14 Social Science MSc Degree Programs in Ireland

The MSc in Gender, Politics and International Relations is an intensive programme that prepares you for a career in research, policy, or advocacy in international organisations, governmental and non-governmental bodies, or academia. The programme focuses on combining in-depth sub-disciplinary knowledge with advanced methodological skills, across both established and emerging methods.

The M.Sc. combines advanced education in research methods by internationally recognised experts; modules on how research engages with policy and politics and on the latest research debates on key policy and societal issues, taught by a range of specialists drawing on their expertise and direct experience; and a research project, undertaken in collaboration with external agencies and/or groups.  

DCU’s MSc in Public Policy is an online programme designed to develop expert policymakers. It combines deep analytical thinking with practical methods, equipping graduates to tackle complex policy challenges in Ireland and beyond. The course meets the growing demand for skilled policy professionals.

This MSc offers in-depth knowledge of sociological analysis, research methods and social science analytics - including high-level training in data, data science, and data mining -, and a range of sequenced topics that include crime, law, and deviance, culture and media, health and well-being, political analysis and social movements, and stratification and social inequality. The combination of high-level training in research methods and robust exposure to core topics in Sociology and the Social Sciences will set graduates up for a wide variety of careers in both the Public and Private sectors.

DCU’s MSc in Climate Change: Policy, Media & Society is Ireland’s only programme focused on the social sciences and humanities aspects of climate change. Gain expertise in media, policy, law, governance, and politics, equipping you with the skills to address today’s environmental challenges from diverse perspectives.

The explosion of online and social media, the proliferation of digitized information, and improved electronic access to political decision-making processes provide new opportunities to study existing and emerging political processes in various democratic and non-democratic political regimes. The MSc Politics and Data Science is designed to equip students with the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills necessary to examine and understand politics in the digital age.

The MSc in Digital Policy is designed to prepare graduates for careers in evaluating, implementing, and studying core topical, theoretical, and methodological issues that arise in digital policy today. The course will take a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate the institutional and public policy dimensions of the prevalence of digital technology, as well as the underlying social conditions (economic, political, and cultural) and public/private sector contexts that give rise to such technologies and their governance.

Drawing students from across the globe, this course emphasises the relationship between theory and practice with a view to bringing about positive social change. You learn about and develop your own ideas on a wide range of equality, human rights, and global justice issues.

The MSc in Human Rights is a one-year intensive course that prepares you for a career in human rights research, policy, or advocacy in international organisations, governmental and non-governmental bodies, or academia. There is also a two-year part-time option.

The MSc in Clinical and Community Psychology programme is based in the Department of Psychology, which has a strong focus on research and its application to clinical and community settings. This course represents an exit route for those interested in research careers in the voluntary/state sector and appointment as Assistant Psychologists in the health sector, and it provides an excellent basis for entry to doctoral-level degree programmes in psychology for those with a PSI-accredited undergraduate degree.

The course aims to provide candidates with a comprehensive marketing education through an exposure to key theoretical tenets of the field coupled with a reflective engagement on the interface between marketing and the nature of consumption in contemporary society; thus, the program aims to equip candidates with a thorough grounding in marketing theory and research, provide a comprehensive understanding of consumer culture, and instil an appreciation of marketing's responsibilities to organisations and to society.

Global climate change is altering everything—everywhere in the world. We are faced with necessary tasks relating to the design and build of our surrounding environments. The landscape and its functions, its ecosystem services, and its appearance, will inevitably change. As the energy transition accelerates, the landscape is developing into a global powerhouse. Simultaneously, the landscape, with its soils, peatlands, wetlands, forests, and oceans, must be assisted in its capacity as a major global carbon sink.

In a dynamic, rapidly changing business world, marketers need to understand how to build brands and maintain strong brands over time. Strong brands are central to a company’s success. Organisations in the consumer goods, luxury, services, business-to-business, non-profit and sports sectors all benefit from having strong brands. This programme targets the critical need for expertise in branding strategy.

There is a growing awareness of the widespread harm caused by addiction to individuals, families and society at large and an evolving shift of reliance from a medically based model of treatment to engaging in Talking Therapies.