Digital Humanities

MA

  • Entry year 2026
  • Duration Full time 1 year, Part time 2 years
Apply
Open days and events
Request a prospectus

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • Access to digital media studio and specialist equipment

  • Discover the latest specialist knowledge from our experts

  • Opportunity to participate in international projects

Train in cutting-edge methods and explore new ideas with leading experts from Lancaster University’s internationally renowned Digital Humanities Centre. We specialise in Spatial Humanities, Text Analysis, Digital History, and Artificial Intelligence for the Humanities.

What is ‘data’ in the humanities? How are digital sources created? What are the advantages and limitations of material in digital form?

As well as changing the way we live and work, the digital world is also transforming the way we study the humanities. Lancaster’s MA in Digital Humanities will prepare you to work in this new world of data.

Why Lancaster?

  • Learn key techniques and concepts from Lancaster’s internationally recognised experts in Digital Humanities
  • Study in a faculty that specialises in the development of data science and artificial intelligence methods for humanities research
  • Collaborate with your peers in our Digital Scholarship Lab, a state-of-the-art research space with specialist software and equipment
  • Develop skills and knowledge that will open doors to professional roles or PhD study

A global leader in the field

Digital methods are changing the ways in which humanities scholars do research across the UK and internationally. They are also rapidly transforming how cultural heritage organisations share and preserve collections. AI is turbo-charging this in ways that are still developing. You will explore these shifts and others to analyse implications, positive and negative, for our disciplines, for libraries and archives, and for society and the state. At Lancaster, the Digital Humanities are an opportunity to link humanities questions about bias and power to these new scholarly ways of working, and to considerations about digital culture in the world.

Our academic team at Lancaster have tackled big research questions such as:

  • How can AI be used to better understand oral history testimonies about the Holocaust?
  • How can we read a million maps?
  • How can Shakespeare's corpus be visualised?
  • What can billions of words extracted from nineteenth-century newspapers and legal testimonies tell us about life in Victorian Britain?
  • What changes can we identify at a landscape scale during the formation of the Aztec Empire?

Our MA in Digital Humanities is taught by internationally recognised tutors who have a wide range of subject knowledge from across the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. You can draw on their expertise and develop your degree in a way that suits your interests and career prospects.

Digital skills and contexts

Without assuming anything other than a conventional ability to work with computers, you will develop digital skills tailored to working with digitised humanities sources such as historical newspapers, books, maps, oral histories, photographs, and more. As you acquire the technical competencies required to work with such sources, you will place these methods in the context of key debates around the history, ethics and cultures of today’s digitised world.

Computational skills can be used to study societies and cultures of the past, present and future. On this course, you will develop a critical approach to understanding and interacting with humanities data, testing methods to answer research questions in your own areas of interest. Modules will prepare you to develop your own digital humanities research project, with supervision from Lancaster experts.

Drawing on innovative research at Lancaster and further afield, you will learn classic and state-of-the-art methods including:

  • Spatial Humanities
  • Text Analysis (especially Corpus Linguistics)
  • Digital History
  • AI for the Humanities

These skills can be applied to a range of disciplines from across the humanities including History, Literary Studies, Media Studies, Linguistics and more.

A digital community

The MA in Digital Humanities is embedded in Lancaster’s Centre for Digital Humanities. In this thriving community you will have access to a range of seminars and other events as well as opportunities to co-design new initiatives with students and staff. You will learn about developments in Digital Humanities at Lancaster and beyond and can meet and chat to PhD students and staff working in this exciting field. The Library’s Digital Scholarship Lab hosts many events and is a key space for collaborative activities. Lancaster’s Data Science and AI Institute offers further opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and collaboration.

Take a look at some of our recent and current projects:

Digital Innovation in Water Scarcity in Coimbatore, India

Unlocking the Colonial Archive: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Indigenous and Spanish American Collections (AHRC NEH)

Digging into Early Colonial Mexico

Chronotopic Cartographies

Digital Humanities and Heritage in India

Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's Language Project

MapReader

Machines Reading Maps

Data/Culture

GEODE

Living with Machines

Digital Panopticon

Data Mining Convict Tattoos

Request information

Interested in master's-level study with us? Fill in our form and we will keep you up to date with course information, events and open days.

