The MPhil in History (Women's, Gender and Queer History) was established in 2021 to explore the different strengths of each of these approaches and provide a foundation for independent research into any aspect of these histories.

The MPhil has a sustained period devoted to archival research and writing, and is designed to give you a thorough training in historical research, improve your ability to conceptualise and engage with historical problems, and enlarge your understanding of the historical and historiographical context in which your own research is set. The course can serve as either a free-standing graduate qualification, or as a springboard to doctoral study. Students wishing to proceed to doctoral study will be encouraged to develop their doctoral proposals during the first few months of the second year. Skills training and option-choice are flexible and open-ended, to allow you to gain the knowledge and training needed to complete your research project.

About one-third of the faculty have research interests in women’s, gender, and queer history. This means that you can combine your particular interests in women’s, gender or queer history with the specialist training you need in the history of any geographical area, period of time, or methodological approach.

Women’s, gender, and queer history is integral to many of Oxford’s history seminars, with the Faculty also holding specialist seminars and discussion groups. There is also an Annual Lecture in Women’s History given by an international speaker as well as interdisciplinary groups. Oxford is home to the Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair of Women’s History (established in 2020) and the Jonathan Cooper Chair in the History of Sexuality (established 2023).

You will take three compulsory core papers and two optional papers, as well as undertake an original research project. There is also a research masterclass, which is not assessed. This structure gives access to a wide range of both general and specialised training within the field of history.