Welcome to IFSH: New group of students has started the MPS programme

In mid-October, the 22nd cohort of Peace and Security Studies MA students started their studies: 26 young women and men from Germany, Australia and the Ukraine will now gain scientific and practical insights into peace research and security studies in four or two semesters respectively.

Prof. Dr Ursula Schröder, Director of the IFSH and of the Master’s programme, welcomed the students and stressed the topicality of the programme considering the events in Middle East. “It’s our job to make a critical and peace-oriented contribution to the debate, to analyse events and to set them in context”, explained Ursula Schröder. The Master’s programme prepares for this and equips the students with the skills for such analyses.

In their first week of study, the students took part in the so-called orientation unit, in which the partner institutes of the cooperation network KoFrieS and the Alumni Association introduced themselves. The students also joined a campus tour at the University of Hamburg. In the next weeks and months, the students will attend interdisciplinary seminars and lectures. In addition, there will also be an excursion to Berlin, during which the master students will visit various governmental and civil society institutions as well as think tanks.

In 2002, the IFSH was the first institute to introduce a study programme in the field of conflict research. In either two or four semesters, students who have already completed a degree acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about peace research and security policy.

The Master programme is unique because of its interdisciplinary and international nature. The programme is supported by a large number of faculties and institutes of the cooperation network KoFrieS and the graduates are highly sought-after professionals.

Are you interested in peace research and security policy and how these are connected? Would you like to learn more about strategies to prevent or reduce violent conflicts and what conclusion policy-makers should draw from it? Do you have practical experiences and would like to deepen your knowledge? Join our programme and apply for the 23rd year 2024/25.