History of Political Thought and Intellectual History MA

This MA provides a rare opportunity to be taught by world-class scholars working across the University of London in the fields of intellectual history, the history of political thought and the history of philosophy.

This joint programme is run by University College London (UCL) and Queen Mary University of London. The programme brings together research and academics from institutions such as Birkbeck, University of London, the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), King's College London (KCL), UCL, Queen Mary and Royal Holloway, University of London, to provide a range of expertise.

You’ll be taught by staff from the departments of History, Law, Modern Languages and Literature, Philosophy, and Politics.

In addition to the use of UCL and Queen Mary libraries, you will have access to outstanding research libraries, including the British Library, Senate House Library, the Warburg Institute Library, the Wellcome Library, the IHR Library and the Dr. Williams Library.

You’ll also be offered optional language training in a modern European language, or in ancient or medieval Latin.

You are encouraged to participate in the research programme and events hosted by the Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought.

Additional costs

You might incur a small travel cost (eg travelcard) when you attend the core course, History of Political Ideas research seminars, or choose to study or research at another institution.

Many of our graduates have done or are currently doing PhDs or are in academia– both in London and at a variety of other institutions from Oxford and Cambridge to Berkeley and Yale. These include: 

• Dr Jessica Patterson, Lecturer in the History of Political Thought, Fellow and Director of Studies, Magdalen College, University of Cambridge 
• Dr Adela Halo, Lecturer in History of Political Thought, University College London 
• Dr Alessandro de Arcangelis, Lecturer in Intellectual History, University College London 
• Dr Signy Gutnick Allen, Department of History, University of Zurich 
• Dr Paul Sagar, Lecturer in Political Theory, King’s College London 
• Dr Elias Buchetmann, Lecturer in Early Modern History and Research Associate, University of Rostock 
• Dr Xinxian Zhu, Assistant professor at the Institute of Philosophy, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, China 
• Dr Max Skjönsberg, Assistant Professor of Humanities, University of Florida, Hamilton Center 
• Dr Vanessa Lim, Assistant Professor, Seoul National University 
• Dr Lisa Kattenberg, Assistant Professor in Early Modern Intellectual History, University of Amsterdam 

Students have also gone on to work: 

• at the BBC 
• in publishing, at prestigious academic presses like Polity Press 
• as political advisers in Westminster, the European Parliament, and on 
• congressional campaigns in the US 
• at NGOs like Global Witness 
• as researchers 
• in finance  
• in teaching.