet with fellow PhD students in Durham, Berlin and Turin, where the seminars organised have been attended by 70+ students.
Enquiries
For more information about us, explore some of the links on this page. Find out what our current PhD students are researching in more detail, look at details of online papers by members of staff and keep an eye on our news and forthcoming events page.
If you are interested in the MRes as a basis for continuing to a PhD degree in Geography at the Open University, please also see our postgraduate admissions and postgraduate funding opportunities pages.
Should you have any other enquiries, please write to the Postgraduate Admissions Tutor, Geography Department, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK or email socsci-geog-pg-admissions@open.ac.uk.
Formal enquiries and applications for the MRes should be made to the University's Research School. Please download the application form (Word document).
Other useful information and links
The Research Degrees Prospectus provides information about the MRes programme and is the appropriate document for applicants to the course.
Research Degrees Student Handbook