Study Details: MA 1 year full-time; 2-3 years part-time
Develop your knowledge of the heritage sector and engage with creative solutions in sustainable conservation through policy and practice.
You'll combine a critical study of the heritage sector with case studies of built environments, including visits and workshops. Explore best practice approaches in sustainable conservation. Consider the role of policy making, and how we might develop solutions to current issues in the preservation of built heritage.
Enhance your learning through a curated placement with one of our heritage and sustainability partners, including York Conservation Trust and York Civic Trust. Gain relevant, hands-on experience that will inform your assessment and equip you with a range of skills for your future career.
2:2 or equivalent in a Archaeology or a related subject such as Architecture, Planning, Surveying, History, Geography, Anthropology, Politics or any relevant subject.
Mature students or those with less conventional qualifications but with relevant professional experience and enthusiasm for this field will be considered. To find out if your professional experience or qualifications are appropriate, please contact the Course Director.
For fees and funding information, please see our website
This course is for students who want to work in the conservation, heritage and sustainability sectors. Potential employers will value the experience you'll gain on your placement. Our graduates have gone on to work in a variety of industries and professions. The course also prepares you for doctoral research.
Career opportunities
Core modules
Building Conservation Projects
Sustainability I: definitions of sustainability & methods of assessment
Sustainable Buildings: Carbon, Retrofit and Reuse
Sustainable Conservation Challenges
Curated Placement
Option modules
You will choose one option module from examples including:
GIS and spatial analysis
Heritage Principles and Concepts
Histories of Conservation
Landscape Survey and Geophysics
Sustainability II: understanding sustainability as change through time
You'll also have the opportunity to choose options from our full module catalogue. Examples may include:
Ancient Biomolecules
Animal Bones for Archaeologists
Archaeologies of Colonialism in the British Atlantic World
Artefacts and Materials Analysis
Becoming Human
Contemporary Issues in Museums
Critical Approaches to Archaeological Practice
Data Science for Archaeology
Death, Burial and Commemoration in the Roman World
Debates in Funerary Archaeology
Digital Approaches to Archaeology
Digital Creativity
Experimental Archaeology
Life and Death in Iron Age Britain and Ireland
Making the Nation
Medieval Settlement and Communities
Mesolithic Life and Death
Museums, Audiences & Interpretation
Prehistoric Art: Origins and Transitions
Presenting Historic Houses
Roman Europe
Roman Archaeology: Ancient pasts, current issues
Skeletal Evidence for Health in the Past
Sustainability I: definitions of sustainability & methods of assessment
Sustainable Conservation Challenges
The Ancient Celts: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe
The Archaeology of the Human Skeleton
The Archaeology of Roman Religion
The Viking Age: People, Places, Things
Thinking through Material Culture
Virtual Reality and 3D Modelling
Zooarchaeology in Context
Some option modules combinations may not be possible. The option available to you will be confirmed after you begin your course.
Our modules may change to reflect the latest academic thinking and expertise of our staff, and in line with Department/School academic planning.
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