Create the theoretical and analytical foundation for your future study and work in public policy. This module will give you a solid grounding in the theories of policymaking process, the critical actors and institutions involved, and the key concepts, traditions and paradigms that have shaped policymaking.

You will gain a solid grasp of the policy cycle and theories that explain the nature of policymaking including agenda setting, policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. You’ll examine a range of public policy theories and apply these approaches to real world case studies including:

• Mainstream approaches such as institutionalism, new public management and evidence-based policymaking
• Broader theoretical approaches such as multi-level governance and complexity
• Critical policy studies examined through the lens of power - drawing on a range of gender and anti-racist approaches

You will identify the actors and factors that shape policy, discover the causes of policy convergence and policy change, and assess what equitable, fair and just policies look like.

Gain the skills, methods and techniques required to design and carry out political research and policy evaluation. This module is designed with three core purposes. You will develop a critical awareness, understanding and in-depth knowledge of:

• The fundamentals of research design, your own research decisions and that of others
• The key theories, methods and skills relevant to both academic and professional policy evaluation
• The place of ethics and researcher responsibilities

You will develop a critical response and holistic approach to research design, enhance your key professional research skills and lay the foundations for your main policy portfolio and dissertation research tasks.

Many graduates will go on to work as policymakers and advisors. This module will equip you with the skills of policy analysis and policy communication, encouraging creative problem solving and policymaking based on evidence-based policy solutions to global policy issues.

you will encounter staff and leading practitioners who have front-line experience and knowledge of policy communication and you will develop skills in analysing, advising and making effective policy.

Using the policy analysis process, you will explore topics such as:

• Problem framing
• Stakeholder management
• Policy design and instrument choice
• Impact assessment
• Ethical implications of policy design and administration

You’ll examine the key paradigms, innovations, issues and trends shaping public policy including:

• The impact of new public management
• The rise of contracting, audit and inspection
• The use of technology and AI in public service delivery

You’ll analyse how these trends have translated to public policy using applied case studies and learning material based on international practices. You will evaluate their efficiency, effectiveness and success across a range of policy fields.

Consolidate your skills and training in public policy by completing a policy portfolio on a subject of your choosing. You will apply your knowledge from policy studies, and your skills from research methods and policy analysis to research a policy area, evaluate current policy, and analyse and recommend policy solutions.

In the portfolio you will apply and demonstrate your policy research, analysis and communication skills through:

• A policy presentation
• A research paper on a policy problem
• A policy evaluation evaluating current policy
• A policy briefing analysing policy options and constructing policy solution

The portfolio will culminate in a detailed and justified policy recommendation.

Study key debates in contemporary political theory. This module will enable you to transition from undergraduate study into postgraduate work.

“Policy” is a key organizing concept of modern societies. This module will equip you with the tools to understand policy contexts and processes through an interdisciplinary critical lens. On this module you will:

• Explore the ways in which anthropologists, sociologists and ethicists study the sites, actors and texts involved in policy making and implementation
• Ask the key questions: what are the values, meanings and power relations that animate policy, and who stands to benefit from particular policy choices?
• Examine how an informed study of policy pays close critical attention to the ethical, social and cultural dilemmas inherent in the process of achieving desired societal outcomes

Through this approach you will discover that the study of policy becomes a window onto governance at multiple levels, on social inequalities and their (re)production, and on the prevailing regimes of truth and power.

Develop your project management skills and practice at an advanced level.

In this innovative studio format, you will be given a live brief, and through hands-on learning, you will work with others in a group project to meet this brief. Your task will centre on how interdisciplinary humanities approaches can be applied to contemporary place-based challenges.

You will address these multi-dimensional challenges through a range of approaches, applying learning from your specific topic of expertise such as:

• Artificial intelligence
• Society and global challenges
• Sustainability and environmental futures
• Global medical and health humanities

Projects may be based on academically significant topics that will expose you to areas of contemporary research. Alternatively, they may be linked to ‘real world’ issues and external clients enabling you to develop your abilities in professional practice.

This project-based module will incorporate studio sessions with lectures from a range of disciplinary experts and external stakeholders, workshops to support practical skills and student-led group working in the studio space.

While this module forms a suite with Applied Learning Studio 1, it is also offered on a standalone basis for some programmes.

In this second studio format module, you will build on your first applied learning experience. You will move from contemporary place-based challenges to a focus on how interdisciplinary humanities approaches can be applied to global challenges that encompass multiple locales and contexts.

You’ll continue to develop project management and practice at an advanced level working on a live brief. Through further hands-on learning, you will work with others in a group project to meet this brief.

These multi-dimensional challenges will be addressed through a range of approaches as you apply learning from your specific topic of expertise such as:

• Artificial intelligence
• Society and global challenges
• Sustainability and environmental futures
• Global Medical and Health Humanities

Projects may be based on academically significant topics that will expose you to areas of contemporary research. Alternatively, they may be on issues put forward by external clients, enabling you to develop your abilities in professional practice.

This project-based module will incorporate studio sessions with lectures from a range of disciplinary experts and external stakeholders, workshops to support practical skills, and student-led group working in the studio space.

On this module you will engage in detailed policy problem solving addressing current global?wicked policy problems in specific policy areas such as education, foreign affairs, health, social inequality and labour market policy.

Drawing on our world leading experts, you’ll:

• Understand the policy dynamics in specific policy fields
• Learn how research impacts policy, and gain up to date knowledge on the pressing issues in key policy areas
• Understand how advocates and practitioners navigate the policy process and develop realistic political strategies to impact change

This module will be highly responsive to the contemporary political environment and policy context and you will engage with the most recent developments in public policy.

“Policy” is a key organizing concept of modern societies. On this module you will engage with a critical, interdisciplinary approach that treats public policy not merely as a technical or administrative process, but as a socially embedded and ethically charged practice.

Drawing on anthropology, sociology, and ethics, you will interrogate policy as a site where values, meanings, power relations, and regimes of truth are produced and contested. Through close critical attention, you will go beyond understanding how policy programmes come about to consider the ethical, social and cultural dilemmas inherent in the process of achieving desired societal outcomes. What, for example, are the values, meanings and power relations that animate policy, and who stands to benefit from policy choices?

You will examine how policy plays out in complex social and political settings: in local and national institutions, healthcare, or research and education. Approached in this way, the study of policy becomes a window onto governance at multiple levels: on social inequalities and their (re)production, and on the prevailing regimes of truth and power.

On completion of this module, you will have acquired the tools to understand policy contexts and processes through an interdisciplinary critical lens.You will have the knowledge and skills necessary to research and analyse policymaking in its “natural environment” preparing you for a range of possible careers in academia, government, international organizations, and non-governmental sectors.