The graduate programme in the UCD School of Politics and International Relations (SPIRe) encompasses master’s degrees and graduate diplomas in a wide range of areas, including development studies, European affairs, human rights, international relations, Irish and European politics, peace and conflict, and political theory. In particular, we offer both MSc and MA programmes in four subject areas, three interdisciplinary master’s degrees, and two graduate diplomas. Basic information on all these programmes is available below, with further details available by clicking on the various programmes’ titles.
SPIRe currently has nearly 150 postgraduate students from over 30 countries. In addition to their studies, these students have access to visiting speakers and other activities of the School's three research centres: the Centre for Peace and Conflict Research (formerly Institute for British-Irish Studies), the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies an the Connected_Politics Lab.
Our graduates work at leading universities and in governments, EU institutions, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, the media, business and the voluntary sector. They are known for their ability to communicate clearly and effectively about complex issues, their ability to analyse and resolve difficult problems and their contribution to cutting-edge scholarship.
If you have any queries, please contact SPIRe at the following email address, graduatespire@ucd.ie.
SPIRe part time programmes run for 2 years and students normally do 1 -2 modules per semester. The final 30-credit module is completed during the second year of the programme.
Please note that our part-time programmes run during the day and are not timetabled in the evenings or at weekends.
The MA Politics degree, which was developed for those who wish to understand the role of politics in shaping the great issues of our day including power and conflict, distribution and inequality, relations between nations, and the new challenges of globalisation, financial crisis, national security, and climate change.
MA: For more information on this programme click here
MSc: For more information on this programme click here
This programme is designed to deepen knowledge and understanding of the domestic and regional politics of the Middle East. It is structured around a set of thematic modules that encourage students to explore political dynamics in the region from a number of different perspectives.
For more information on this programme click here
The MA Politics and International Relations is designed to accommodate the scheduling needs of working professionals in government, journalism, the NGO sector and other areas who wish to deepen their education in politics and international relations whilst continuing their employment.
For more information on this programme click here
MA/MSc International Relations probes into the causes and consequences of phenomena such as war, trade, regional integration, migration and terrorism.
MA: For more information on this programme click here
MSc: For more information on this programme click here
The MA/MSc is structured around a set of courses dedicated to different aspects of European politics, both EU and comparative European.
MA: For more information on this programme click here
MSc: For more information on this programme click here
As a crucial part of understanding our human condition, political theory has always been held to be a valuable activity. More recently, however, changes in contemporary societies have made such systematic thinking about politics indispensable to understanding and participating in the life of our own state and a newly global world.
For more information on this programme click here
This programme uses comparative political science models and methods to analyse patterns of conflict and settlement, with a focus on internal violent conflicts, past and present.
MA: For more information on this programme click here
MSc: For more information on this programme click here
The MA/MSc in International Development is designed to provide you with an interdisciplinary understanding of the process of development by bringing together expertise in politics, economics, agriculture, political economy and other areas.
MA: For more information on this programme click here
MSc: For more information on this programme click here
An intensive, multi-disciplinary and tightly-focused programme of study on the European Union; its development, structures, decision-making and law as well as a major focus on the Union’s growing international role and capacity.
For more information on this programme click here
MA/MSc International Political Economy - explores the international trade, monetary and finance systems, the processes of globalisation, the impact of emerging economies, and the causes and consequences of economic underdevelopment.
MA: For more information on this programme click here
MSc: For more information on this programme click here
The MSc in Human Rights is an intensive course that prepares you for a career in human rights research, policy or advocacy in international organisations, governmental and non-governmental bodies, or academia.
For more information on this programme click here
This programme investigates the ways in which gender is implicated in the structure, practice, and theorising of politics. the programme explores the ways in which gender identity impacts on individual and group interactions with the domestic political system and global politics. It also recognises that national and international political structures are gendered and that this effects power relations, political behaviour, and public policies.
For more information on the MA programme click here
For more information on the MSc programme click here
The digital revolution has confronted politics and society with a multitude of new challenges and upset the traditional balance of power between Government, individual citizens, and broader society. The explosion of online and social media, the proliferation of digitised information, and improved electronic access to political decision-making processes provide new opportunities to study existing and emerging political processes. The simultaneous development of cutting-edge data science methods to study digital text, audio, and video provide the tools we need to take advantage of these opportunities. The MSc Politics and Data Science is designed to equip students with the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills necessary to examine and understand politics in the digital age.
For more information on this programme click here.
This 2-year programme is a double degree programme run in conjunction with the University of Utrecht School of Governance. Students will develop interdisciplinary skills, working in the domains of law and politics, with an enhanced capacity for problem solving. The distinctive contribution of the UCD programme is that it brings legal insights into questions of European governance, exploring law as a framing and constraining device and looks at the EU as an actor from a global perspective paying close attention to political economy questions.
For more information on this programme click here.
This programme is fully online and has the unique ability to address the large range of issues covered by the SDG agenda that will equip students to solve some of the most pressing issues of our times.
For more information on this programme click here.
The digital revolution has confronted politics and society with a multitude of new challenges and upset the traditional balance of power between Government, individual citizens, and broader society. The explosion of online and social media, the proliferation of digitised information, and improved electronic access to political decision-making processes provide new opportunities to study existing and emerging political processes. The simultaneous development of cutting-edge data science methods to study digital text, audio, and video provide the tools we need to take advantage of these opportunities. The Grad Dip Politics and Data Science is designed to equip students with the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills necessary to examine and understand politics in the digital age.
For more information on this programme click here.
The Grad Dip Politics and International Relations is designed to accommodate the scheduling needs of working professionals in government, journalism, the NGO sector and other areas who wish to deepen their education in politics and international relations whilst continuing their employment.
For more information on this programme click here
The Grad Dip in International Development is designed to provide you with an interdisciplinary understanding of the process of development by bringing together expertise in politics, economics, agriculture, political economy and other areas.
For more information on this programme click here
The SPIRe Professional Certificate is designed for motivated and professional students in the public and private sectors. The Professional Certificate in Programming for Social Scientists provides an introduction to computer programming using the Python language.
For more information on the ProfCert programme click here
The SPIRe Professional Certificate is designed for motivated and professional students in the public and private sectors. The Professional Certificate in Quantitative Text Analysis introduces students in a hands-on fashion to a variety of methods and tools in the booming fields of quantitative text analysis and natural language processing.
For more information on the ProfCert programme click here
In addition to the programmes above, SPIRe collaborates within the college to offer various Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Graduate Programmes.
This inter- and multidisciplinary programme will examine the socio-economic changes and political issues which influence policy making, the challenges associated with effective regulation and administration of public services and ensuring that policy decisions are evidence based. If you are interested in public policy research you can take a number of specialist modules on this issue. We also provide a number of optional streams which will enable you to examine different policy fields in depth.
For more information on this programme click here.
This inter- and multidisciplinary programme harvests the benefits that come with a more openly structured, interdisciplinary approach that is based on a wider contextual appreciation of political and social ideas. It will provide students with a deeper understanding of how ideas play out in practice and develop the knowledge base and critical skills required to think beyond disciplinary boundaries when addressing contemporary social and political problems.
For more information on this programme click here.