History

Program Overview

---

History

Overview

A lively and dynamic group that boasts some of the leading academic historians in the country. Our staff provide postgraduates with a considerable breadth of experience and research expertise across the full range of the discipline. Among the upper ranks of History departments in the UK. All members of staff are research active and research and publish at the highest level. We range in time from the early medieval period to the late 20th century with particular strengths in the history of Britain and continental Europe, but also focus on the history of the United States, Africa, and India.

Research Overview

History is located across two campuses, with our Penryn Campus in Cornwall focusing on public history and the environment and our Streatham Campus in Exeter covering medieval history, early modern socio-economic history, maritime history, modern British politics and policy, global and medical histories.

Collaboration in and across research centres, and with other disciplines, enables our historians to increase the scale and scope of their research activity through collaboration, critical review, and scholarly dissemination.

Research Centres

• Institute of Cornish Studies: Seeks to promote a greater knowledge of historical and contemporary Cornwall. A partnership between the University and Cornwall Council, it combines academic research and teaching with community engagement.
• Centre for Early Modern Studies: Focuses intellectual exchanges and interdisciplinary activity. Engaged in research on all aspects of the period between c1500 and 1800, expertise spreads from Britain and Europe to the Middle East and North America.
• Centre for Histories of Violence and Conflict: Provides a forum for staff and postgraduates in a number of disciplines linked by their shared interest in the impact of war, civil conflict, and political violence on societies and communities.
• Centre for Imperial and Global History: Brings together the strong research expertise of the University's eminent imperial historians. It comprises one of the largest groups of imperial and global historians currently working in the UK.
• Centre for Maritime Historical Studies: Utilises a wide range of expertise in maritime historical studies and seeks to promote research into various aspects of the British maritime past from the earliest times to the present day.
• Centre for Medical History: Advancing methods and areas of research within the history of medicine, and linking with medical and health care professionals in the region.
• Centre for Medieval Studies: The Centre provides the focal point for interdisciplinary scholarship and learning in a wide variety of subjects relating to the Middle Ages.
• South Asia Research Centre: The Exeter South Asia Centre brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers and postgraduate students across the College whose work relates wholly or in part to the wider Indian subcontinent and global South Asian communities with their associated diasporas.

How to Apply

Students applying to enter directly into the MPhil/PhD programme would normally be expected to have a Masters degree with Merit or equivalent in History or a related subject, or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.

Students applying to enter into the MA by Research will require a minimum 2.1 Honours degree in History or a related degree, with a minimum 2.1 grade in the undergraduate dissertation. Students with degrees in related subjects will be considered on an individual basis.

Requirements for International Students

If you are an international student, please visit our international equivalency pages to enable you to see if your existing academic qualifications meet our entry requirements.

English Language Requirements

International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile E.

PhD and Research Programme Application Process

• Pinpoint your PhD research area
• Investigate whether this area is available at Exeter
• Ensure that you meet our English language entry requirements (international students only)
• Construct and refine your PhD research proposal
• Approach your potential supervisor(s)
• Apply online

Fees and Funding

Fees 2025/26

• Home: £5,006 full-time; £pro-rata part-time
• International: £23,500 full-time

For those studying for more than one year, our fees are expected to increase modestly in line with Consumer Price Inflation measured in December each year.

Current Funding Opportunities

Our Postgraduate Funding webpage provides links to further information. If you are considering a PhD in the future, in addition to University of Exeter funding, we have been successful at securing postgraduate funding for PhD research through our Funded centres.

Supervision

• Supervisors: all students have a primary and a secondary supervisor who provide regular, high-quality advice, support, and direction in their academic endeavours.
• Mentor: each student will also be assigned a mentor who will take on a pastoral role and mediate on any problems that arise during the period of study.

Facilities

The College of Humanities has undergone a £3.2 million HEFCE-funded refurbishment in recent years, providing new state-of-the-art facilities for all subjects.

• The Digital Humanities Lab is a state of the art facility offering unique spaces, equipment, and training for staff and students.
• The University library maintains extensive holdings in all our disciplines, extensive audio-visual collections, and a number of medieval manuscripts in our Heritage Collections.
• Exeter Cathedral Library and Archives and the Devon Heritage Centre contain further significant medieval manuscripts, documents, and early printed books.

Careers

We are committed to ensuring you receive high-quality research supervision to maximise your potential and prepare you for a rewarding career.

Our postgraduates go on to successful careers, both within and beyond academia. Recent graduates have won major ESRC and UKRI Future Leader research grants, Leverhulme and international postdoctoral awards, and gone straight into permanent lectureships. Others have applied skills gained through their PhDs to move into careers in education, business, marketing, publishing, and other fields.

Postgraduate students have access to the wide range of support offered by our Career Zone. In addition, postgraduate research students can access our Postgraduate Researchers' Programme, which covers a range of topics to help you to succeed during your research degree and to act as a springboard for your research career.

Graduate Destinations

Below are some examples of initial jobs undertaken by History postgraduates who studied with us in recent years.

• Historian
• Researcher
• Lecturer
• Curriculum Area Manager
• Senior consultant developer
• Producer
• Teacher
• Research and Development Officer
• Historian writer

Organisations:

• Boydell and Brewer
• Bristol University
• Duchy College
• Fox Historical
• Green Gaia Films
• Springer Nature
• Thales e-Security
• The History Press
• University of Bristol
• University of Exeter