Amplify your voice using the power of digital media
Taught 100% online, this flexible course offers you the opportunity to study Sussex’s Media, Ethics and Social Change MA from wherever you are in the world. Designed for professionals striving to progress their career and make a real impact, you’ll graduate with the confidence to lead change and challenge the status quo.
Course start dates:
There are six start dates every academic year, providing maximum flexibility for our students;
January | March | May | July | September | October
This course offers you the opportunity to engage with the ways in which digital media is both transforming the world and is a medium for transformation. It will teach you how to use digital media in a meaningful way to bring about positive change across various sectors.
A primary focus of the course is the exploration of digital media in the context of activism and social justice; how can media practice lead to social change? How can we engage in activism and achieve ethical citizenship through digital media?
You will study the intersection of three key phenomena in modern societies:
the desire for social change
the role in digital media in helping change to happen or preventing change from happening
the underlying ethical principles that guide our interactions with one another, the larger world, and the digital technologies.
Interdisciplinarity has always been a fundamental component of a Sussex degree. The course provides both theoretical concepts and practical training for the development of media content from an interdisciplinary perspective. This involves analysing perspectives taken from media theory, sociology, journalism studies and ethics and equips you with the tools to understand the impact of media content in many different contexts.
Through the modules, you will explore a number of complex issues including the ethics of big data and algorithmic research, technological embodiment of gender and sexuality, debates on race in the media, and the assessment of the material effects of the climate crisis on the media industry.
On completion of the course, you will have a comprehensive toolkit in media theory and practice and be confident in;
critical research skills
PR campaign planning and execution
media production for specific outcomes
your awareness of new technologies shaping current digital media
media asset development
the analysis of digital data from sources such as Twitter and Facebook
the representation of the climate crisis in film and media
the development of awareness and strategies to counter unethical practices enabled by digital media
participatory journalism: rather than creating content yourself, you will learn how to utilise content from a group in your community.
Course fees
Fees are charged on a modular basis with each module costing £980*.
The full course fee is £11,750*.
Tuition fees may be subject to an annual increase each academic year in line with the University of Sussex’s terms and conditions. Increases will come into effect in September of each year.
*subject to rounding for administration purposes
Why study online?
Benefit from studying at one of the world’s leading universities for Energy Policy research from wherever you are in the world.
Learn within a global classroom, with students joining us from over 100 countries.
Gain your Masters without taking time away from your professional and personal commitments.
Flexibility to suit you; with modules starting every two months, if you need to ‘step-off’ the course for any reason, you can and join again when your time allows.
Specially designed Virtual Learning Environment, accessible 24hrs a day, 365 days a year, all you need is an internet connection.