Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.
Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.
Year one
Understanding Crime, Harm and Deviance
Year: 1
Status: C
This module encourages students to look beneath the headlines and examine social constructions of crime. Ideas about 'crime', harm' and 'deviance' vary over time and place and the module explores popular discourses on these themes. The module introduces students to criminology as a discipline and to key theoretical traditions. The module provides a foundation of knowledge and skills for the criminology and criminal justice, and criminology minor degree programmes.
The Criminal Justice System
Year: 1
Status: C
This module will explore crime and its control through an analysis of the response of the criminal justice system, from the reporting/detection of incidents through the main criminal justice agencies and processes. Students will be introduced to the treatment and experiences of women, children, and victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system drawing upon national and international research.
Introduction to Government and Public Policy
Year: 1
Status: C
This module begins by assessing the meaning of politics, the relationship between politics and the state, and the role of government. Then, it describes the organisation of the state and its division of powers. Finally, an analysis is undertaken of the role of public administration in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of public policy.
Political Ideologies
Year: 1
Status: C
This module introduces students to the study of political thought in its ideological forms. Political ideologies have been implicated in all major political developments over the last two centuries and demand special attention. This module clarifies the principles of these major systems, as well as critical ideological perspectives, and identifies their implications for political practice.
Foundations of Politics and International Studies
Year: 1
Status: C
This module introduces the student to the study of politics and international studies through the exploration of core study skills, concepts, approaches, and research strategies. It looks at the links between national and international politics and encourages students to think critically about social, political and economic trends. It provides the foundation for the critical analytical skills required in the study of politics, as well as core academic skills, and encourages collaboration and group work.
Power and Politics in the UK and Ireland
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
The module is designed to provoke thought and stimulate questions about the nature of politics and government within the UK and Ireland. The module considers the key aspects of British and Irish politics including political culture, the function and structure of political parties and pressure groups, sub national forms of government and the role of the mass media. In doing so, it examines the dispersal of power within both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland discusses the changing responsibilities of government, and the nature of political power in a modern state.
International Relations
Status: O
Year: 1
This module is optional
Discover how global power, conflict, and cooperation shape the world we live in. This module mixes theory with real-world case studies on war, climate change, global inequality, and sustainable development to make sense of international politics. Explore the impact of states, international organisations, and non-state actors on today's biggest challenges. Build your skills in critical thinking, analysis, and evidence-based argument. By the end, you'll be ready to understand, debate, and engage with global issues confidently.
Year two
Political Thought: Text and Context
Year: 2
Status: C
This module considers the philosophical contributions of the major philosophers that have influenced political thought since the early enlightenment period and relates those contributions to the historical contexts in which they were written.
British Politics: Race, Class, and Policy
Year: 2
Status: C
This module looks at some of the most pertinent issues driving British politics in the 21st century - 'race', class, identity, media control, imperial legacies. It covers the "long durée" of the Empire and its aftermath into the contemporary era. Students are asked to engage with the ways in which British politics have been and continue to be shaped by such legacies as 'race' and class politics, and to consider policies that can promote diversity and inclusion.
Politics in Practice: Skills, Experience and Employability
Year: 2
Status: C
This module is designed to provide a work-based learning opportunity for students, allowing them to apply political scholarship to practical situations and link academic studies to the world outside the university. By practicing specific skills for employment - including the writing of CVs, giving presentations and critically reflecting on experience, the module aims to prepare students for the world of work after graduation.
Policing and Society
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
What purpose do the police serve in a democratic society? Are they simply 'citizens in uniform', or does the uniform embody a distinctive and potent form of authority? If it does, how is that authority enacted, justified, or abused—and with what consequences for society? How does the exercise of police power shape public trust, legitimacy, and social order? What role do non-state actors play in the broader landscape of policing, and how do these relationships vary across contexts? This module engages with Egon Bittner's enduring question: how can a society devoted to peace sustain an institution grounded in force?
