University master's degrees

University Master's Degree in History of Science: History, Heritage and Scientific Communication

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An opportunity to explore the historical and social dimensions of science. We teach you how to carry out historical research and apply it to the professional fields of heritage and scientific communication

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  • Inter-University
  • Credits: 60 ECTS
  • Beginning of the pre-enrolment period 12/01/2026
    See the calendar
  • Places: 25 places
  • Price: €19.37 per credit (EU citizens and non-EU holding an EU residence permit). 2025/26 Academic year.
    €66 per credit (non-EU citizens who do not hold an EU residence permit). 2025/26 Academic year.
  • Language: Catalan (65%), Spanish (30%) and English (5%)
  • Mode: Classroom-based learning
  • Teaching centre: Faculty of Science

This interuniversity master’s degree in the History of Science: History, Heritage and Scientific Communication (UAB-UB-UPF-CSIC) is a pioneering master’s degree in this field. After twenty years of consolidated experience, a new curriculum will be introduced for the 2026-2027 academic year. The master’s degree explores the historical, social and cultural dimensions of science, technology and medicine. From multiple perspectives, including areas such as the environment, gender and coloniality, you will have the opportunity to gain rigorous knowledge about the mechanisms of the production and circulation of scientific knowledge.

This master’s degree, taught by a group of lecturers that includes a wide range of internationally renowned specialists, offers solid learning that prepares you both to develop a career in research and to incorporate a historical and critical perspective into professional fields such as heritage, museology and communication. Thinking about science, technology and medicine from a historical perspective is essential in order to tackle current challenges in the current context of socio-ecological crisis. This master’s degree encourages you to do so from the perspective of academia, heritage management and scientific communication.

Career options

This master’s degree, which includes professional internships, provides a historical overview of science in society and promotes a dialogue between scientific and humanistic culture. Some of the areas where this knowledge can be applied include:

  • Teaching the history of science.
  • History of science research.
  • Science education.
  • Teaching history, philosophy and humanities.
  • Museology and scientific heritage management.
  • Archival and library science in scientific fields.
  • Cultural management.
  • Science communication and dissemination.
  • The publishing industry.
  • Research management and scientific policy.

These professional expectations are backed up by the experiences of former students of this master’s degree programme who have held positions in museums such as CosmoCaixa, the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia and the Museum of the History of Medicine of Catalonia. They have also held positions in publishing houses such as Prensa Científica and Obrador Edéndum, at Catalunya Ràdio and TV3, in the Area of Communication and Marketing at the UAB, and in production companies such as Smart Planet, among others.

This master's degree offers one external work placement in the specialisation of Communication, Heritage and History of Science.

As part of the professional orientation of the master's degree, this placement involves the management, preservation, conservation, study and dissemination/communication of science and its heritage. It will help students to gain experience and apply their knowledge, and will take place over approximately nine weeks, between February and May, 2014.

Among the places where the placements can be done are the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia in Terrassa, the Museum of History of Medicine of Catalonia, the TV3 programme "Què, qui, com", the magazine "Investigación y Ciencia", and the Barcelona Ateneu (cultural centre).

The students will be involved in generating, documenting, editing and/or distributing scientific and technological content, probably in relation to the specific projects being developed in the placement period.

Students have to write a final report or essay that clearly covers all the work done and its relationship to the professional and academic objectives of this master's degree.


 

Specific grants for this master's degree

Catalan Society of History of Science and Technology (SCHCT) Prize for professionally-oriented dissertations in the master's degree in History of Science

Objectives:

  1. The SCHCT wishes to lend its support to graduate students of history of science, technology and medicine: those who will go on, as professionals, to shape the future of this discipline.
  2. The SCHCT wishes to promote learning of history of science through the two master's degrees currently being taught in the Catalan-speaking territories: “Science, History, Society” and “History of Science and Scientific Communication”.
  3. The SCHCT is interested in encouraging students to combine high-quality historical research with scientific communication projects in the fields of journalism, communication, museology or tourism.
  4. The SCHCT determines that the amount of €3,200 shall be set aside annually, from which four prizes of €800 shall be shared by a maximum of four students of the master's degrees in Barcelona and Valencia-Alicante.
  5. The SCHCT will make the corresponding call for entries on its website, social networks and the online mailing lists used in its professional and geographic area.
Rules
  1. The SCHCT awards the Catalan Society of History of Science and Technology (SCHCT) Prizes for final dissertations in the master's degree in History of Science dealing with history of science, medicine and technology and closely related to science journalism, museums, scientific heritage and other forms of communication.
  2. The SCHCT board of directors will appoint the jury for these prizes and announce this on its website. The SCHCT, where necessary throughout the award process, will procure maximum collaboration and participation on the part of the master's degree coordinators.
  3. 4 prizes of €800 will be awarded. The jury may declare the prizes void. The prizes may be subject to income tax deductions.
  4. Candidates for the prizes must have successfully completed one of the following master's degrees in the last three years: “Science, History, Society” and “History of Science and Scientific Communication”.
  5. Candidates must submit the following documents: personal academic certificate, brief academic CV, master's dissertation, and a short text explaining the reasons for choosing the topic of the dissertation. These should be sent by email to: schct@iec.cat with the header: “PremiSCHCT2015_participantname”. The deadline for submitting the documents is 8 p.m. on Friday 30 October, 2016.
  6. The SCHCT will determine the calendar for choosing the winners and awarding the prizes, and will announce these on its website. Payment of the prize lapses on 19 July 2017.
  7. The submission of entries under this call signifies the acceptance of these rules.

Coordinator university:

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Participating universities

Universitat de Barcelona

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Collaborating institutions:

Institució Milà i Fontanals d'Investigació en Humanitats (IMF-CSIC)

Additional information

https://www.uab.cat/web/studies/master-s-degree-1345831798492.html

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