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Join our diverse community of entrepreneurs and researchers and learn how to design innovative solutions to bring about global prosperity.
How can entrepreneurship and innovation bring prosperity to everyone?
How can we break away from those models of innovation and entrepreneurship that have led directly to some of the world’s problems today?
How can we, as entrepreneurs, leverage partnerships with government, industry, the third sector and citizens to create innovations that lead to prosperity for all?
If these are some of the questions you’ve been grappling with in your work or studies to date, our Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc will provide you with the knowledge and skills to design ways of addressing them.
About the course
Our Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc is unlike any other programme in the field of entrepreneurship. Teaching in entrepreneurship has traditionally focused mainly on venture creation, growth, identifying opportunities and exploiting them. At the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity, you will be challenged to rethink the what, the how, the who and the where of entrepreneurship and innovation and learn how to redefine these terms from the perspective of the Global South.
We embrace a critical and progressive view of transformative entrepreneurship, drawing on theories such as community-based enterprise and effectuation, as well as feminist perspectives and social impact. We apply prosperity thinking to innovation and entrepreneurship so that we can design businesses and innovations that address the grand challenges that the world faces today, at structural and systemic levels, including issues of inequality, poverty, sustainability, clean energy, climate change, disease, education and more.
In practice, we will link you directly to the Institute for Global Prosperity’s networks of entrepreneurs so that you can learn from them and understand challenges from the bottom-up.
Course structure
- Read more about our core modules
During your studies, you will take core modules in:
- Transformative Entrepreneurship and Prosperity: Core Concepts
- Researching Transformative Entrepreneurship
- Transformative Entrepreneurship and Prosperity: Design
- Connected Innovation Project
- Dissertation in Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Read more about our optional modules
The Institute for Global Prosperity offers a wide range of optional modules, of which you will take two throughout the year, including:
- Pathways to Prosperity 1: Global Legacies
- Pathways to Prosperity 2: Society and Livelihoods
- Collective Problem Solving for Inclusive Prosperity
- Debt, Fiinance and Prosperity
- China and Global Prosperity
- Urban Futures and Prosperity
- Social Theories of Prosperity
- Prosperity, People and Planet: Conceptual Frameworks
- Prosperous and Inclusive Planetary Futures
- New Economics of Prosperity
- Prosperity from Below: The Informal, the Illicit and the Popular
And/or other modules across UCL, subject to timetabling, availability and approval by the home and teaching department.
- Read more about the Dissertation in Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
As part of the 'Dissertation in Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship' module, you will undertake an independent research project leading to a dissertation (12,500 words), which may be fieldwork- or literature-based. The dissertation is flexible to different research approaches and methods. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your command of the relevant literature, research design and methods, as well as capacity for analysis and contribution to research. You will also be required to prepare a shorter article at publication standard (1,500 words).
More details of these modules can be found in the UCL module catalogue.
Please note that the course structure and list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change.
Please also note that work placements that form the Connected Innovation Project Please are not conceptualised as formal internships, and they are subject to availability and approval by the module lead.
Who you'll be learning from
On the Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc, you will be learning from our team of academics who are working at the cutting-edge of some of the most pioneering research and innovation programmes across the world.
The Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc will be led by:
Dr Onyaglanu Idoko is a Lecturer in Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and is currently working on a project on ‘Entrepreneurial Resilience and Recovery During and After the COVID-19 Crisis’ which explores firm- and community-level responses in China, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Read the spotlight on Dr Onyaglanu Idoko.
Dr Konrad Miciukiewicz has been involved in a number of large-scale European research and innovation projects, including SOCIAL POLIS, KATARSIS, SPINDUS, SHUC, MOVE and TRANS-MAKING, that explored the role of arts, participatory planning, citizen science and social, economic and technological innovation in designing liveable cities.
Through a series of guest lectures, work placements, and with access to Fast Forward 2030 (our global network of SDG-focused impact entrepreneurs), you will gain hands-on experience alongside the leading thinkers and actors in the field of prosperity and entrepreneurship. As a result, you will develop the skills and relationships you need to advance the way you think and advance in a career that makes a real difference to communities and in the wider world.