Environmental Crime
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module introduces students to the criminological study of environmental crime, harm and justice. Through inductive learning methods students will discover the common drivers of environmental crime. They will also learn about compliance, enforcement and justice mechanisms designed to combat environmental criminality.
State Crime
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module seeks to explore the definition and nature of state crime in criminological and political discourse. It aims to develop a critical understanding of the nature of the state and the scale and type of crimes committed by state agents and agencies. A range of state crimes will be explored in both the domestic and international spheres. The module will explore forms of state crime as techniques of 'coercive governance' and will use examples from both democratic and authoritarian regimes.
Victims of Crime
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module further develops analytical skills in criminology and criminal justice. It evaluates, in the national and international context, the experiences, and the actual and potential role of victims of crime within the criminal justice system and explores criminal justice system responses to victims of crime.
Young People, Crime and Harms
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module focuses on children and young people's experiences as victims of crime, and as 'offenders', exploring these through an intersectional, children's rights-based approach. It examines the underpinning factors contributing to deviance and offending by young people, particularly the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences. The module applies a range of criminology theories to contemporary local and global issues facing children and young people and examines alternatives to punishment and criminalisation.
Understanding Punishment
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module examines the relationship between sentencing theory, principle, policy, and practice. Consideration is given to how sentences are constructed, and the range of sentencing technologies available to the courts. Additionally, a variety of theoretical approaches are utilised to explore the broader social impact sentencing and punishment has on communities at a regional, national, and international level.
Terrorism and Political Violence
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
Since the late 1960s, acts of terrorism have increased in both frequency and scope. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001, along with subsequent incidents in cities such as Madrid and London, have significantly intensified interest in the study of terrorism and political violence—not only within academic research but also among policymakers. At the same time, public awareness of the so-called 'war on terrorism' has become more pronounced.
This module explores key debates surrounding the definition of terrorism and political violence, as well as the psychological, sociological, and broader social science theories that seek to explain them. It also investigates the mutually reinforcing relationship between terrorists, terrorism, and the mass media; the nature of state terrorism; transnational and international forms of terrorism, including historical trends and possible future developments; and the phenomenon of single-issue terrorism. In addition, the module critically evaluates state counter-terrorism measures encompassing policing, intelligence and legal responses, both in terms of their effectiveness and their implications for civil liberties within liberal democracies.
Policing & the Law
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module is designed to explore the law and institutions involved in policing and to set policing in a legal context. Thus it will consider the role and powers of the office of constable and the legal framework within which a policing service is delivered including the constraints and obligations on police officers and a police service. It will allow for discussion and challenge in regard to ideas about how policing is and ought to be conducted.
The Politics of Ireland since Partition
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module explores the dynamic political history of the two states created by the 1921 partition of Ireland. Students will examine how their constitutional frameworks and political institutions developed, and how these shaped relations both between Britain and Ireland across the North-South divide. The module traces key moments from the early decades of statehood through to the turbulent period of the Troubles, culminating in the peace process and post conflict environment. Along the way, students will engage with conflicts and compromises that have defined modern Irish politics, gaining insight into the forces that continue to influence the island today.
Contemporary European Politics
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
Explore the ideas, institutions, and issues shaping Europe today. This dynamic module examines how political systems across the continent function, how the European Union governs, and how historical legacies—from war to empire—continue to influence policy, identity, and international relations. Through case studies and current debates, you'll investigate key challenges facing Europe, including migration, democracy, sustainability, and global cooperation. Ideal for students seeking a deeper, critical understanding of European politics in an ever-changing world.
The Comparative Politics of Democracy and Dictatorship
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This course is about how, and why, a regime becomes either a democracy or a dictatorship. Can democracy survive in an agrarian society or a 'divided' society? Was Barrington-Moore correct when he made the observation 'no bourgeois, no democracy'? Is oil inevitably a curse (for democrats) and a blessing (for dictators)? How can a democratic government manage its 'praetorian problem': the risk of military coup? This course examines theories of regimes origin and survival in a range of case studies from across world regions.
