LLM Specialisation: International Banking and Finance Law (LAWS0187)

The Public History Research Project: dissertation/output allows students to combine both their critical and practical training in the creation of a capstone...

Public History Research Project: Examining Public History (HIST0868)

The Public History Research Project: dissertation/output allows students to combine both their critical and practical training in the creation of a capstone piece of public history research. As distinct from the standard History MA dissertation, the Public History Research Project consists of two elements - a written research report/dissertation AND a public history output. Both elements will be linked and coherent, covering the same topic or theme, but exploring it through distinct approaches.

For their public history outputs, students will be marked according to a) the quality of the historical knowledge that their output delivers, b) their understanding of their target audience and their effectiveness in communicating historical knowledge to it, c) their understanding of the type of public history genre they have chosen, and their creativity and originality in utilizing it d) their capacity to incorporate feedback and develop their project through revisions.

Students will have the opportunity to explore a range of topics through their research project, developing their ideas during Terms 1 and 2 through oral presentations where they will receive feedback from their peers, their programme tutor and other UCL colleagues. A key part of their training in Term 2 will focus on project planning, to ensure that the public history output they decide upon is feasible and deliverable within the set timeframe, and that they have factored in the necessary skills development, approvals and resources (equipment, software, volunteers etc.) to complete it.

Students will be allocated a supervisor from the Department for their project, who will meet with the student to discuss its progress during Term 3 and (remotely) over the summer vacation. They will also have support from a project mentor, during the planning stage of their project (in Terms 2 and 3) who will typically be a staff member with experience as a public history practitioner in a field relevant. 