Tell me more about postgraduate study at Lancaster accordion

Conor standing next to a Christmas tree wearing a brown coat and scarf

Conor, Geomatics team at Oxford Archaeology North

I completed my BA in History in 2020 and an MA in Digital Humanities in 2021. I am now work in the geomatics team at Oxford Archaeology North, where my work involves utilising geospatial technology as a recording, visualisation and storage resource for historical data.

My studies at Lancaster have left me very well prepared for my current career. My undergraduate degree in history has helped me develop the researching, referencing, writing, problem-solving, communication, attention to detail and project management skills that you would expect from a humanities graduate. The skills developed throughout a history degree are essential to almost every aspect of a successful professional career, and as such, they are incredibly sought after in the current job market. Alongside my undergraduate degree, my MA in Digital Humanities introduced me to, and provided me with, a solid foundation in geospatial technologies.

Careers

This MA equips you with a valuable set of transferable skills. You’ll be able to apply your newly acquired skills in the private and public sectors or continue into academia.

We prepare our graduates for success in many fascinating careers including roles in:

  • Cultural heritage management
  • Libraries, archives, and museums
  • Research infrastructure
  • Technology industries
  • Creative industries
  • The Civil Service

You will be in a strong position to pursue further studies at the doctorate level if you wish.

Careers and employability support

Our degrees open up an extremely wide array of career pathways in businesses and organisations, large and small, in the UK and overseas. Our specialist Employability team is ready to support you, whether you are starting out your career after leaving higher education or returning to university to open up new career options.

We provide individual employability advice, application support, career events, development opportunities and resources to help you plan and achieve your career goals. We also run a paid internship scheme specifically for arts, humanities and social sciences students.

The Lancaster Award is available to all postgraduate taught students and recognises work experience, volunteering and personal development alongside your studies. Developed with employers, it helps you reflect on key skills, boost your CV and articulate your strengths with confidence.

Whether you have a clear idea of your potential career path or need some help considering the options, our friendly team is on hand.

Find out more about Lancaster’s career events, extensive resources and personal support for?Careers and Employability

Entry requirements

Academic requirements

2:2 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in any humanities discipline or related subjects, such as Library Science, or Journalism, for example.

English language requirements

We require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test.

We also consider other English language qualifications. If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Help from our Admissions team

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, complete our enquiry form and one of the team will get back to you.

We also have more details on our website about:

Pre-master's programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored pre-master's pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master's degrees. Visit INTO Lancaster University for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Course structure

Detailed module information for this postgraduate programme will follow shortly. However, if you have any questions please contact the department.

Fees and funding

Location Full Time (per year) Part Time (per year)
Home £12,190 £6,095
International £25,320 £12,660

Additional fees and funding information accordion

Scholarships and bursaries

You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status and course. You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.

Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.

If you're considering postgraduate research you should look at our funded PhD opportunities.

Scheme Based on Amount
Based on {{item.eligibility_basis}} Amount {{item.amount}}

We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.

Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.

Digital Scholarship Lab

Digital Scholarship Lab

The Digital Scholarship Lab in the Library provides a dedicated space for History students and students of other disciplines to work together, plan research, interact and share ideas. This flexible space is equipped with specialist Digital Humanities software, and it is designed to enable students and researchers to come together, connect and develop their ideas further, all within the iconic new extension to the library building. With help at hand from expert library staff, you can use the equipment to support work on original materials including very early manuscripts and books, as well as more modern materials such as slides, postcards and pamphlets.

Postgraduate online subject taster sessions - Wednesday 22 April

Join us online to hear about postgraduate study at Lancaster, and choose a taster session based on your intended subject.

Book an online taster session
A student sitting in a library using their laptop

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to the stated entry year and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. Find out more about our  Charter and student policies.