Populism
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
From protest movements to election victories, this module explores one of the most urgent forces in global politics today. It examines how populism challenges institutions, fuels political divides, and responds to rising inequality, climate pressures, and public distrust. Through real-world case studies, the module equips students with the tools to understand analyse political change in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Restorative Justice
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
This module provides students, who are new to restorative justice with an understanding of key theories. The module addresses principles of restorative practice. It also considers the community, policy and legal frameworks in which restorative justice may be located.
Exploring Crime and the Media
Status: O
Year: 2
This module is optional
Crime and media explores the nature of media influence on crime, the criminal justice
system and the role that the media plays in influencing the public's perception of crime and
criminality. Specifically this module develops analytical and critical skills in exploring and
understanding the conflicting and at times ambiguous relationship between crime and the
media in the twenty first century.
Year three
Politics Study Abroad
Status: O
Year: 3
This module is optional
This module will be a compulsory module for those Politics students who have been accepted by a partner institution to undertake an intercalary study abroad year. Students will benefit from the opportunity to experience a broader Politics curriculum and to gain direct experience of politics in practice in a new and unfamiliar political culture and system. Students will also develop important employability skills including international experience and enhanced confidence, independence and resilience.
Diploma in Professional Practice
Status: O
Year: 3
This module is optional
This module provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to gain structured and professional work experience, in a work-based learning environment, as part of their planned programme of study. This experience allows students to develop, refine and reflect on their key personal and professional skills. The placement should significantly support the development of the student's employability skills, preparation for final year and enhance their employability journey.
Year four
Prisons, Punishment and Power
Year: 4
Status: C
This module explores penal policy and practice, analysing the impact of incarceration on imprisoned individuals and for society. Sociological and criminological theories are applied to a range of issues including the 'deprivations' and 'pains' associated with imprisonment and following release; the intersectional impact of incarceration depending on ethnicity/race, age, gender, sexuality, disability and social class. The module considers the ways that people in prison respond and resist, including via the lived experience movement. Strategies for decarceration and prison abolition are evaluated.
Research Skills and Dissertation Preparation
Year: 4
Status: C
This module allows students to gain the skills to design, conduct, and evaluate political research through a hands-on, methodologically rich module. Students learn to combine qualitative and quantitative methods, while navigating ethical and real-world challenges. This module builds the foundation for your dissertation and future career in academia, policy, or professional sectors.
Dissertation
Year: 4
Status: C
This module requires students to work independently, with appropriate guidance and supervision, on their chosen topic. Students are required to submit a substantial written dissertation, that focuses on their chosen topic and sets out evidence and arguments in a structured and coherent fashion.
Crime, Social Order and Social Control
Year: 4
Status: C
The state has traditionally been viewed as being responsible for managing crime and policing in society. However, this is much more complex and varied than would initially seem obvious. This module will explore and evaluate public and community security from a number of perspectives, providing students with a wider appreciation of how policing is undertaken outside that of traditional state and police perspectives. This will involve an examination of the many configurations which contribute to broader conceptions of policing and security within modern society. Furthermore, the module will provide an understanding of the fact that the state police are but one of many auspices and agencies who contribute to the governance of security as part of common and diverse public demands for policing provision.
Drugs and Crime
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module examines the complex relationship between drugs and crime in local and global contexts. Students will critically evaluate theory, evidence and policy responses to contemporary drug issues. Through innovative assessments and engagement with real-world debates, the module prepares students for careers in criminal justice, social justice, public health, research and advocacy while fostering ethical awareness and global citizenship.
Gender, Crime and Justice
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module explores how gender and sexuality shape experiences of crime, victimisation, and justice, drawing on critical theory, research, and real-world case studies. It examines pathways into custody for women, their experiences of prison, including transgender women, and debates over custodial versus community-based responses. The over-representation of men in the justice system is also considered, using ethnographic research with young men to highlight issues such as bullying, violence, substance use, and mental health. Students engage with case studies and guest lectures on sexual and intimate partner violence, digital harassment, and the regulation of women's bodies, as well as the experiences of women and LGBTQ+ professionals in justice agencies, including workplace barriers, entrenched cultures, and the impact of high-profile cases.
