How do political scientists explain political outcomes? How can political science be used to analyse the real world? Our MRes gives you additional rigorous training in research design and methods compared to an MSc or MA, preparing you for PhD research in any sub-field of political science.

You learn how to ask questions across political science, developing theories, conducting research, analysing data, and exploring the empirical implications of theoretical models’ empirical methods. You learn to draw your own conclusions as to which approaches are appropriate for the questions they want to ask and answer and gain a thorough and rigorous understanding of such research tools.

You study modules on theories of political explanation, research design, and empirical and mixed research methods across your two years, whilst developing a 35,000-word dissertation.

Our Department of Government is one of the most prestigious in Europe, with an outstanding record of teaching, research, and publication. We’re rated top in the UK for research (REF 2014) and have consistently been the highest-rated politics department in the country since national assessments began.

Your future

An MRes puts you in a particularly strong position to succeed in a research degree. We offer supervision for PhD and MPhil in the following fields:

• government and politics
• ideology and discourse analysis
• international relations
• political behaviour
• political economy

Our academic reputation is illustrated by the fact that many of our graduates now teach or research at universities, colleges of higher education and schools. For example, recent graduates are now research fellows and academic staff at: Mannheim, Germany; ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Duke University, USA; NATO/SHAPE, Belgium; and University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Other recent graduates have gone on to work for the following high-profile organisations:

• The Civil Service
• Local government
• The World Bank
• The United Nations
• NATO
• YouGov and YouGov America