Dr Mahvish Ahmad

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Human Rights and Politics. This course is not available as an outside option.

The dissertation provides you with an opportunity to develop an independent research question tackling a conceptual or empirical predicament that you are grappling with within the broad field of human rights and politics. Dissertation workshops aim to support your development as a thinker and researcher who produces an independent piece of writing. Workshops will help you to begin the process of writing your dissertation, develop your ideas further, and learn about a range of research methods and techniques. They will run alongside individual meetings with your dissertation supervisor.

During Autumn Term, a set of extended lectures aim to get students thinking about research on human rights and politics, starting with how to identify a strong research problem. In Winter Term and Spring Term, dissertation workshops will cover a range of topics, including the structure of a dissertation, ethical and practical challenges in research, refining your research problem, deciding on research methods, analysing data, and writing the dissertation.  The workshops aim to give tailored guidance on proposed research questions in small groups with fellow students who are working on similar topics. The MSc in Human Rights and Politics takes a pluralist approach towards topics, concepts and research methods and does not seek to prescribe any particular areas of research, theories or methods.

2 hours of lectures in the AT. 3 hours of seminars in the WT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.

These seminars are for students on the MSc Human Rights and Politics only.

In addition to the above teaching, there will be two sessions during AT for ALL MSc students based in the Sociology department. These will be offered in conjunction with LSE Life and LSE Library and provide basic guidance about planning your dissertation, such as selecting a suitable topic, designing the research, and reviewing the existing literature.

Students will be required to submit a provisional dissertation title in AT, plus an extended dissertation statement in WT.

Seale, C. (2018), Researching Society and Culture (Fourth Edition), Sage.

Cerwonka, Allaine & Liisa H. Malkki. 2007. Improvising Theory: Process and Temporality in Ethnographic Fieldwork. Chicago University Press.

Small, Mario Luis & Jessica McCrory Calarco. 2022. Qualitative Literacy: A Guide to Evaluating Ethnographic and Interview Research. University of California Press.

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies. Zed Books.

Dissertation (100%, 10000 words) in August.

An electronic copy of the dissertation, to be uploaded to Moodle, no later than 4.00pm on Thursday 14th of August 2025.

Dissertations may be up to and no more than 10,000 words, must be word-processed and be fully referenced using a recognised citation system.

Attendance at all workshops and submission of all set coursework is required.