MA Design History & Material Culture

The MA Design History explores objects, systems, buildings and spaces in their contemporary and historic contexts. At its heart is an enquiry into the relationships of spaces, things, users and makers: how have we shaped the material world, and how does it shape us?

The Design History and Material Culture MA programme is taught through seminars and guided research, equipping students with the skills to research, analyse and write about the material world in its various historic and contemporary contexts. 

The programme offers deep engagement with a wide range of research practices including object analysis, archival research, ethnographic method, oral history and philosophical enquiry. Students have opportunities to undertake high level research, to test and employ new critical concepts, and to engage in a wide variety of writing practices.

Students benefit from behind-the-scenes access to museum collections. A strength of the course is its relationship with local and national institutions, with modules built around collaborations with (for example) the Irish Architecture Foundation, the National Library of Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland.