Study options
- Starting in
- September 2025
- Location
- Whitechapel
- Fees
- Home: £12,250
Overseas: £25,500
EU/EEA/Swiss students
What you'll study
This MRes gives you a sophisticated understanding of the impact of socio-cultural factors on mental health, mental illness and healthcare. It will enable you to work in a research or mental health care role in a multicultural setting, both here in the UK and abroad.
You’ll have a global perspective on mental health, including recognition of the importance and challenges in working with culturally-diverse populations, as well as approaches and practices relevant to addressing these challenges.
You’ll examine how cultural factors such as belief systems, values, practices and traditions can affect an individual’s mental health risk – and their resilience. You’ll also look at how migration, race and other cultural phenomena intersect to create mental health challenges and how these can be addressed in direct clinical practice and health care systems.
You’ll gain the expertise to assess mental health problems and understand their origins and how to help recovery.
You’ll also learn about research methods in social sciences, and undertake an original research project.
By the time you complete the programme, you’ll be a skilled communicator, adept at expressing your ideas in spoken or written form.
Please note the application deadline for LISS DTP studentships is Friday 26 January 2024. These provide full-time students with a stipend of £19,668 per annum, and their fees paid. Fees for International students may not be paid in full. Additional funding for research costs of around £750 per annum is also available.
Structure
- Four compulsory modules
- Dissertation
Compulsory/Core modules
The module provides you with advanced research skills, including the ability to select and use relevant resources effectively and to devise research questions appropriate for postgraduate research. You will develop the capacity to undertake independent guided research at postgraduate level.
This module teaches you to use advanced quantitative skills appropriate for postgraduate research. Further, you will be able to analyse, interpret, critique and replicate published research using quantitative research methods and will acquire sufficient technical competence using SPSS to perform a range of quantitative techniques in your own research.
This module will discuss the key issues in the transcultural psychiatry. The topics will include differences in clinical manifestation of mental disorders across cultural, challenges of diagnosis in a multicultural environment, specific needs of ethnic minorities in terms of care and treatment. The students will be encouraged to reflect on the impact of cultural context on the development and treatment of mental disorders. The impact of migration on mental health will also be covered.
The module will familiarize the students with basic concepts in mental health. The participants will learn about the modern definitions and classifications of mental disorders, as well as some methods of treatment. Several types of mental disorders, including personality disorders and psychosis, will be discussed in detail. The module will also cover epidemiology of mental disorders in diverse populations and ways of assessing and treating psychological problems in various populations.
In this module, students will work on a piece of independently produced research relevant to their pathway, which can be clinical (based on clinical work), empirical (based on new research data) or synthetic (an evidence synthesis). Students will be assisted in topic choice and guided through the process by a personal tutor but will be expected to collect data themselves, or organise access to it, and write the thesis independently. Topics will be identified in consultation with potential supervisors draft from QMUL academic staff involved with the programme, and a topic list will be made available in Semester 1. Students will be asked to select three potential topics (with identified supervisors) and the module organiser will endeavour to facilitate students' first or second choices. Some topics may be broad enough to accommodate more than one student at a time.ussed.
Assessment
- 67% Modules
- 33% Dissertation
Dissertation
You will also be assessed on a supervised 10,000-15,000-word dissertation. Recent titles include:
- Exploring the impact of cultural contexts on emotional regulation in adults in the United States
- Perceptions of traditional healers and healthcare professionals towards collaborative mental healthcare in low and middle-income countries
Teaching
Teaching for this MRes takes place on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons.
You’ll be taught through a mix of formal lectures and small group seminars. The seminars may involve student presentations, workshops, group exercises and role-play.
We take pride in the close and friendly working relationship we have with our students. You’ll be assigned an Academic Adviser, who will guide you in both academic and pastoral matters throughout your time at Queen Mary.
Where you'll learn
Facilities
- Access to Queen Mary’s comprehensive libraries, including the Postgraduate Reading Room
- Access to the large medical and dental archives at The Royal London and at Barts
- Mentors for non-programme related support, including careers advice
Campus
You’ll be based at our Whitechapel campus, the main home of Queen Mary University of London's Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, close to The Royal London Hospital. Whitechapel is a vibrant area, famous for its street market, variety of curry houses and the Whitechapel Gallery. The campus has its own library, state-of-the-art labs at the Blizard Institute and a Students Union with a cafe, bar, computers and bookshop. You can also use all the facilities at the Mile End campus, which is ten minutes up the road.
Queen Mary University of London’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry's fantastic locations in both east and central London also mean that you will develop your clinical skills and knowledge within a diverse local community.
We’re proud to work closely with linked NHS hospital trusts including Barts Health, Homerton, Newham, Whipps Cross and Queens’ (Romford).
We bring research, teaching and practice together, to create an exceptionally wide-ranging, inspiring clinical environment in which you’ll study.
About the Institute
Wolfson Institute of Population Health
This course is based at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, which delivers internationally recognised research and teaching in population health. The Wolfson Institute is a part of Queen Mary University of London’s faculty of medicine and dentistry.
The work of our researchers and educators has had a significant impact on lives across the world. We provide integrated teaching and training opportunities delivered by leaders in the field. By sharing knowledge and pushing the boundaries of research, we will continue to advance population health and preventive medicine on a global scale.
Queen Mary is a member of the Russell Group of leading research universities in the UK and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry proudly holds an Athena Swan Gold Award in recognition of our commitment to gender equality.
Career paths
This programme gives you a range of career options. It is ideal if you want to go on to further doctoral research training through the LISS DTP Programme.
It is also tailored to people who want careers in research and clinical practice worldwide, as well as those already working in this area.
- 92% of Institute postgraduate taught graduates are in employment or further study 15 months after graduation (2020/21)
- 84% of Institute postgraduate taught graduates are in highly skilled work or graduate study (2020/21)
Fees and funding
Full-time study
September 2025 | 1 year
- Home: £12,250
- Overseas: £25,500
EU/EEA/Swiss students
Unconditional deposit
Home: Not applicable
Overseas: £2000
Information about deposits
Queen Mary alumni can get a £1000, 10% or 20% discount on their fees depending on the programme of study. Find out more about the Alumni Loyalty Award
Funding
There are a number of ways you can fund your postgraduate degree.
- Scholarships and bursaries
- Postgraduate loans (UK students)
- Country-specific scholarships for international students
Our Advice and Counselling service offers specialist support on financial issues, which you can access as soon as you apply for a place at Queen Mary. Before you apply, you can access our funding guides and advice on managing your money:
Entry requirements
UK
Degree requirements
A degree at undergraduate level in a relevant subject. A professional qualification and at least one year experience working in a related area will also be considered.
Additional information
Applicants must be accepted onto the ESRC Doctoral Training Programme based at Queen Mary.
Find out more about how to apply for our postgraduate taught courses.
International
English language requirements
The English language requirements for our programmes are indicated by English bands, and therefore the specific test and score acceptable is based on the band assigned to the academic department within which your chosen course of study is administered. Note that for some academic departments there are programmes with non-standard English language requirements.
The English Language requirements for entry to postgraduate taught and research programmes in the Wolfson Institute falls within the following English band:
Band 4: IELTS (Academic) minimum score 6.5 overall with 6.0 in each of Writing, Listening, Reading and Speaking
We accept a range of English tests and qualifications categorised in our English bands for you to demonstrate your level of English Language proficiency. See all accepted English tests that we deem equivalent to these IELTS scores.
Visas and immigration
Find out how to apply for a student visa.