History postgraduate pre-arrival information

Your checklist

Explore the student handbook

The student handbook is designed to guide you through your time at Sheffield - from now until you graduate - we highly recommend that you take a look at the handbook before you arrive to find out more about your programme, how we can support you and the School community. 

Choose your modules

Online module selection (OMS) is now open. Please make sure to choose your modules before you arrive so you can complete registration and get ready to start your studies. You’ll find all of the information you need to choose your modules on our programme information site here.

Please note that you’ll need to be logged into your University account to access this site.

Complete your Digital Induction

My Digital Induction is a guide to the apps and software you will use at Sheffield. You should complete this before you arrive to make sure you know how to access everything you need. 

You will receive a lot of emails during your time at University, so it’s also important that you learn how to effectively manage your University inbox making sure that you don’t miss any important information. 

Read the welcome from your head of school

I'd like to welcome you to the School and wish you well as you join, or rejoin, our academic community. We're delighted that you are with us in Sheffield and we look forward to working with you both as you study on your programme and as you get involved in all that we have to offer beyond the lecture halls and seminar rooms. 

We're really keen that your views shape what we do, so please do get in touch if you'd like to give us your input on your experience. There are also plenty of people here to help if you have any questions or issues - their details are available in this handbook. Good luck with everything in the coming weeks, and I look forward to seeing many of you around the campus.

Professor Adrian Bingham

Head of School

Welcome to your new school

Welcome Week timetable

Our Welcome Week activities are a great way to meet your fellow students, and we strongly encourage your attendance.

Tuesday 23 September 2025

School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities Welcome Talk

Time: 3pm - 5pm
Location: Diamond Lecture Theatre 5
Campus maps

Wednesday 24 September 2025

Introduction to your programme followed by tea and biscuits

Time: 10am - 12pm
Location: See your timetable for location

Thursday 25 September 2025

Library and Digital Learning Welcome Talk

Time: 11am - 1pm
Location: Diamond, Lecture Theatre 5
Campus maps

Monday 29 September 2025

Meet your academic tutor

From Monday 29 September
See your timetable for exact time and location

There is also a programme of events run via the Students' Union. 

Useful information - Introductory reading

If you would like to prepare by doing some introductory reading for your MA programme helpful guidance is available below.

MA History

You don’t need to do any preparation for your modules ahead of arriving in Sheffield as there will be plenty of time for this as part of your welcome week activities. However, if you’d like to take a look at recommended reading for your preferred modules, you can find this on the individual module pages on our programme information site.

MA Archaeology & Heritage

The following list of books is offered as a guide to some reading you should consider as general background reading which you can explore both before you begin the programme and also return to dip into as the year progresses. We’re not expecting you to read all of these, think about the pathway you are following on the programme and then look at the ones that strike you as of most interest to you or which you think are particularly relevant to the subjects you are going to explore on your programme. 

Approaches to prehistoric and historic landscapes

• Bradley, R. 2000. The Archaeology of Natural Places. London: Routledge.
• Johnson, M. 2007. Ideas of Landscape. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Schama, S. 1995. Landscape and Memory. (Various versions and publishers.)
• Collections of essays on landscape archaeology and anthropology
• Ashmore, W and Knapp, A.B. (Eds) 1999. Archaeologies of Landscape. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Bender, B. & Winer, M. (Eds) 2001. Contested landscapes. Movement, exile and place. London: Routledge.

Techniques in landscape archaeology

• Bowden, M. (Ed.) 1999. Unravelling the Landscape: an inquisitive approach to archaeology. Stroud: Tempus.
• Chapman, H. 2006. Landscape Archaeology and GIS. Stroud: Tempus.
• French, C. 2015. A handbook of geoarchaeological approaches to settlement sites and landscapes. Oxford: Oxbow Books 

Conserving and interpreting the historic environment

• Grenville, J. (Ed.) 1999. Managing the Historic Rural Environment. London: Routledge.
• Fowler, P. 2004. Landscapes for the World: Conserving a Global Heritage. Macclesfield: Windgather Press.
• Historic England 2015 Facing the future: foresight and the Historic Environment. Swindon: Historic England

This offers an archaeological perspective on managing the Historic Environment in England…if you further explore the Historic England website there is a huge amount of other material (reports, guidance, policy, etc.) which can be downloaded free of charge.

Sheffield’s ‘local’ landscapes

• Barnatt, J. and Smith, K. 2004. Peak District Landscapes Through Time. Macclesfield: Windgather Press.
• Barnatt, J. 2019. Reading the Peak District landscape. Swindon: Historic England.

