Overview

Our joint honours course allows students to pursue their own areas of interest within Criminology and International Relations whilst also providing them with a solid foundation in both disciplines and a range of personal and professional skills which will serve as a springboard for their future career development. The programme is carefully designed to enable students to gradually develop their knowledge and skills and become autonomous, effective and independent learners.

Criminology is a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary subject concerned with analysing the nature, occurrence and explanations of crime, criminal behaviour and societal responses to these phenomena. International Relations provides students with the opportunity to develop their understanding and knowledge of world politics, focusing on issues such as nationalism, global justice, security, migration and climate change.

Learning and assessment

In your first year, you’ll develop key academic skills that will help you succeed in the course. We’ll also ask some big questions like, What is crime? Why do some people commit crime, but not others? You’ll get to explore a broad range of ideologies and political systems, gaining skills to help you succeed in securing a career after graduation.

In your second year, core modules help you learn to question the status quo - how might capitalism encourage crime? Where and why are there inequalities in the criminal justice system? You’ll explore the great issues of international relations. The optional work placement can give you experience in the working world and enhance your job prospects.

In your final year, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what you care about most, including your dissertation subject. Optional modules can include topics like the pleasures of crime, visual criminology, queer criminology, drugs or policing; and human rights, global ethics, global environmental politics and terrorism.