Postgraduate Modules

This module is the second part of the MA in International Relations. You'll become equipped with the skills to design, plan and produce a research project addressing some of the key issues in contemporary international relations. Taught through a mix of bespoke masterclasses recorded by Open University experts, teaching chapters, online interactive activities, and peer engagement through forums, this part of the MA will enrich your research toolkit and prepare you to write the final dissertation.

In Part 2 of the MA in Music (available from September 2025), you will plan and implement a dissertation project on a subject of interest to you. An initial block of teaching material provides guidance for developing projects in five areas of music study: historical musicology, critical and hermeneutical studies, ethnographic research, practice-led research, and popular music studies. At the conclusion of this block, you will submit and receive feedback on a proposal in which you outline your project plan. The remaining weeks of study are devoted to researching and writing up the 13,000-word dissertation that is the culmination of your MA studies. 

This module will equip you with the tools to analyse and interpret key global challenges. How the world responds to international division and the rise of new powers, national and global security threats, the crisis of democracy, and global ethical dilemmas, will be at the forefront of your learning. By focusing on these real-world issues you'll gain a deep and comprehensive grounding in the core empirical, conceptual and theoretical debates in International Relations, as well as developing your skills in a range of research methods.

This module provides an exciting opportunity to engage deeply with a historical topic that interests you through the preparation and execution of your own independent research project. This module has been designed to support you in the planning, research and writing of a dissertation on a topic that you choose yourself. This will also build on the specialist themes that you have studied during the first part of our MA in History and informed by feedback from your supervisor.

You will be introduced to the breadth and depth of the study of music, including elements of historical musicology, ethnomusicology, feminist musicology, organology, music and technology and more. Case studies drawn from the research of every member of the OU Music staff throughout the module ensure a wide cultural and geographical scope. Independent study is a key part of the module, allowing you to pursue study in your own area of interest. The module is accessible and relevant to those who have a vocational or leisure interest in music.

The new geographies of prosperity, poverty and inequality are creating complex challenges for development activists, practitioners and academics around the world. Meeting these challenges requires advanced understanding, innovative ideas and critical thinking. If you want to build these capacities, then this module is for you.

This module enables you to more effectively understand and respond to development challenges, in whatever context you are working. You’ll be able to reflect critically on dominant approaches to development and explore development alternatives, enhancing your capacities to negotiate development effectively and work towards more socially and environmentally sustainable futures.

The module will complete your study for the MA in Philosophy. You'll study: the emotions, Nietzsche, Michel Foucault and Hannah Arendt, and ‘the problem of dirty hands’. Your tutor will help you build on your capacity for independent research, and you will have ample opportunity to liaise with fellow-students online. The tutorial strategy, which involves both tutors and module team authors, will encourage independent thought using the huge range of online books and articles available via the OU Library. Finally, you will be able to complete a dissertation on a topic of your choice, provided it is linked to at least one of the topics studied on the MA.

You'll be introduced to criminological approaches used for critically thinking about crime, harm and justice. Through an examination of diverse constructions of crime, global harms and examples of resistance, it provides a framework for understanding the conception, interrogation and reception of criminological knowledge. Building on Principles of social and psychological inquiry (DD801), it enhances students' skills in critically reading the social world, understanding, analyzing and questioning national, transnational and global policies and in deconstructing media representations of crime and justice. The module will allow you to review, evaluate and assess criminological evidence and develop skills highly desirable in professional contexts within local and global organisations.

This module examines how cognitive, social, counselling and forensic psychology research fosters understanding and helps to solve real-world problems in three domains - the home, workplace and society. In this module, you'll focus on socially-relevant topics that showcase the research and methodological expertise of the School of Psychology. You'll become equipped to evaluate psychological knowledge claims, theories, research (studies and methods) and applications, creating educated consumers/commissioners of psychological research. You'll also have the opportunity to engage in an independent project. By the end of the module, you'll have gained the confidence to use advanced psychological knowledge to participate in public debate and policy development.