On this module, you will apply a multifaceted knowledge of defence and security and appraise the decision-making of world powers. You will develop strategies to address geopolitical challenges in a range of scenarios – from responding to emergencies such as terrorism, catastrophic cyber attacks and the threat of nuclear war – to ensuring the UK's energy security and building defence and security policy.

Our Lancaster experts work with government and industry partners to inform policy. You’ll train with them in the techniques of strategic assessment, such as red-teaming and backcasting.

Working in Lancaster's cutting-edge Data Immersion Suite, our team will guide you in navigating complex scenarios present and future. You will assess the military, economic and technological resources of world powers, their ambitions and goals, their political cultures and the constraints upon their actions. You’ll consider the alliances and interplay between actors, learn practically how strategy is formed and test how economic, diplomatic, intelligence and military interventions impact the world order.

Build a systematic knowledge of global defence and security issues and the skills to analyse them, forging expertise to develop original solutions. You will work with Lancaster experts at the forefront of research and you’ll combine insights from a range of disciplines, such as Cyber Security, History, International Relations, International Law, Global Cultures, Linguistics, Philosophy and Security Studies.

On this module, you will develop expertise in global regions and powers – such as the USA, China and Russia – and security in Africa, the Indo Pacific and Transatlantic areas, combining insights from global cultures, history and linguistic analysis. You will further your advanced knowledge beyond western-centric perspectives, and you’ll analyse UK defence and security policy in a shifting geopolitical landscape.

The module enables you to appraise the workings of diplomacy, intelligence and ‘grey zone’ warfare through international relations and international law. You’ll also engage with the philosophy and ethics of war and espionage and assess the impact of new technologies on warfare by combining cyber conflict and security studies with historical perspectives.

While histories of war have long focused on the causes, course, outcome, and legacies of conflict, ‘new’ military histories also now seek to understand how ordinary people have experienced war ‘from below’.

Structured around four broad themes—medicine, the body, sexuality, and the mind—this module considers the bodily legacies of warfare in a variety of times and places.

Topics typically include:

• The role of the military in the emergence of clinical medicine in the 18th century
• The impact of war disability on society following the American Civil War
• The long history of rape as a ‘weapon of war’
• The use of methamphetamines by the German Wehrmacht in the Second World War

Drawing on a large range of sources, including diaries, memoirs, medical texts, engravings, photographs, and wartime propaganda, you will develop a detailed understanding of how people throughout history have experienced conflict and its aftermaths through their bodies.

In this module, you will explore the emergence of cyber conflict and cooperation in the digital era. You will examine cyber conflict within the international system, focusing on strategic debates around offensive and defensive cyber operations, including deterrence, escalation and the roles of military and intelligence agencies.

You will explore the rise of criminal markets in cyberspace, the various techniques used by criminals and the responses from law enforcement. You will also study international cooperation in cyber security, including national strategy and policy formation, the role of international law and cyber diplomacy.

This interdisciplinary module focuses on:

• Political Science
• Behavioural Science
• Criminology
• Sociology
• Law to give you the knowledge and skills needed for cyber security and policy
• Preparing you for a career in government and the private sector

You will explore how peace is built and maintained in today’s world, analysing real-world challenges in preventing and managing conflicts, especially those caused by state failure.

In this module, you will study a range of conflict types, including:

• International
• Internal
• Ethnic
• Communal
• Religious
• Environmental

You will examine a variety of case studies and independently select a conflict to research, focusing on a specific conflict management approach. By the end of the module, you will have developed a deeper understanding of the strategies used by states to manage conflict, particularly through specific policy measures.

Given the interdisciplinary content of the module, students from any social sciences background can enrol in it and will find it highly engaging.

Focus on a defence and security issue of your choice, utilising multifaceted knowledge and analytical methods. You will work under the supervision of Lancaster experts across a range of areas to develop an original and impactful project. These may include:

• Cyber Security
• History
• International Relations
• International Law
• Global Cultures
• Linguistics
• Philosophy
• Security Studies

You might focus on a global region or actor - incorporating history, culture, and current politics - or investigate a topic in depth, from battlefield technologies to the impact of sanctions, the ethics of defence policy or the application of international law.

You could decide to test techniques, from linguistic analysis to backcasting, in a posited scenario. Choose the format that suits your focus, such as a policy briefing, podcast documentary or dissertation. You will learn to tackle complex problems systematically and creatively, communicate effectively to specialist and/or non-specialist audiences, and provide expert analysis. These advanced skills will prepare you to enter or progress in a range of careers.

