MA Peace, Conflict and Development

Overview

The MA in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies provides an advanced understanding of the inter-relationships between conflict, development, security, and governance in developing, fragile, transitional and/or conflict affected regions and countries. You’ll gain the understanding and skills you need to pursue or develop a career in what is now a major area for international, national and local policy and practitioner communities. You’ll be equipped to work across many sectors including:

• international development
• conflict prevention and peace building
• post-conflict recovery
• humanitarian aid
• natural resource management

You’ll have the opportunity to take specialist pathways, including specialising in selected regions (Europe, Africa, MENA, Asia, or Latin America and the Caribbean), with opportunities for selected study visits. The programme will provide enhanced training and engagement with widely used policy and practitioner analytical tools and models, enabling you to develop your skills and employability. The programme is delivered by the Division of Peace Studies and International Development, which maintains an international reputation as a centre for excellence in research, teaching, training and policy engagement. This means your teaching will not only be research-informed, but also delivered by staff that are well positioned to facilitate policy and practitioner community engagement.

Placement

You can choose to include an internship as part of your course, in which case you will study over 15 months rather than a year. To do this, you should initially register for the one-year programme and then transfer to the 15 month programme when you have secured a placement, any time up until the middle of Semester 2.

The internship / placement further enhances the development of professional experience and practical skills during your Masters programme, integrating practitioner community engagement with your academic studies.

Learning and assessment

The programme will deploy a wide range of teaching, learning and assessment methods to enable you to understand and develop skills for engagement and employment with important policy and practitioner communities (International organisations, governments, NGOs, business associations, etc).

You'll have opportunities to engage through simulation exercises and training workshops, as well as facilitated contacts with practitioners.

Career prospects

Students will benefit from practical skills-based training as well as academic education, in relation to engagement with key contemporary policy and programme debates of the key international and national organisations involved in peace, conflict and development. They will benefit from the strong international engagement of the relevant teaching staff in these debates, and the networks that these bring.

The MA in Peace, Conflict and Development Studies combines theoretical and academic debates on these interrelationships with examinations of the relevant policy and programming issues, so it is relevant for decision-makers and stakeholders within developing, fragile or conflict-affected countries and for those concerned with international aid and assistance.