Taught Masters Courses

Fieldwork

All of our MA students undertake both a fieldwork class and a development-based placement (see placements). The fieldclass takes students on a 10-day visit to a fieldsite in the global south where they put into practice the research skills they have acquired. In recent years our fieldtrips have visited the West Pokot region of Kenya - a remote, rural district in north-west Kenya which faces numerous development challenges. We are working to expand the suite of fieldtrip destinations on offer, with efforts to establish trips to Nepal, Egypt, Trinidad and South Africa continuing.

The cost of the filedclass is usually in the region of £1,200 in addition to your fee. This is payable when you start your masters dependent on location.

Are these field trips right for me?

Fieldtrips are a core part of the International Development programme. All students participate in a field class during their course, with trips designed to provide training and experience required for conducting development research.

The courses are designed and staffed to ensure all students, from those who have never travelled internationally to experienced fieldworkers, get as much from the trip as possible.

What about work placements?

Our students also undertake a placement-based dissertation. For many students this provides another opportunity to undertake development research and practice in the global south, while some opt to work with organisations in the UK and Europe.

Our links with a range of non-governmental organisations around the world facilitate placements on most continents and addressing development concerns including conservation, education, health, migration, refugees, economic development and human rights.

What skills will I put into practice on these trips?

During the fieldtrips, our students put into practice the development-related research methods training received during their course. Students conduct individual research projects across a number of fields - from conflict to health, education to livelihoods, infrastructure to gender - using the methods most appropriate to their topic.

Will I work with the local community?

Yes Students spend an intense period of work with local informants and guides. Experienced staff and local guides work closely with students to provide the support necessary to conduct this type of chosen, fieldresearch. Each year students use a range of methods, from interviews and participatory mapping to water testing and gully-measuring, to complete their projects.

Want to see more images of our students on the field trip? Visit our Flickr page.

Read some of our student experiences about the Kenya trip;

Leo Roberts MA ID

"Going to Kenya was obviously one of the highlights of undertaking the MAID. I got a chance to return to a remote part of east Africa where many of the issues we had studied were contextualised, and we were forced to recognise that a theoretical understanding of development can very easily miss the key issues at play if not contextualised in real situations. I was conducting research into small-scale gold mining, for example, and it was interesting to learn that the systems and structures I had presumed to be in place across the community I was in were in actuality totally different, and that many of my assumptions had not only been wrong, but patronising to those living in the area.

As well as teaching me a lot, and grounding a lot of my previous learning, the trip to Kenya was also incredibly good fun. We played football against the local teams, stayed in a colonial lodge, visited the idyllic Swahili coast, and went on a cycle-safari – it’s amazing how the animals that you’ve never considered scary before, such as baboons, suddenly become quite frightening when you’re on a rickety old mountain bike stuck in sand!"

Ceri Averill MPH ID

"The Kenya trip was invaluable, it really brought home that this is what I wanted to do as a career. I wanted to find out about other lives and experiences. The trip was a big moment for me, to visit another country not as a tourist but to go with a team, to negotiate working with others, work with language, cultural barriers and the local community was life changing. This trip was also an excellent opportunity to see the reality on the ground rather than simply learning from a text book, it really was practical primary research.

What struck me is that how local people are working hard for themselves and how local people are improving their situation, it was very inspiring. With the trip you see what poverty in the developing world really looks like. The support from the department on the trip was fantastic the tutors really looked after us and were very helpful, especially helping us to work with the translators. "