MPhil in Digital Humanities

The MPhil in Digital Humanities is directed by Cambridge Digital Humanities, a research centre with links across a wide range of faculties and units at Cambridge.  The course is administered by the Faculty of English and runs from October to June. 

This exciting MPhil explores the ways in which the humanities engage with digital futures, digital research, and digital cultures, as questions arise around the ethics of automation, algorithmic analysis, privacy/surveillance, virtual cultures, data sharing, intelligent agency and creativity, archival justice and digital histories, collections and heritage issues. 

The course gives students critical/theoretical orientations and delivers a structured form of engagement with digital methods, tools, and approaches while enabling flexibility in terms of specialism.  Students may come from multiple disciplines and the course caters to different skill levels in DH methods. Students take two broad core courses – Digital Humanities Approaches and Methods, and Data and Algorithmic Analysis – and follow two courses from a basket of more specialist options. The course is assessed through shorter essays and a year-long dissertation or portfolio project.

This course aims:

• to give students a structured form of engagement with digital methods, tools, approaches and critical/theoretical orientations.  To expand the humanities offering at taught post-graduate level at Cambridge by offering a route for cross-disciplinary engagement and the development of new skills and knowledges for a cohort spanning humanities areas as broadly conceived. The course responds to the growth of the field of Digital Humanities both as a research area and as a teaching location;
• to enable humanities/social science trained students to develop the critical literacy and practical skills and knowledges to understand and engage with digital materials and digital methods for the study of matters relevant to the humanities; and
• to respond to the need for the humanities to grapple with emerging forms, practices, and social formations shaped in a digital age. 

The course will benefit:

• students seeking to stay with the field of DH at doctoral level and beyond – by enabling them to hone their critical and methodological skills, develop new approaches and test them out, and specialise;
• students who will take their learning back into home disciplines – by giving them the critical and practical digital literacy to inform future research at doctoral level and beyond; and
• students entering other careers – in GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums), creative industries, digital media industries, media arts – by giving them the critical perspectives, practical digital literacies, and methodological insights to pursue these pathways.

Learning Outcomes

This course will enable students to:

• demonstrate an advanced general understanding of digital humanities and related topics by using a range of critical and theoretical approaches and methodologies;
• demonstrate a deeper expertise in chosen research areas or in particular approaches through optional courses in Lent term and by way of an extended dissertation or portfolio;
• acquire a critical and well-informed understanding of the stakes of digital transformation in contemporary society; and
• participate in the advanced research culture of the DH community at Cambridge and beyond by attending and contributing to research seminars, practical and methodological workshops, and reading groups.

Continuing

MPhil students in Digital Humanities who wish to continue to the PhD must apply for admission through the University’s admission processes, taking funding and application deadlines into consideration. Readmission is not automatic and each application is considered on its own merits. The expected standard for continuation is an overall mark of at least 70% in the MPhil course.

Open Days

The Postgraduate Virtual Open Day usually takes place at the end of October. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the Postgraduate Open Day page for more details.

See further the Postgraduate Admissions Events pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.