Welcome to the M.A. in Society and Space. This is a full-time one-year interdisciplinary course that aims to provide graduates and policy makers with the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to enable them to undertake analyses of social and spatial changes within modern western society, specifically contemporary Ireland. Taught jointly by the Department of Geography, the Department of Sociology, and the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA), the course brings together leading social science researchers in Ireland with an international reputation in their fields, and offers an advanced introduction to social science, human geography and sociology research.

The course will provide students with a comprehensive introduction to social scientific and human geographical research on contemporary social, economic, political, and economic policy. As such, it will prove attractive to policy funders, analysts, decision-makers, practitioners, and commentators currently in employment and those aspiring to such roles. In addition, the course provides an excellent platform for those interested in progressing to PhD studies.
The course will run from September 2011 to August 2012, with the thesis due at the end of July 2012.

The course is structured around three strands. Firstly, students will undertake core modules exploring contemporary theories of society and space, and theories of recent social, economic, political, and cultural change within the Irish Republic. Secondly, a number of substantive optional modules will be provided including modules on balanced development, knowledge economies, sustaining communities, migration, population and health, urban studies and governance. Finally, students will be offered a suite of modules on advanced research methods some of which they will select as a platform for developing specialised applied research skills. The course will also involve a research thesis undertaken during the academic year and to be submitted by the end of July.

The programme is marked out of 90 credits (ECTS), with the credits for each component assigned as follows:

Core Modules = 20 credits
Substantive Modules = 20 credits
Methods Modules = 25 credits
Thesis = 25 credits