Everything you need to know...
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What is the fee?
Home: See fees section below
International/EU: £17,155 per year -
How long will I study?
3 / 4 Years
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Where will I study?
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What are the entry requirements?
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What is the UCAS code?
M931
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When do I start?
September 2025
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Placement year available?
Yes
Where will I study?
1. Course summary
- Experience award-winning teaching recognised by the British Society of Criminology.
- Gain experience at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice.
- Develop expertise in social justice, global human rights and criminal justice.
- Engage in ethical and social justice issues, driving positive social change and inclusivity.
Study theoretical, conceptual and practical applications of criminology in the real world, including how climate change relates to criminal behaviour and social justice. Engage in pioneering research in topics like prison reform and green criminology, exploring key debates around how to define, explain and respond to criminality – all preparing you for criminal and social justice roles.
Employability
100% of our graduates are in work or further study fifteen months after graduating (2021/22 Graduate Outcomes Survey).
Come to an open day
Visit us to learn more about our gold-rated teaching and why we were awarded the highest possible rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework.
2. How you learn
Our courses are designed around a set of key principles based on engaging you with the world, collaborating with others, challenging you to think in new ways, and providing you with a supportive environment in which you can thrive.
Many of our criminology experts come from professional practice, including prisons, probation and the police. Others are actively involved in current criminological research, providing you with contemporary research-led teaching and delivering real-world impact.
You’ll also engage with external partners and practitioners, gaining the contemporary knowledge, skills and attributes you’ll need for a professional career in the criminal justice or social justice sector. Our goal is to prepare you for further professional training or equivalent pursuits.
You learn through:
- Face-to-face lectures and seminars
- Online lectures and seminars
- Independent learning
- Student-led collaborative learning
- Practice-based learning
- Independent research
Key Themes
You’ll focus on key foundational areas such as the criminal justice system, human rights and values, and social science research methods. Through these you’ll build specialist knowledge of the causes and consequences of crime and deviance within a social, political and international context.
Our course is closely linked to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice. Our teaching directly addresses ethical and social justice issues concerning the inclusion and exclusion of various vulnerable groups – with an emphasis on promoting access to community resources.
Our curriculum integrates various opportunities for applied learning, drawing upon real-world sector contexts. You'll participate in an applied project to enhance your practical skills. These include student placement modules and activities with criminal justice and third sector agencies – as well as project work with external agencies, simulation modules, and voluntary work through our employability fair.
Course Support
At each level of the course you’ll be supported throughout your learning journey towards graduate level employment. This will include student support, academic support and employability support.
Course leaders and tutors
Jessica Jowers
Senior Lecturer in CriminologyStaff profile for Jessica Jowers, senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam
Applied learning
Your course has been designed to embrace real-world challenges and provide you with the practical skills and knowledge to be successful within your chosen sector.
Work Placements
You’ll have the opportunity to arrange a year-long work placement in between your second and third years. This gives you valuable work experience to prepare you for your future career – and allows you to graduate with an Applied Professional Diploma to add to your CV.
Previous students have completed placements for companies and organisations such as the Community Rehabilitation Company, HMP Doncaster, Independent Domestic Abuse Service and Victim Support.
International Opportunities
As our curriculum incorporates international perspectives throughout your degree, you'll develop into a globally aware and engaged practitioner.
You’ll also have the opportunity to study abroad at one of our partner institutions – learning about different cultures and learning styles, as well as travelling to new places and meeting new people.
Live Projects
You’ll engage in a range of live projects – working on behalf of real organisations. Previous student projects have included designing materials for hate crime awareness week for South Yorkshire Police, designing educational materials to help young people understand cybercrime on behalf of Victim Support, and researching the experiences of securing housing for those released from prison on behalf on NACRO (the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders).
We actively partner with employers and key stakeholders to provide you with diverse opportunities to create a positive impact on critical issues in our communities. These include support for young people, collaboration with prison-related organisations, involvement in community justice initiatives, engagement with substance misuse services, women's services, accommodation support, and victim services.
Networking Opportunities
Our course benefits from close ties with the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, ensuring a curriculum that addresses ethical and social justice issues related to social inclusion and exclusion. We focus on promoting social access to community resources, particularly for vulnerable groups.
Through our connections, you'll develop vital networks and contacts in the field of criminology, preparing you for a meaningful and impactful career.
