Programme overview
Our MRes Socio-Legal Research has been developed to meet the research training requirements of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which is the main funder of postgraduate research studentships in the UK. Only a handful of Law Schools in the UK offer ESRC recognised programmes in this field.
The Masters in Socio-Legal Research at Exeter is a research training Masters programme which
- provides rigorous training in socio-legal research skills for law and social science graduates
- is recognised as meeting the research training requirements of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) enabling applicants to apply for ESRC funding
- is excellent preparation for PhD research using legal and socio-legal methodology
- provides an excellent base to embark on a career as a specialist socio-legal researcher
- is taught by experts in legal and socio-legal research
- provides students with excellent transferable skills.
This rigorous training in socio-legal research skills will provide an excellent basis if you wish to embark on either future doctoral research or a career as a specialist socio-legal researcher. The transferable skills you will develop through this programme are both valuable and in high demand as noted in a report of the Nuffield Inquiry into Empirical Research in Law:
We are now taking applications for this programme.
The work of empirical legal researchers since the last third of the 20th century has provided Government, the judiciary, law reform bodies, regulatory bodies, universities, social and economic institutions of all kinds with vital insights into how the law works in the real world. Empirical legal research is valuable in revealing and explaining the practices and procedures of legal dispute resolution systems and the impact of legal phenomena on a range of social institutions on business and on citizens. 1
There is now an increasing demand for research on how law works:
- From government departments, Parliament and its select committees to inform policy-making and evaluate legislative change;
- From business and NGOs for evidence about the operation and impact of regulation;
- From the judiciary, practitioners and legal scholars for evidence that enriches the study and practice of law and the development of doctrine;
- From voluntary sector bodies and others who want to understand how laws may be improved to better meet the needs of ordinary citizens. 2
Like all postgraduate Law students at the University of Exeter, you will have the opportunity to go on a study tour to see at first hand the workings of the institutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe. You will also have the opportunity to attend an accompanied study tour to the United Nations in Geneva as part of the International Human Rights Law module, which provides an invaluable chance to see the workings of various UN-committee sessions.
Philip Bremner, M Res in Socio-Legal Research Student
"Having done an LLB and LLM at the University of Aberdeen, I came to realise that I was interested in the socio-legal implications of law rather than just the black-letter law. I wanted to do an inter-disciplinary PhD that involved applying methods and theory from the social sciences to my main research interest, Family Law. Fortunately I received ESRC funding to undertake the MRes in Socio-Legal Research at Exeter followed by the PhD and the MRes research-training masters is exposing me to new ways of looking at the law as well a solid grounding in the various methods of empirical data collection and analysis that will be invaluable during my PhD."
1Genn, H. Partington, M. & Wheeler, S., 2006. Law In The Real World: Improving Our Understanding of How Law Works; Final Report and Recommendations. The Nuffield Inquiry on Empirical Legal Research. London: Nuffield Foundation. p1
2Genn, H. Partington, M. & Wheeler, S., 2006. Law In The Real World: Improving Our Understanding of How Law Works, Report Summary. The Nuffield Inquiry on Empirical Legal Research. London: Nuffield Foundation. p1
