The Centre delivers the successful interdisciplinary MSc Global Development programme (formerly known as MSc International Development) that equips students with skills and knowledge to develop careers in the development industry, including with NGOs, local and state government and multilateral organisations.
Delivered by leading specialists in the field, the programme engages with contemporary debates on the issues that are currently defining the sector, including climate change, decolonising development, the roles of volunteers, global poverty and inequalities, conflict and displacement, and the impacts of environmental degradation. Alongside this, you will also critically examine key international development policies, theories, strategies and practices. Your analytical skills will be developed through exploring the ways in which poverty and marginalisation are experienced and challenged in different contexts.
Drawing from disciplines including Human Geography, International Relations, Sociology, and Politics, the programme provides the foundation for international development careers in applied or academic settings, including for those wishing to go on to doctoral study in the field (see more information here about the cohort of PhD researchers in the Centre for Global Development).
"Studying International Development at Northumbria means being welcomed as part of a community of internationally recognised researchers, educators, practitioners and students working together to tackle poverty and inequality. Through practical assignments, networking events, supported international field visits, and specialist careers events and guidance, International Development students don’t just ‘study’ – they develop the specific skills, contacts, knowledge and experience they need for their careers in the field, whether as practitioners, policy-makers or researchers."
Professor Matt Baillie Smith, co-director of Northumbria's Centre for Global Development
MSc Global Development Programme
This course examines a wide range of subjects such as conflict and security, civil society and non-government organisations (NGOs), the impacts of rising economic powers, gender inequalities, the environment and resource conflicts, volunteering and development, health and wellbeing, and debates around decolonising development. On graduation you will be able to understand and critically engage with key development theories, tools and techniques, including participatory methodologies, rights-based approaches and monitoring and evaluation strategies.
This course is delivered via interactive workshops, involving a mixture of small group discussion, lectures, and seminar activities, which are further supported by networking, an international fieldtrip, and career development opportunities. As part of your course you can choose to undertake an international fieldtrip, gaining real world experience of the challenges of tackling global poverty and the ways that NGOs and other development actors address key global challenges.
The MSc Global Development equips students with critical and up to date understanding of development policies, theories, strategies and practices, the operation of development organisations, and the ways individuals and communities experience and challenge poverty and marginalisation. It is an ideal programme for people wanting to enhance or build a career in global development
PhD Supervision
We offer PhD supervision across our areas of expertise including:
- Activism
- Gender and development
- Participatory design and digital civics in development settings
- Climate change
- Cosmopolitanism
- Development education, global learning and citizenship
- Environment and development
- Environmental justice and natural resource conflicts
- Foreign policy and international relations
- Volunteering, humanitarian crises and development
- NGOs and civil society
- Public engagement in development
- Resource and environmental politics
- Wellbeing and development
- Diaspora, migration and transnationalism
- Emotions and development
- Work and employment
- Transboundary water conflicts
- Bonded labour and contemporary slavery
For information on how to apply or if you have any further questions around PhD supervision, please contact Prof Matt Baillie Smith or Prof Katy Jenkins, co-directors of the Centre.
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