A general introduction to archaeological ‘thought’

• Johnson, M. 2019. Archaeological Theory: an introduction (3rd edition) London: John Wiley & Sons

Broader heritage issues…

• Akagawa, N. and Smith, L. 2019. Safeguarding Intangible Heritage. London: Routledge.
• Convery, I., Corsane, G. and Davis, P. (eds) 2014 Displaced Heritage: Dealing with Disaster and Suffering. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press
• Corsane, G. (ed.) 2005 Heritage, Museums and Galleries: An Introductory Reader. London: Routledge
• Harrison, R. et al. 2020 Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. London: UCL Press.

MA Cultural Heritage Management

These are short, selected lists of ebooks and texts that will be of use to you. However, the list is by no means exhaustive and students should not limit themselves to the texts below. The most up-to-date critical scholarship can be found in journals such as those listed below, and students should browse these journals.

Journal titles: 

• International Journal of Heritage Studies, Heritage and Society, Journal of Cultural Heritage, Journal of Heritage Tourism.

eBooks:

• Avrami, E. et al, 2019. Values in Heritage Management: Emerging Approaches and Research Directions. Los Angeles: Getty.
• Cameron, F. et al, 2007. Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: a Critical Discourse (Boston: MIT).
• Corsane, G., 2005. Heritage, Museums and Galleries: an introductory reader (London: Taylor and Francis).
• Di Giovine, M.A. 2009. The Heritage-scape: UNESCO, World Heritage and Tourism (New York: Lexington Books).
• Hall, S., 1999. Whose heritage? Unsettling ‘the heritage’, re-imagining the post-nation. Third Text 13:49, 3-13.
• Harrison, R., 2013. Heritage: Critical Approaches (London: Routledge).
• Harrison, R. et al, 2020. Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. UCL Press.
• Harrison, R. and C. Sterling, 2020. Deterritorializing the Future: Heritage in, and of and after the Anthropocene (London: Open Humanities Press).
• Howard, K., 2012. Music as Intangible Cultural Heritage: Policy, Ideology, and Practice in the Preservation of East Asian Tradition (London: Routledge).
• Lixinski, L., 2013. Intangible Cultural Heritage in International Law (Oxford: Oxford Scholarship).
• Lowenthal, D., 2015. The Past is a Foreign Country – Revisited (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
• Macdonald, S., 2008. A Companion to Museum Studies (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell).
• Muzaini, H. and C. Minca (eds), 2018. After Heritage: Critical Perspectives on Heritage from Below (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar).
• Parry, R., 2010. Museums in a Digital Age (London: Routledge).
• Sonoda, N., 2016. New Horizons for Asian Museums and Museology (Springer).
• Stig Sørensen, M.L. et al, 2009. Heritage Studies: Methods and Approaches (London: Taylor and Francis).
• Szczepanowska H.M., 2013. Conservation of Cultural Heritage: Key Principles and Approaches (London: Routledge).
• Trigger, B., 2014. A History of Archaeological Thought, 2nd ed. Cambridge: CUP.
• UNESCO Paper Series, [https://whc.unesco.org/en/series/]
• Waterton, E. and S. Watson (eds), 2015. The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research (Basingstoke: Palgrave).

Meet the School’s student experience team

We’re here to help throughout your studies - take a look at our student experience page to meet the team and find out where to go if you have questions or need to access support.

If you have any questions about modules, your timetable or any other part of welcome week, please do not hesitate to contact us at hpdh-studentenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk. 

Orientation events

Orientation Week is an optional programme of information sessions, social events and activities. It runs from 15th to 19th September and is a great way to start to get settled into life in Sheffield and the University ahead of welcome week. Find out more on the University webpages here. 

International Students

Arriving in Sheffield

You should arrive in Sheffield ahead of welcome week starting on 22 September. This gives you plenty of time to settle in, find out more about your course, meet other students across the School and explore Sheffield before teaching starts on the 29 September.

International student success programme

In preparation for arriving in the UK, you might like to take our International Student Success Programme, which is designed to equip international students with the knowledge, understanding and skills that are essential to prepare for and adjust to university study in the UK. 

The programme includes four modules focussed on preparing for student life in the UK; culture: adapting and managing expectations, effective communication and looking after yourself and finding support.

Contact us

If you have any questions about modules, your timetable or any other part of welcome week, please do not hesitate to contact us at hpdh-studentenquiries@sheffield.ac.uk.