Master of Arts - Research Biography

Explore the unique Master of Arts in Biography by Research at the University of Buckingham. Ideal for international students passionate about biography. Apply now!

This cutting-edge Master’s in Biography was founded in 1996, originally as a Taught MA Programme, and remains unique to Buckingham. The course is consistently rated ‘excellent’ by external examiners and inspectors. Study can be conducted on either a full-time (one year) or a part-time (two year) basis, with the latter generally recommended so that students can devote the second year entirely to writing on a biographical subject of their choice. Over the past 25 years, students have researched subjects ranging from Queen Victoria to the Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, and from Bernard Levin to the gardening author Jane Loudon. Some students write about their own ancestors, while others focus on contemporary figures they have known personally. The team, led by biographer Ophelia Field, possesses expertise in a broad range of historical periods, from the Early Modern period to the present day. The course emphasizes understanding individual subjects within their historical, social, and political context, and therefore works closely with the University’s historians. The program also encourages those interested in Life Writing or Literary Biography to join and benefit from the experience of academics across the faculties, including Dr. Pete Orford, who has published a new biography of Charles Dickens, and Dr. Peter Sloane, who specializes in refugee life writing and memoir. Sitting at the intersection of several disciplines, as biography must, the course is as interested in the various ways biographies can be written and the choices required of every biography, as in the underpinning research necessary for such work.