Queen's University Belfast - Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

MA in International Relations

This program provides a foundation in the academic discipline of International Relations - the array of ‘real world’ practices and problems that produce world politics. Having introduced the theoretical and methodological components that facilitate our study of the field, the aim is to use these tools to examine, explain, and understand the issues and processes that make up our world: looking, for example, at war; diplomacy; arms control and arms proliferation; global health policy; humanitarian intervention; international development policy; race and legacies of colonialism; human displacement; inequality and injustice. While still attending closely and consistently to traditional issues of world politics such as armed conflict and negotiations, it offers a significantly broader education in international politics by examining contemporary issues of international politics from a multitude of perspectives, both traditional and more critical.

Students are thus able to balance engagement with core content in the field of International Relations with active development of their own areas of specialization as they progress through choosing elective courses according to their own interests. Among the central aims of the program is the provision of high-quality methodological and research design training needed to conduct independent research projects to an academically accredited standard. This culminates in the final dissertation stage of the program. Recent students' dissertation topics have included: Jihadi use of social media; Russian foreign and security policy after the Ukraine conflict; Extreme right-wing terrorism and the internet; Russian private military actors; EU defense policy after BREXIT; Baltic security and the future of NATO; Paramilitarism and the Northern Irish border; Indian defense and security in relation to rising China; The limits of ‘truth and reconciliation’ in conflict resolution.

International Relations highlights

Internationally Renowned Experts

This program is taught by world-leading experts in areas such as migration and asylum, border security, conflict and security, visual culture, and international ethics.

The program provides an opportunity to study international relations in a location where communal conflicts have a clear international aspect in both their perpetuation and resolution. Northern Ireland remains a model of conflict resolution and peacebuilding across the world and students benefit from the School and University’s wider expertise in terrorism and political violence, conflict resolution, security studies, border studies, and Irish and Northern Irish politics.

Our students also benefit from a vibrant interdisciplinary research culture within the School, including insights from History, Anthropology, and Philosophy.

Student Experience

All modules in our program are taught by research-active academics who are world leaders in their specific fields of International Relations. For example, members of staff are currently conducting research on war, trade, security, diplomacy, conflict, migration, intervention, terrorism, violence, climate change, human rights, and international institutions.

International Relations at Queen’s benefits from a vibrant interdisciplinary research culture within the School, including insights from History, Anthropology, and Philosophy as well as engagement with academics across the wider University in fields such as law, sociology and social policy, management, and computing (for example, in collaboration for the study of cybersecurity threats).

Queen’s is ranked 14th in the UK for research quality (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020).

Industry Links

You will be studying timely, relevant, and pressing issues that will be ‘live’ throughout the program (e.g. BREXIT & EU negotiations; migration and refugees; conflict and war; climate change developments). A deep understanding and critical engagement with such contemporary issues is sought after by both local and global industries, from both the private and the public sectors.

Many academics in the program are engaged in QPOL (Queen’s Policy Engagement) – this is the ‘front door’ for public policy engagement at Queen’s University, supporting academics and policymakers in sharing evidence-based research and ideas on the major social, cultural, and economic challenges facing society regionally, nationally and beyond.

Career Development

Queen’s is ranked in the top 170 in the world for graduate prospects (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022).

Ranked 15th in the UK for graduate prospects (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023).

Politics was ranked joint 1st in the UK for Research Intensity (Complete University Guide 2021).

Student Experience

Queen’s is ranked in the top 75 universities in Europe for Teaching Excellent (Times Higher Education, 2019).

16% of the Queen’s student population are international students (Queen’s Planning Office, 2023).

Queen’s ranked 18 in the world for international outlook (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023).

Queen’s currently has over 3,000 international students from 85 different countries.