Humanities and Social Sciences
Matthew Hilton, Vice-Principal (Humanities and Social Sciences)
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) has played a key role in the success of Queen Mary University of London over the past ten years. HSS has combined research excellence with a strong commitment to growth, innovation and diversity in its educational activities. Public engagement, partnerships, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the generation of research with broad and compelling public benefits have all been central to the Faculty’s work.
Our academic schools work together effectively, generating excellent research, teaching and learning opportunities across the humanities and social sciences. Altogether there are over 7,300 students and 660 staff across the Faculty, with many inter-departmental links.
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is marked by some outstanding successes – independently confirmed by impressive rankings. In the Guardian University Guide 2015, five disciplines in the Faculty were judged to be in the UK top ten. We offer degrees in a wide range of disciplines – from commercial law and politics, to film studies and literature.
Teaching and Learning
In the 2018 National Student Survey, 91% of our students felt staff were good at explaining things; this showcases our focus on delivering the highest quality of teaching within a diverse and inclusive environment.
Within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences we believe that collaborating with our students and working together as partners allows us to create an environment in which they can reach their full potential. We have invested in developing a wide range of modules linked to world-leading research to support our students in gaining a rich perspective.
Our students also made clear that they felt that teaching staff were available to them when needed, demonstrating how student experience and support is at the forefront of our delivery and teaching ethos.
For more information, see our Teaching Page.
Research
In the United Kingdom's last Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment of the quality of research (2014) the Faculty did exceptionally well, and contributed strongly to Queen Mary University of London's overall achievement, placing it in the top ten for research quality amongst multi-submission and multi-faculty universities in the UK. In the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Drama and Linguistics are each ranked first in the UK, while English is ranked fifth. A number of other research areas also were assessed as having very high-quality research publications and impact. More information about the Faculty performance in REF2014 can be found below:
HSS REF Strategy 2015 [PDF 1,896KB]
We also have an impressive track record of attracting funding. Our research grant funding is around £7 million annually, and more than £1million is invested in scholarships for research students. Most recently the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, along with seven other London HEIs, has secured funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) Doctoral Training Partnership. The LAHP will fully fund 90 PhD studentships per year over the next five years across the partner universities. QMUL has been an associate partner of the LAHP for the last four years.
To add to our recent success, we have been awarded the prestigious Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholarships ( QMUL-LTDS) programme on “Mobile People”. Co-directed by Professors Engin Isin and Kimberley Hutchings QMUL-LTDS will involve 21 PhD research projects (2018-2023) concerned with how the world is being dynamically constituted by mobile people in active and novel ways and how this affects fundamental social and political institutions.
Moreover, together with Kings College London and Imperial College, we are an accredited ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). The DTP funds over 50 students per year from 2017-18. We are expanding inter-disciplinary research activity through a Queen Mary Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS)which aspires to be an ideas generating hub for research across the Faculty.
For more information, see our Postgraduate and Research sections.
Humanities and Social Sciences Strategic Plan
HSS Strategy 2015-19 [PDF 697KB]
Faculty structure
Our schools and departments:
- School of Business and Management
- School of Economics and Finance
- School of English and Drama
- School of Geography
- School of History
- School of Languages, Linguistics and Film
- School of Law
- School of Politics and International Relations
Faculty staff
Vice-Principal and Executive Dean:
Professor Matthew Hilton
(PA to the Vice-Principal Dawn Cosford) vp-hss@qmul.ac.uk
Faculty Deans for Education:
Dr Colleen Cotter, Dean for Taught Programmes c.m.cotter@qmul.ac.uk
Christina Perry, Deputy Dean for Taught Programmes (Learning Resources and Engagement & Retention) c.perry@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Roberto Veneziani, Deputy Dean for Taught Programmes (International and Student Recruitment) r.veneziani@qmul.ac.uk
Faculty Deans for Research
Professor Adrian Smith, Dean for Research a.m.smith@qmul.ac.uk
Dr David Williams, Deputy Dean for Research (PGR) david.williams@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Tessa Wright, Deputy Dean for Research (Impact) t.wright@qmul.ac.uk
Faculty Professional Services Team
Dr Marta Timoncini, Faculty Operating Officer m.timoncini@qmul.ac.uk
Dr Lizzy Allman, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer l.allman@qmul.ac.uk
Sofia Cusano, Faculty Administrative Manager s.cusano@qmul.ac.uk
Lucie Langley, Faculty Education Manager l.langley@qmul.ac.uk
Will McAdam, Faculty Student Recruitment and Widening Participation Officer w.mcadam@qmul.ac.uk
Aurelija Povilaike, Faculty Research Manager a.povilaike@qmul.ac.uk
June Ryde, Faculty Administrative Officer j.ryde@qmul.ac.uk
