Bachelor in Liberal Arts

Liberal Arts at Queen's is a unique, exciting and challenging programme that will allow students to immerse themselves in the study of arts and humanities subjects that are vital to understanding our twenty-first-century world. Through innovative disciplinary as well as an interdisciplinary study, students explore a range of contemporary issues within a programme that allows students the flexibility to pursue an emphasis on discipline specialism or in broader, thematic interests that are cross-disciplinary in nature.

Liberal Arts Degree Highlights

Liberal Arts at Queen's builds on the strengths of the multiple disciplines of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty, which has an extraordinary heritage as represented by its globally esteemed writers such as Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney.

Internationally Renowned Experts

In Politics, Professor David Phinnemore is an expert on EU Treaty reform and EU enlargement, which led to his secondment as an advisor to the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The fallout of the 2016 EU Referendum in the UK positions Professor Phinnemore at the centre of ongoing debates about 'Brexit' and its impact on the EU, Northern Ireland, and UK relations.

Professor Beverley Milton Edwards has advised various governments in her role as an expert on the Middle East and is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Brooking Institution.

In Languages, Professor Isabel Torres was elected a 'miembro correspondiente extranjera de la Real Academia Espanola' ('International Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy') in 2016. Also, in 2016 Professor Janice Carruthers was appointed by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to a new Leadership Fellowship in Modern Languages.

In English, Dr Marilina Cesario is an expert on Anglo-Saxon science and collaborates widely with astrophysicists in reassessing our understanding of pre-modern scientific thinking.

Professor Philip McGowan is the President of the world's largest American Studies society, the European Association for American Studies (EAAS) and is the only non-US board member of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society.

Professor Glenn Patterson is the Rooney Prize and Betty Trask Prize-winning author of ten novels. He writes regularly for BBC Radio 3 and 4, The Guardian and has made a number of documentaries for Irish and British television. His co-authored screenplay for Good Vibrations was nominated for a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. He is the current Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre.

Professor Katy Hayward is a Senior Fellow of the ESRC-funded UK in a Changing Europe initiative, working full-time on the topic of Brexit and Northern Ireland/the Irish border. She is an Eisenhower Fellow (2019) and a Fellow in the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen's University. She is also a member of the Centre for International Borders Research and on the Steering Group of the Institute of Irish Studies in Queen's. Outside the University, she is a non-executive Board member of Conciliation Resources and the Centre for Cross Border Studies.

Student Experience

From Personal Tutors to peer mentoring, we work closely with students to ensure they are supported at every stage of their degree.

With Degree-Plus, students have the opportunity to burnish their academic achievements with employment-facing placements and projects.

A thriving cultural scene organised by our undergraduate and postgraduate communities, from the English Society and Poetry Proper to the Lifeboat and the Yellow Nib, makes studying at Queen's a unique proposition.

Students can work with our visiting Fulbright Scholars, leading US academics who spend a semester at Queen's every year, and, through the Heaney Centre, world-renowned and award-winning creative practitioners in the fields of poetry, prose and scriptwriting join us each year as Fellows of the Centre.

Welcome to the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast. We are a dynamic community of internationally acclaimed researchers, scholars and students who are committed to creating and sustaining a modern and meaningful place of connected learning. We are open to all talents, welcoming of challenge and change, and dedicated to using our subject expertise to make a difference in lives locally, nationally and internationally.

The Faculty has almost 10,500 students and over 700 academic and support staff who work in and across our five Schools – Arts, English and Languages; History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics; Law; Management; and Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, and in the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Our colleagues and students pursue a wide range of activities, including world-leading research and life-changing teaching. We hope that you want to be part of our work: we have nearly 150 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes as well as lots of challenging doctoral opportunities, so there is definitely something to suit your needs and ambition.

We are proud of the work of our students and staff, which has been recognised by many others for its quality and its commitment to work that makes. As a member of the Russell Group, Queen’s University Belfast is one of the UK’s 24 leading universities, providing students with a world-class education underpinned by world-class research. Queen’s is truly a global university, as our researchers work closely with more than 250 universities around the world and with even more businesses and agencies in Belfast and internationally. These networks and collaborations inform our programmes and offer great opportunities for students to learn with and from international peers and partners.

So, with a huge range of undergraduate and postgraduate opportunities, as well as a vibrant postgraduate research culture, I know that you will find that Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast will challenge and inspire you, as well as equip you with the first-class skills and knowledge to excel in your chosen career.

Nola Hewitt-Dundas Pro-Vice-Chancellor

An Intellectual Powerhouse

Spanning everything from traditional humanities and social science subjects to cutting-edge areas in Creative Arts and applied professional studies.

Over 40 per cent of our research is ranked in the top 25 per cent for its respective subject area, with a further 40 per cent in the top 50 per cent nationally.

A Collaborative Culture

Our interdisciplinary environment allows students from all fields the opportunity to interact with academic leaders and participate in their research.

Areas of notable excellence include Creative Writing, Sonic Arts, Global Financial Markets, Children’s Well-being, Poverty and Social Exclusion, Translation and Interpreting and Shared Education.