Cybercrime
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Cybercrime explores how emerging digital technologies—including social media, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and darknet platforms—are transforming the landscape of serious and organised crime. From state-backed hacking and cyberwarfare to online fraud, crypto-enabled financial crime, drug markets on the darknet, and technology-facilitated harassment and abuse, the module examines how powerful actors exploit digital infrastructures to operate across borders and at scale.
Students will investigate how these crimes work in practice, who carries them out, how victims are affected, and why preventing and prosecuting cybercrime presents major challenges for governments, law enforcement, businesses, and civil society. Along the way, students will develop the analytical tools needed to understand how cyberspace is being "weaponised" and how criminal networks adapt to new technologies.
The module also encourages students to think critically about the wider social impact of cybercrime on democracy, economic security, and everyday digital life. Students will explore how criminological knowledge can contribute to building safer and more resilient digital environments, while developing valuable graduate skills in analysing complex global crime problems linked to technology, security, and justice.
Corporate Crime
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Corporate crime is a multi-trillion dollar global phenomenon that represents a significant threat to markets, democracy, development, human rights and the environment. Crimes committed by corporations have been identified by the UK and US governments as one of the most pressing challenges for law makers today. This module will critically explore the drivers of corporate crime in a number of thematic areas including serious fraud, financial crime, corruption, environment, and human rights. Students will take a hands-on approach, investigating some of the most significant corporate crimes of the last two decades, using specially curated real-world materials such as indictments and deferred prosecution agreements. This case driven approach will open-up the inner workings of corporate crime and help students theorise some of the key drivers of illicit corporate activity. The module's applied focus will help prepare students for a potential career in the control of corporate crime, which is a fast growing and dynamic industry for criminology graduates.
Life After Crime and Criminal Justice
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Life After Crime and Criminal Justice explores how and why people move away from patterns offending behaviour, and rebuild their lives after involvement in the criminal justice system. The module introduces key theories and debates on rehabilitation, reintegration, and desistance, addressing what supports or hinders change across individual, community, and policy levels. Students will critically analyse the relationships between rehabilitation, risk, and resettlement, and consider how criminal justice practices can promote or obstruct desistance. Drawing on contemporary research, real-world examples, and international perspectives, the module challenges students to think creatively and critically about what it means to support life after crime and criminal justice.
Surveillance and the Law
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module explores and evaluates the legal framework within which surveillance operates in the United Kingdom. Considering the role of surveillance in society, the relationship between surveillance, privacy rights and fair trial rights is evaluated with specific reference to data protection, interception of communications, directed and intrusive surveillance, official secrecy, the security and intelligence services and recent developments in relation to identity and identity theft. Plus the role and impact of social median the digital footprint we all leave behind.
Memory and the Nation
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Nationalist, ethnic, and minority issues remain a driving force behind political dynamics, societal and institutional changes across the globe. 'Memory and the Nation' is an optional module that explores the underlying concepts and theories behind, and the main theoretical approaches to, the study of nationalism in transitional (post conflict or post authoritarian societies) in the twentieth century.
Conflict Transformation and Peace
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
The purpose of this module is to provide students with an introductory grounding of the academic field of peace and conflict studies and the different approaches and interventions employed within it. Drawing on a range of international examples, students will gain an understanding of the various definitions and theoretical understandings of conflict, conflict transformation and peacebuilding and will develop a broad understanding of the various structural, economic, social and psychological impacts which require attention following violent conflict.
Politics of Deeply Divided Societies
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Few challenges in modern politics are as complex—or as compelling—as governing deeply divided societies marked by ethnic conflict and political violence. While each case is unique, such societies often face similar, high-stakes questions: Who holds power? How is identity shaped and contested? Can disputes over sovereignty and territory be resolved? Should the state even exist?
This module takes both a case study and comparative approach to these urgent issues, exploring the political dynamics and continuing challenges in some of the world's most divided regions. By the end of the module, students will not only understand core themes relating to deep division, national and ethnic identity, and potential constitutional and territorial remedies, but also develop the analytical skills to compare and critically assess conflicts across different contexts.
