In this module, you will undertake an academic research project and explore a topic of your choosing theoretically and empirically. This module builds on the...

Dissertation in Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (BGLP0014)

In this module, you will undertake an academic research project and explore a topic of your choosing theoretically and empirically. This module builds on the core conceptual and research methods modules (Transformative Entrepreneurship and Prosperity: Core Concepts, Researching Transformative Entrepreneurship). For the research dissertation, you will be encouraged to ask bold questions, investigate these empirically, and contribute to knowledge on transformative entrepreneurship. The research dissertation is flexible to a variety of topics and approaches, including applied, participatory and policy-relevant research. You are encouraged to explore topics aligned with your own questions and interests or as part of ongoing research projects situated at the IGP. A research dissertation in partnership with an external organization may be possible as long as it meets the requirements of an academic research project, is distinct from the Connected Innovation Project, and after discussion with and approval of the Programme Lead. You will be supervised by a core member of the IGP staff or UCL expert, and will have the opportunity to participate in a series of dissertation preparation workshops to support your dissertation journey.

Anthropology|Applied Medical Sciences|Art History and Visual Cultures|Cultural Studies|Digital Humanities|Education|Heritage Studies|Interdisciplinary Studies|Interdisciplinary Thinking|Material and Visual Culture|Museum Studies|Zoology

Objects can be viewed from many different perspectives to reveal multiple, and sometimes contested, meanings. They are therefore naturally agile and open to...

Object Lessons: Communicating Knowledge Through Collections (BASC0004)

Objects can be viewed from many different perspectives to reveal multiple, and sometimes contested, meanings. They are therefore naturally agile and open to interdisciplinary inquiry. Working with objects also allows foregrounding senses other than the visual and aural, which dominate education and most other parts of our lives and help to focus on the haptic properties of things through touch.


Using UCL’s unique collections, which include the Grant Museum of Zoology, the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, the UCL Art Museum, the Archaeology, Bio-Anthropology, Ethnographic, Science and Library's Special Collections, students will get to research one particular item intensively. They will work independently and in small groups to research their object’s cultural, social, historical, ethnographic and scientific context and ultimately build a virtual exhibition around a small group of objects.


Through this process of interrogation, research, documentation and presentation, students will be able to develop a range of research and practical skills. By using objects as the primary focus, the module will draw on interdisciplinary approaches from fields as diverse as anthropology, art history, medical sciences and zoology. Students will develop an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of different sources of information, for example, the textual, material, visual and auditory and be able to combine these sources in the analysis of a particular theme or research focus. Along the journey, students will also engage with topics such as decolonising, sustainability, resilience (in relation to collections) and the role of digital approaches to the physical world.