Understanding why war and political violence erupt, how they spread, and what enables their resolution has never been more pressing, whether you are looking to work in government, international organisations, NGOs, journalism, or the private sector. This course gives you the conceptual and empirical tools to make sense of this rapidly changing landscape.
You develop an understanding of the theoretical approaches and debates that define security studies, and the ability to analyse how different forms of political conflict emerge, diffuse, are managed and resolved. You examine from interstate war and civil conflict to terrorism, insurgency and hybrid threats, situating these within broader debates about power, order and security. The course also equips you with the qualitative and quantitative research skills required to collect and analyse empirical evidence in a systematic way. You learn to design your own research, interrogate data critically, and communicate your findings with rigour and clarity—skills that are transferable across academic, policy and professional careers.
What distinguishes this course is its combination of theoretical depth and methodological training within a single degree. Rather than choosing between a purely conceptual or a purely technical approach to security, you build both, learning directly from researchers and practitioners actively engaged in current policy debates and empirical research. You are taught alongside a diverse cohort of students from different regions and professional backgrounds, bringing varied perspectives to bear on shared problems, and have opportunities to engage with policymakers working on the issues you study.
The Security Studies MSc is designed to equip students with an advanced set of analytical and methodological skills that enable them to collect and analyse data to test theoretically-informed hypotheses relating to the causes and consequences of conflict and related security issues.
Graduates of this course are well placed to pursue careers across a wide range of sectors. Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) looking at the destinations of graduates in the 2018–2024 cohorts, shows that graduates most commonly enter roles in Policy and Government, Health and Social Care, Security and Intelligence, and Accountancy and Financial Services. Other destinations include the civil service, political risk analysis, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and international organisations.
Many graduates also go on to PhD study at UCL and other universities in the UK and overseas.
On this MSc, you are part of UCL’s Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy which is recognised as a centre of excellence in the field of peace and conflict studies and offers a stimulating environment for the study of international security.
You will benefit from a diverse faculty that actively influences contemporary debates in this field, as well as seminars featuring distinguished external speakers, and regular high-profile events with academics and policymakers. Thanks to the expertise of our Faculty members, the methodological and substantive training you will receive is one of the finest available globally.