3. Future careers
This course prepares you for a career in:
- Citizens advice work
- Community liaison work
- Drug and alcohol services
- Police services
- Probation services
- Prison services
- Social research
- Victim support work
- Youth work
Previous graduates of this course have gone on to work for:
- His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service
- The Magistrates Court
- The Ministry of Justice
- The Police
- Sheffield Hallam University
4. Where will I study?
You study at City Campus through a structured mix of lectures, seminars and practical sessions as well as access to digital and online resources to support your learning.
City Campus
City Campus is located in the heart of Sheffield, within minutes of the train and bus stations.
City Campus map | City Campus tour
Adsetts library
Adsetts Library is located on our City Campus. It's open 24 hours a day, every day.
Learn more5. Equipment and facilities
Most of our teaching is conducted in dedicated lecture studios, small teaching rooms and computer labs.
You’ll work with:
- Innovative digital teaching and learning platforms and apps
- Specialist software
- Data analysis packages
- Data collection tools
We’ve invested over £100 million in new facilities to help you study how and when you want. This means 24-hour libraries and study spaces designed by our students.
6. Entry requirements
All students
UCAS points
- 112-120
This must include at least two A levels or equivalent BTEC National qualifications. For example:
- BBC-BBB at A Level.
- DDM in BTEC Extended Diploma.
- Merit overall from a T level Qualification
- A combination of qualifications, which may include up to two AS Levels, EPQ and general studies.
You can find information on making sense of UCAS tariff points here and use the UCAS tariff calculator to work out your points.
GCSE
- English Language or or English Literature at grade C or 4
- Mathematics at grade C or 4
• Access - at least 45 credits at level 3 and 15 credits at level 2 from a relevant Open College Network accredited course
• Grade B from CACHE Level 3 Extended Diploma.
If English is not your first language, you will need an IELTS score of 6.5 with a minimum of 6.5 in both reading and writing and 5.5 in all other skills, or equivalent
We consider other qualifications from the UCAS tariff. Applicants with alternative qualifications or a combination of qualifications and work experience are also considered. We welcome applications from people of any age. Please contact us for further advice.
Meeting the qualifications on the entry criteria does not guarantee you a place. You should ensure that you submit a personal statement and reference as these are considered as part of the selection process. Guidelines on personal statements and references can be found on the UCAS website.
Additional information for EU/International students
If you are an International or non-UK European student, you can find out more about the country specific qualifications we accept on our international qualifications page.
For details of English language entry requirements (IELTS), please see the information for 'All students'.
Modules
Important notice: The structure of this course is periodically reviewed and enhanced to provide the best possible learning experience for our students and ensure ongoing compliance with any professional, statutory and regulatory body standards. Module structure, content, delivery and assessment may change, but we expect the focus of the course and the learning outcomes to remain as described above. Following any changes, updated module information will be published on this page.
You will be able to complete a placement year as part of this course. See the modules table below for further information.
Compulsory modules
This module provides foundational knowledge and understanding of the study of criminology and the criminal justice system. You’ll study topics such as:
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Contemporary criminological topics, debates, concepts and perspectives
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Ethical notions of justice, exclusion, stigmatisation and disparity of outcomes
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Expression of ideas and understanding of the criminological field
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A Curriculum Integrated Employability (CIE) assessment opportunity
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Fundraising as a graduate skill for criminal justice settings. Providing a co-curricular activity engagement portfolio of activities
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Critical reflection on values and positionality
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Equity accomplice training.
This module applies disciplinary understandings and introduces research methods.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Criminalisation, victimisation, responses and policy development
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Human rights, social justice, penal policy and crime in a global context
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Applications in practice via criminological research techniques
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A virtual international Curriculum Informed Employability (CIE) opportunity
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Enhancement of key transferable global skills
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Critical reflection to form of an action plan for L5 study aspirations
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Research-based co-curricular engagement activities
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International study funding application enhancing L5 study opportunities
Compulsory modules
This module enables you to understand and analyse intersecting social inequalities within the study of criminology – including research design and planning, methods and analysis
You’ll study topics such as:
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Criminological concerns in social, geographical and historical contexts
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Applying theory to real-world criminological issues and social harm
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Creating research questions and project planning
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The politics of knowledge production
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Challenging dominant research paradigms, ethics and positionality
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Quantitative and qualitative approaches
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Research design, data collection and analysis
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Implications of methodological decisions
Elective modules
This module is an opportunity to work in a relevant environment, fully engaging with the specific agency, organisation or provider to develop your skills, knowledge and values. You’ll be supported with on-campus and online teaching while spending a portion of the week with a relevant provider in a physical or virtual workplace setting – a placement we can provide or you can self-source (with agreement).