Bringing about change in real terms
Our Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc will give you the opportunity to engage with some of the real and tangible changes that we have made across the world to date.
Read more about how our students have brought about real change through their work placements on the 'Connected Innovation Project' module:
“I chose to collaborate with the London Borough of Hackney … The placement allowed me to put into practice some of the methods we learnt at the IGP. As an example, I engaged in in-depth discussions with Council members and developed a well-defined strategy to conduct interviews and gather valuable insights from social enterprises in Hackney. Additionally, I used different theoretical frameworks to analyze what the Council is implementing so far and how it can be reshaped towards a more social approach."
Read about Ignacio’s experiences studying on the Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc
“I think the team projects were wonderful. Until that point, I couldn’t visualise how could a team work without a clear hierarchy. And specially when working with brilliant people from all over the world, you could expect that the aim of determining strong hierarchies would accentuate … the experience that I want to highlight is the extracurricular activity from UCL Innovation and Enterprise at BaseKX called Build Your Own Business. In this experience, I developed a business model to make outdoor artistic interventions. The idea was based on joining the most valuable thing on the planet (nature) and the most valuable thing that humans do (art). It was great to see my idea develop through very open and accurate guidance."
Read about Manuel’s experiences studying on the Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc
In other projects across the wider Institute for Global Prosperity, we have contributed to the Southwark Land Commission in London, where we developed policy that means land across the borough will be developed for the benefit of local people; we have worked with the Think7 (T7) initiative at the 2022 G7 summit in Germany, contributing to policy on social cohesion, economic transformation and open societies. We have also worked with the UK’s House of Commons enquiry on aligning the economic goals with environmental sustainability, which changed the way that the UK now reports its quarterly GDP figures; we have launched ambitious policy and practice-led initiatives, such as the Citizen Science Academy, a community-based, research training scheme to empower communities to lead change; our global FastForward2030 network of impact entrepreneurs who are addressing the Sustainable Development Goals; and our three research Prosperity Co-Labs (PROCOLs) in the UK, Lebanon and Africa.
Your future career
On the Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc, we will prepare you for different career avenues, including working in entrepreneurial start-ups or corporations in the fields of innovation, entrepreneurship or sustainability, or on entrepreneurship interventions in the non-profit, public and social policy sectors.
Previous graduates of the Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc have gone on to do outstanding work in the public, private, and third sectors in the UK and overseas, including at McKinsey, the Industrial and Commerical Bank of China, Ant Group, SadaPay, London’s Local Authorities, the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), and the Australian Trade and Investment Commission. Many have set up their own enterprises or grown their existing ones.
Our alumni
Discover what our alumni have gone on to achieve after graduating from the Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc via the Life of PIE video series on YouTube.
Francisca Paul and her sustainable consultancy work
You can also discover how our alumni are rethinking entrepreneurship in new ways via the Life of PIE podcast series on Soundcloud, hosted by Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc Programme Lead, Dr Onya Idoko, and produced by alumnus Juan Manuel Castillo.
What our alumni say
“The PIE course has been tremendously impactful on my career trajectory. It provided me with crucial knowledge and skills in innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability that have informed my current PhD research and future academic career goals. Additionally, the course equipped me with invaluable research methodology toolkits and the experience of working in cross-cultural teams.
Read about Patricia's experiences studying on the Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc
“The knowledge and expertise I gained on subjects such as innovation and entrepreneurship, the international exposure at UCL, and the practical experience of working as a business development consultant helped me immensely in making this career switch from military to international business development.
Read about Bidisha's experiences studying on the Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSc
Fees and funding
Information about tuition fees for the Global Prosperity MSc is available on the UCL graduate prospectus.
There are a range of funding opportunities available to help you with your studies. For more information, visit:
- IGP's guide to funding your study at the Institute for Global Prosperity
- UCL's guide to funding your studies
