Gender, Society and Representation MA

The GSR MA offers postgraduate students the opportunity to engage with a broad range of theories, methods and topics that shape our knowledge of gender and sexuality today. Our students come from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds - from literature, history and sociology to law, IR and politics, geography and history of art. They also bring a range of professional and personal experience to their studies from all over the world.

Our core curriculum gives students the knowledge and skills required for the study of gender at graduate level. Optional modules offer students the chance to develop their interests in a wide range of subjects. The dissertation is an opportunity to focus on an independent research project.

For information about how to apply see the Gender, Society and Representation MA prospectus page.

Teaching

Teaching on the Gender, Society and Representation MA draws from an inter-departmental community of staff who specialise in gender and sexuality across a range of disciplines and research topics. The MA is part of an innovative group of Postgraduate Taught programmes at the CMII, including Comparative Literature, Film Studies, Health Humanities and Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Studies. Students can select a range of optional modules from across these programmes.

Selected GSR MA modules include:
•    Gender Theory, Politics and Feminism (core module)
•    Multidisciplinary Approaches to Gender Studies (core module)
•    Critical Introduction to Sexuality Studies
•    Decolonial Approaches to Gender and Sexuality Studies
•    Gender, Social Movements and Digital Activism
•    Knowledge, Power and the Cultural Production of Gender
• Gender, Relatedness and Race
• Gender and Ageing: A Feminist Gerontology

For a full list of core and optional modules available through the GSR MA see the CMII Postgraduate Modules Catalogue.

Previous MA dissertation projects:
•   Escaping linearity: How photographic art can support the search for a feminist temporality
•   Exploring the embodiment of queer community within the subcultural space of a university powerlifting club
•   Gendered dynamics in built space: A discussion of the teachings of Jacques Lecoq and bodies in the kitchen
•   Knowledge production in Chilean feminist health activism
•   ‘Managing’ gender: performativity, empowerment and politicisation in management consulting firms
•   Party politics: The making of queer dance space in Leeds
•   Exploring iconic architecture as a manifestation of Singapore’s notions towards homosexuality and futurity
•   The place of the home in home birth
•   The place of parenthood in the regulation of non-heterosexual couples in Chile
•   The politics of pretty: Exploring racial agency and ethnic ambiguity as a beauty trend
•   What are the various perceptions of niddah in the Jewish community and how are they reconciled in a modern context?
•   Who’s afraid of lesbian sex? Representations of lesbians in US women’s magazines during feminism’s Second Wave

Funding

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, see Funding for students on postgraduate taught courses.

Careers

A postgraduate degree in Gender and Sexuality Studies from UCL is excellent preparation for a broad variety of careers in both the private and the public sectors, as well as academia. Students taking the GSR MA can tailor their knowledge and skills to their career interests and goals, for example through optional modules and through their individual dissertation research, where a broad range of topics and approaches are supported by staff.

Learn more about how UCL can support your career goals.

I was particularly interested in getting to know more about feminist theories of health. I was able to adjust my year to my interests and to what I wanted to do in the future […] The connections with the lecturers was great. I really liked seeing that UCL has a system that supports students. They’ve been very helpful in my job search. Javiera Menchaca Pardow, Chile

The program not only provided me with knowledge and inspiration, it also widened my outlook on society and gave me the tools to approach my own discipline more consciously. My personal interest in Film Studies was encouraged and supported until the completion of a successful PhD application. Giulia Rho, USA

The staff will challenge, inspire and support you throughout your study, as well as after graduation. I now write for local and central government, for which the skills I developed during my MA have been invaluable.” Emily Hill, UK

“Before coming to this program, I did my undergrad in literature. Although gender and sexuality have always been my focus, I had not had the opportunity to delve into the socio-historical and theoretical discussions… The introductory courses immensely enriched my knowledge of gender-related discussions in a wide variety of fields. Yinqi Zhou, China

“By the end of teaching, I felt able to connect ideas from feminism, race studies, epistemology, geography, queer theory, literature and cultural production to form a much deeper understanding of gender. Our tutors really encouraged us to be creative with our dissertations, and to design a project that was meaningful to us on a personal level. Although I had previously never done an interview, conducted primary research, or written an academic piece about geography or the politics of space, this was by far the most meaningful work I did on the MA and a project I could have never done without the amazing teaching and support from tutors and peers. Carla Abel, UK