You’ll apply learning and skills such as:
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Application and interview for selection
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Risk assessment and potentially DBS
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Placement support and reflection
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Contextualising your placement experience
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Professionalism and career planning
This module engages you with workplace and work-related activities determined by external clients – you’ll get to explore your personal values and reflect on your skills while enhancing your knowledge of the workplace. You’ll collaborate to develop your graduate employability skills for career readiness and research skills for onward study, with learning support in on-campus and online lectures and seminars.
You’ll apply your learning and skills to:
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Experiential learning activities and careers skills
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Topics and experiences relevant to your aspirations
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Commercial awareness
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Career readiness and management
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Digital and research skills
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Graduate attributes, job applications and reflective thinking
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An end-of-year conference event
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Social enterprise and activism
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Applied projects and project management
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Social research methods and simulation
This module is for undergraduate students to study abroad in their second year, Semester 2 (only for courses that offer this option). With this module, you can spend a semester at one of the University’s approved partner institutions worldwide – from Europe to the Americas, Asia Australia or Canada.
Study Abroad plays an important role in the University's commitment to an engaging, challenging, and thriving learning culture. It offers opportunities to experience other academic cultures and foster intellectual maturity while enhancing co-curricular skills and students' long-term employability.
Study abroad for credit is permitted on existing university-approved courses only. Students are awarded credits and grades at the partner institution, which are converted into Sheffield Hallam credits and grades on return and included in the Sheffield Hallam degree classification.
Please check and refer to the webpage How study abroad works. You must submit a Learning Agreement outlining the modules you will be taking at the partner institution. The Learning Agreement will be signed off by your academic tutor to ensure that the Learning broadly covers the Learning Outcomes set out in your course curriculum during your study abroad.
Optional modules
Module aim:
The aim of this module is to enhance students’ professional development through the completion of and reflection on meaningful work placement(s).
A work placement will provide students with opportunities to experience the realities of professional employment and experience how their course can be applied within their chosen industry setting. The placement will:
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Allow student to apply the skills, theories and behaviours relevant and in addition to their course
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Enable students to enhance their interpersonal skills in demand by graduate employers – communication, problem solving, creativity, resilience, team work etc.
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Grow their student network and relationship building skills.
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Provide student with insights into the industry and sector in which their placement occurs
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Help student make informed graduate careers choices.
Indicative Content:
In this module students undertake a sandwich placement (min 24 weeks / min 21 hours per week) which is integrated, assessed and aligned to their studies.
Their personal Placement Academic Supervisor (PAS) will be their key point of contact during their placement and will encourage and support students to reflect on their experience, learning and contribution to the organisation they work for.
To demonstrate gains in professional development, students will be required to share their progress, learning and achievements with their Placement Academic Supervisor and reflect on these for the summative piece of work.