The Politics of Identity
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module focuses on the philosophical and empirical study of political groups that organise around a particular identity. It examines some of the major theoretical frameworks in contemporary political theory and applies these to concrete examples of identity group politics.
Crime and the Media
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Crime and media explores the nature of media influence on crime, the criminal justice system and the role that the media plays in influencing the public's perception of crime and criminality. Specifically this module develops analytical and critical skills in exploring and understanding the conflicting and at times ambiguous relationship between crime and the media in the twenty first century.
Terrorism and Political Violence
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Since the late 1960s, acts of terrorism have become more numerous and wide-ranging. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001 and the following incidents elsewhere, notably in Madrid and London, have given impetus to the study of terrorism and political violence, not in only in academic circles but also amongst policy-makers. Furthermore, there is a more heightened awareness in the general public about the `war against terrorism'. The module involves consideration of the debate over the definition of terrorism and political violence; psychological, sociological and other social science theories of terrorism and political violence; the symbiotic relationship between terrorists, terrorism and the mass media; the character of state terrorism; trans-national and international terrorism including past trends and future prospects and single-issue terrorism. The module also examines and assesses counter-terrorism (police, intelligence and legal) measures/responses by the state, both for their effectiveness and for their implications for civil liberty in liberal-democracies.
Psychology and Crime
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
Crime and criminal justice as well as issues of law and order remain topical in contemporary society. This module will provide students a unique opportunity to investigate the workings of the criminal mind and what motivates an individual to commit crime. This module aims to introduce students to the principal theories and applications of psychology within the field of criminology. It enables students to develop a critical understanding of how psychological theory is applied to various criminological settings, which include youth crime; weapon carrying; arson and sexual crimes; psychopaths and serial killers, and criminal profiling.
Green Criminology and Environmental Crime
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module offers students the opportunity to study contemporary issues in criminology, with particular reference to green criminology, environmental crime and justice. It provides the opportunity to understand the nature of how crime is defined and considered outside of academia. It looks at real world issues and discusses the various, and at times, conflicting approaches undertaken by criminologists. Students are encouraged to critically evaluate criminological evidence and to make links with criminological theory and issues raised.
Global Crime
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module examines the various criminal dimensions of contemporary globalisation, their
global extent and significance and the roles they play in shaping the socio-economic
conditions and development trajectories of key global regions. It also considers various responses to global crime and evaluates their success as well as exploring the relationship between global crime and
popular culture. Students will understand issues relating to a) Spatial and temporal patterns of global crime; b) the link between different forms of organised crime and globalisation; and c) the key critiques of crime control measures.
Migration, 'Race' and Ethnicity
Status: O
Year: 4
This module is optional
This module introduces students to the sociology of migration, 'race' and ethnicity, with particular focus on the UK experience. It explores how international population movements and the global forces behind them continue to create the societies we have in the UK, Ireland the EU today. The module examines the origins and development of racism, incorporating human rights perspectives to explore how it has shaped, and continues to shape the nature of society. We look at the role 'race thinking' has played in the production of inequalities and exclusions, as well as engage with contemporary debates and theoretical advances, particularly in relation to antiracism, whiteness, antisemitism, Islamophobia, citizenship and multiculturalism. The module specifically examines the debates in the local Northern Ireland context with reference to specific groups: ethnic minorities, Travellers, immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
Optional Modules
Optional modules are reviewed on a Programme each year and we may change the options available to you, to reflect our staff expertise, changes in Programme requirements or to reflect feedback that we have received from other Students, employers or other interested parties.
If your Programme contains optional modules, you will be provided with a list of these in good time so that you can choose the options right for you each year. Sometimes, we may not be able to run a particular optional module because not enough Students sign up for it or because a member of staff is not available to teach a module. Where this may be the case, we will let you know when you are provided with your option choices, and you will be able to choose an alternative if one of your selected modules does not run.
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