Heritage is not simply about preserving the past. Decisions about what we value, protect, interpret and remember help shape the societies and environments of the present and future.
The MSc Cultural Heritage Futures explores these relationships between past, present and future. You will investigate how heritage is created, contested, governed, communicated and transformed, and how it can contribute to addressing contemporary social and environmental challenges. These may include climate change and sustainability, decolonisation, conflict and contested lands, technological transformation, online hostility and hate speech, inequalities, tourism, ocean and coastal change, difficult pasts, and the politics of memory and identity.
The programme takes an interdisciplinary and challenge-driven approach. Rather than considering heritage only as something inherited from the past, you will explore how decisions about heritage influence communities, institutions, landscapes and future generations.
Based in the University of Edinburgh's School of History, Classics and Archaeology, you will study within a School with long-established international expertise in heritage, archaeology and history, while engaging with real-world processes and case studies in heritage policy and practice.
This combination of critical scholarship and applied learning will prepare you to understand heritage not only as an academic field, but also as an area of professional practice, public policy and global action.
Many heritage programmes focus primarily on how heritage should be managed or conserved.
Cultural Heritage Futures asks a broader question: What futures are we creating through the ways we understand, use and protect the past?
The programme combines:
This combination allows you to approach heritage simultaneously as an academic field, a professional practice and an important part of contemporary social and environmental decision-making.
You will leave the programme not simply knowing more about heritage, but better equipped to question existing practices, undertake independent research, work collaboratively and contribute to how heritage is understood and used in the future.
During the programme, you may consider questions such as:
There are no single answers to these questions. The programme will give you the critical, methodological and professional tools to investigate them and develop your own responses.
The School of History, Classics and Archaeology provides a rich intellectual environment for studying heritage. You will learn alongside students and researchers working across archaeology, history and related disciplines, while developing a distinctive specialism in criti
A UK 2:1 honours degree, a minimum US 3.25 GPA or international equivalent, in a subject related to this programme.
We will also consider your application if you have other professional qualifications or experience; please contact us to check before you apply.
To find international equivalent qualifications, select where you studied from the country or region list.