Diplomacy and foreign policy are central to the understanding of international relations and global affairs. The structure of the international system induces a constant need for political dialogue and negotiations. Beyond war, diplomacy is the common language states are using to interact on the world stage.

You will explore contemporary approaches to conceptualising diplomacy and foreign policy in the 21st century and learn how to critically analyse the major dynamics shaping them in the modern world. You will also examine key contemporary challenges in the practice of diplomacy and foreign policy, across the peace-crisis-conflict continuum.

In this module, you will develop both theoretical and practical understanding of contemporary issues, such as:

• Nuclear weapons
• Arms control
• Disarmament
• Technological development and foreign policy
• Space
• Cyber
• Biotechnological security
• The role of intelligence in foreign policy and diplomacy
• Environmental
• Maritime security

The period from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century was marked by global wars. In this module you will examine wars and conflicts spanning a variety of world regions, from late colonial wars to the First and Second World Wars and the counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Working at the forefront of historiographical advances, you will study the origins, causes, course, impact, and resolution of these conflicts from global, regional, and local perspectives, drawing extensively on a wide range of primary sources.

Moving beyond Western- and military-centric narratives, you will investigate actors from both the ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’, as well as the political, economic, social, ideological, and cultural ramifications and legacies of war. This approach provides you with a multidimensional understanding of war and enables you to situate contemporary conflicts within the historical context of the long twentieth century.

You will critically examine the role of Great Powers in shaping the international system and international politics. You will assess the causes and implications of Great Powers’ collaboration and competition on international security and stability and global governance (from development to the environment to the global economy). You will assess the rise and decline of Great Powers and will cover case studies drawn from United States, Russia, China and India.

You will explore a range of topics, such as:

• The historical evolution of Great Power politics
• Balance of power
• Bipolarity
• Multipolarity and global stability
• Arms race
• From the ‘old' to the ‘new’ Cold War
• Outer Space geopolitics
• Technological rivalry

Study a language formally in a way that will support your learning. You can enrol either as a beginner or as a more advanced student where you will build on existing knowledge.

In the seminars and workshops, as well as through a series of optional drop-ins offered later in the module, you’ll get the tools you need to approach materials which are relevant to your own academic and work interests.

You will be given opportunities to practise in your chosen target language, building on materials posted on the learning space (flipped classroom videos, self-study links) as well as other events organised for the community of linguists and language learners in the University, such as our weekly lunch clubs.

On this module you will develop transferable communicative skills and reflect on cultural and linguistic challenges which are relevant to your postgraduate studies and beyond.

You may use these skills to research matters relating to intercultural and/or interlinguistic issues, work with archives, develop an international research network, or simply add them to your CV.

You will explore the politics and history of the Middle East and the Asia Pacific (or Greater Asia), focusing on how these regions have been historically shaped and contested. You will examine how states in these regions have adopted Western political systems and assess whether these systems function effectively. It is also important to understand the region’s politics that also involves exploring the roles of ethnicity and nationalism.

You will analyse key themes such as:

• The impact of colonial legacies on the region
• Key security concerns
• The rise of authoritarianism
• Gender and sexuality
• Religious identity
• The position of minorities in the region
• Social movements
• Changing forms of bureaucracy and governance
• Regionalism and the impact of globalization

You will study the relations between the states in the region as well as their relations with the rest of the world, which is important in understanding the foreign policy goals of each state and their contribution to the region's overall development.

Through comparative case studies, you will be introduced to the diversity of political systems and experiences across the two regions whilst also identifying areas of similarity and difference.

The module also analyses contemporary global developments and challenges related to:

• State
• Society
• Regional identity

Explore a crucial period in the history of warfare, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, when episodic conflicts gave way to continual war. In Europe, ‘chivalric’ ideals were first established to limit noble bloodshed and then overturned, especially in the Hundred Years War. Western crusaders conquered swathes of the Holy Land and led expeditions to North Africa, before the revanche of the Abode of Islam under the Ayyubids and then the Mamluks, while the Mongol Empire emerged to confront the powers of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Military technology was transformed, with the invention of the trebuchet and then the gun.

In this module, you will gain a global perspective on medieval warfare and develop advanced skills in analysing primary sources and evaluating the methods and arguments of historians, working to build your own interpretations.