Elective modules
This module develops specialised knowledge and a critical understanding of global and human security, including our responses to 21st century threats and crimes – with a strong emphasis on the meanings and salience of race, colonialism, decolonisation and justice.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Ongoing colonial crimes and 21st century threats
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Climate crime
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Migration and displacement
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Racial capitalism
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Digital poverty
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Forced digitalisation
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The criminality of security issues
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The coloniality of knowledge
You’ll develop critical abilities and awareness of comparative criminal justice – looking at how criminal justice is ‘done’ in different jurisdictions, engaging with comparative research designs, and critically unpicking research from multiple jurisdictions.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Critical research skills
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Global awareness
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Comparing and contrasting crime
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Social context and responses to crime internationally
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Theories of policy transfer
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The impact of global politics on criminal justice
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Ethnocentrism, relativism and colonialism
This module highlights controversial policing policies and practices which operate in ways that marginalise a range of population groups. We’ll explore social-control themes of plural policing, legitimacy, compliance and punishment through policing on an international scale.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Policing sub-criminal behaviour
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Stop and search
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Policing protest
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Surveillance networks
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Policing vulnerabilities
This module explores and interrogates concepts of crime, harm and justice – critically considering how actions of states and corporations can cause harm in developed and developing countries, and how these actions are regulated and resisted.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Harms online
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Migration
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Environmental harm
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Surveillance
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The intersections of harm
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Interconnections between differing spatial scales
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Power and discourse
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State-corporate crime
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Green criminology
This module examines contemporary gendered injustices and critically considers how the state defines, controls and responds to harms – in both public and private – through complex social structures that serve to (re)produce and maintain them.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Gender and feminist epistemologies
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Women’s experiences and treatment in the criminal justice system
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The intersections of gender, ‘race’ and class
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Sex work and the regulation of femininity
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Violence and the British asylum system
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‘Honour’-based violence
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Policing women and social protest
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State and media construction of gendered and racialised ‘others’
This module explores desistance and recovery from crime, drugs, gambling, pornography and other related harms – locally and globally. We’ll address the stigma and exclusion of these cohorts within criminal justice, penal welfare organisations and the community.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Concepts and practices of desistance and recovery
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Policies and systems of rehabilitation and treatment
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Discrimination and pathways to desistance and recovery
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Local, indigenous, and international contexts for policy change
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Methodological and practice issues in undergraduate student research
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An analysis of working in the field
This module develops your understanding of criminal justice practice in prisons, probation and youth justice across international contexts – critically examining the impact of punishment on people in the system through the lenses of human rights, occupational culture, practice paradigms, privatisation and wider political contexts. You’ll also explore diversity and intersectionality – from gender/sex to race, ethnicity and age.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Sentencing, legitimacy and compliance
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Effectiveness
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Discretion
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Physical and mental health
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Drugs and alcohol
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Role of 3rd sector
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Lived experience
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Place and space
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Intervention skills
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Media depictions
This module extends your knowledge of real-world problems to an organisation that helps you relate theoretical, research or policy frameworks to practical challenges – locally, nationally and globally. We’ll integrate reflective practice in lectures and interactive workshops, focusing on personal and professional development beyond the university.
You’ll apply learning and skills to:
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Identify real-world problems
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Establish a project question in collaboration with a relevant organisation
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Identify ethics
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Address equality, diversity and inclusion issues
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Evaluate responses
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Provide solutions using academic and experiential knowledge
This module uses your research skills and expands your graduate attributes – You’ll get to design and conduct a research project on a criminological, psychological or sociological topic. You’ll be supported to reflecting on your personal and professional development in relation to your future employment plans.
You’ll apply learning and skills to:
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Enhance the field of study through real-world problem solving
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Develop a research question, strategy and design
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Identify philosophical and ethical underpinnings
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Explore relevant theory and policy
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Generate and analyse appropriate data
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Develop critical reflection
This module develops your critical knowledge and understanding of issues, definitions and arguments concerning sex, gender and violence – debating issues underpinned by the contestable relations between sex, gender, violence, power and the body on local, national and global levels. We’ll also explore the impacts of culture and human rights with regard to policy and practice.
You’ll study topics such as:
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Sex, sexuality and gender definitions and debates
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Masculinities theories of crime
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Feminist theories
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Intersectionality
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Gender-based violence and domestic abuse
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Interpersonal violence
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State, institutional and structural violence
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Online violence
8. Fees and funding
Home students
Our tuition fee for UK students on full-time undergraduate courses in 2025/26 is £9,535 per year (capped at a maximum of 20% of this during your placement year). These fees are regulated by the UK government and therefore subject to change in future years.
If you are studying an undergraduate course, postgraduate pre-registration course or postgraduate research course over more than one academic year then your tuition fees may increase in subsequent years in line with Government regulations or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) published fees. More information can be found in our terms and conditions under student fees regulations.
International students
Our tuition fee for International/EU students starting full-time study in 2025/26 is £17,155 per year (capped at a maximum of 20% of this during your placement year)
Financial support for home/EU students
How tuition fees work, student loans and other financial support available.
Additional course costs
The links below allow you to view estimated general course additional costs, as well as costs associated with key activities on specific courses. These are estimates and are intended only as an indication of potential additional expenses. Actual costs can vary greatly depending on the choices you make during your course.
General course additional costs
Additional costs for Sheffield Institute of Law and Justice (PDF, 141.3KB)Legal information
Any offer of a place to study is subject to your acceptance of the University’s Terms and Conditions and Student Regulations.