Race Ethnicity Conflict

Course Overview

This one-year postgraduate course examines the techniques used by states and international agencies to manage peoples and conflict, their social and cultural impact and the responses they elicit. It applies a wide variety of sociological theories to racialisation, gender, migration, ethnic conflict and peace-making. Students are taught to complete an independent research project on these issues.



Staff, students and alumni form a friendly, ethnically diverse intellectual community with links to Trinity's Centre for Post-Conflict Justice, the Long Room Hub, Trinity Research in Social Sciences, the Migration and Employment Research Centre, and the Conflict and Resistance Research Group all in Trinity College Dublin, and with a host of national and international academic and civil society organisations involved in race critical theory, critical peace studies, anti-racism, migrant support, Traveller rights and nomadism.



Is This Course For Me?

The Masters is designed for people with an undergraduate degree, preferably with a social science component, who work or wish to work in human rights advocacy, social research, teaching, journalism, public service, or NGOs, and/or who are thinking of Ph.D. research.



Course Structure

The one-year full-time M.Phil. in Race, Ethnicity, Conflict focuses on Ireland, Europe (including the Balkans), the US and the Middle East, with all classes consisting of lecturing, student participation and formal and informal presentations. The emphasis is on small group teaching and one-to-one support in the preparation of your research-based dissertation.



Modules are assessed by individual essays or written group presentations and students are encouraged to incorporate their specific interests into course work and research.

Students take three core taught modules: Race and Ethnicity: Theoretical Concept;.Research Methods and Colonialism; Conflict and Liberal Intervention.



Optional modules vary from year to year, with students selecting electives including: International Human Rights Law; Gender, War and Peace; Race, Ethnicity and Social Policy; Conflict Zones: Case Studies; Race, Ethnicity and Education in Europe and North America; Labour, Migration, Conflict; United Nations and Conflict Resolution; and Rethinking European Citizenship and Contemporary Sources of Conflict.



Students must also complete 20,000-word dissertation, which they research and write with the one-to-one support from an expert in their chosen field.

Admission Requirements

Candidates should have an undergraduate degree at upper second-class level or equivalent (GPA of at least 3.2) in one of the Social Sciences or a degree that has included Social Science as a component.



In exceptional cases, candidates without a first degree may be accepted directly into the programme if they can demonstrate they possess the equivalent of a good first degree, have work experience in the fields of population movement, conflict, and/or publications that demonstrate analytical skills. Applicants seeking admission in this category may, where practicable, be called for interview.



In all cases the quality of the candidates statement of interest and of their academic references are important.

Closing Date: 31st July 2025

1 year full-time

Next Intake: September 2025

Career Opportunities

Our recent graduates work for NGOs (national and international), in migrant and Traveller rights, as barristers, playwrights, political activists, researchers, teachers, academics, Gardaí, journalists, social workers. According to figures compiled by the College Careers Service, more than 90% of our graduates from this course are either in employment, internships or further study.