phd in anthropology uk

DPhil in Anthropology

• Entry requirements
• Funding and costs

College preference

• How to apply

About the course

The DPhil in Anthropology is the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography’s advanced research degree, and is awarded to candidates who have completed a substantial original piece of research in the field. 

Anthropology - the study of humans - is a very diverse field and a wide range of research foci are reflected within the activities and structure of the school. DPhil students in the school research topics across this wide range of research foci, including migration and migrant populations, social and cultural influences on medical practice and health, material culture and its representation in museums, human cooperation and pro-social behaviour, the evolution of human behaviour, human adaptations and interactions with the environment and technology, and the huge range of topics that fall under the social anthropological concerns of learning about different populations’ versions of the world and relating them to each other.

The programme provides training and practice in developing research skills, especially through fieldwork with human subjects, though this is not compulsory. It also offers practice in analysing, interpreting and writing up research-related materials, and in presenting such materials in seminar-type formats. Upon successful completion of the course, students will have developed the skills and expertise that qualify them to work in academic research/teaching positions or beyond in a broad range of professions requiring social science skills and sensitivities.

Course outline

Most applicants are admitted as Probationer Research Students (PRS) and are expected to complete the degree in three to four years (six to eight years part-time). In the first year students attend weekly PRS seminars which provide training in research skills and writing as well as research presentation and critique; during this period you will develop and begin work on your thesis topic. First year students also take at least two ‘methods modules’ courses chosen to complement their research interests from the wide range offered in the school. They will meet at least monthly with their supervisor, and can avail themselves of the many research training opportunities on offer in the Social Sciences Division and elsewhere in the university (eg the Language Centre, IT Learning Centre) (these requirements are spread over the first two years in the case of part-time students). You will also have the opportunity to attend lectures, seminars and classes in your general topic area.

Students spend their second year (part-time: third and fourth years) gathering data as part of their original research. While fieldwork is not a formal requirement most students undertake fieldwork of some form. Its nature varies considerably depending upon the research area and topic focus, from traditional immersion in another population, to experimental work, to work with artefacts in museums or archives, for example. Its location will be dictated by the research focus and could be in Oxford or, in principle, anywhere in the world (subject to health and safety considerations). Students maintain regular (at least monthly) contact with their supervisor while conducting their research. In their third year (part-time: fifth and sixth years) students write up their research thesis, and are expected to attend weekly ‘work-in-progress’ seminars in which they present their developing work to their peers and staff for feedback and provide feedback to their peers' work; they continue to maintain at least monthly contact with their supervisors for guidance. Throughout the course DPhil students are strongly encouraged to attend the many research seminars, presentations and lectures on offer within the department and elsewhere in the University.

Generally, you will only be admitted to the DPhil programme if you have successfully completed at least one taught degree in anthropology at the required level, whether in Oxford or elsewhere. Exceptions may be made in the fields of cognitive and evolutionary anthropology, or for applicants with a distinction in a taught-course degree that includes some anthropology, but in a closely related discipline other than in anthropology. In the latter case, you will be expected to undertake some coursework in anthropology in the first year of the DPhil course. If you wish to undertake the DPhil with a focus on medical anthropology, you will usually be expected to have previously completed a taught master's degree in medical anthropology.

If you are admitted as a Probationer Research Student (as will be the case if you don’t currently hold an Oxford MPhil, or do but aren’t continuing research in the area of your MPhil thesis), you will undertake research preparation for your fieldwork. Once you have attained the status of a full DPhil student in anthropology (usually by the end of the first year for full-time students or the end of the second year for part- time students), you will be eligible to embark on fieldwork or other research.

If you are directly admitted as a full DPhil student (ie you hold an Oxford MPhil and are continuing research in the area of your MPhil thesis), in principle you are ready to embark on the programme of research as approved by your DPhil supervisor. However, in some cases, your supervisor may determine that you should complete a further programme of methodological training or other preparatory work necessary for your proposed programme of research.

Your research will typically last from 12 to 18 months (24 to 36 months for part-time students) and is then followed by a period of similar length to write up the thesis on which examination for the doctorate is based.

The school’s research degrees are not available by distance learning. To ensure a comprehensive integration into the school and University's research culture and with their full-time peer groups, part-time students will be required to attend supervision, study, research seminars and skills training, together with other obligations (for example, supervision meetings). Although there will be no requirement to reside in Oxford, part-time research students must attend the University on a regular basis. you may be expected to be in Oxford on a number of days each week during term time in the first two years of the programme. There will be limited flexibility in the dates of attendance, which will be determined by class schedule and term dates. It is therefore likely that part-time students are either already resident in Oxford or will live within commuting distance of the city. Although the school appreciates that part-time research students will have non-standard attendance and work patterns, they are required to attend for a minimum of 30 days during term time in each academic year. During the later years of the programme, there will be flexibility in the dates of attendance, which will be determined by mutual agreement with your supervisor. 

Supervision

For this course, the allocation of graduate supervision is the responsibility of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor or co-supervisor may be found outside the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography.

Students meet with their supervisor(s) regularly (typically for one hour, two to three times per term) – ie at least once per month. In the case of part-time students this equates to at least once every two months, being at least twice between the start of one term and the beginning of the next. During fieldwork this contact may be written or in the form of an online meeting rather than in person, and is expected to occur twice as often where a student is conducting work in a Foreign and Commonwealth Office-flagged location.

You will be admitted to the course as a Probationer Research Student (PRS), unless you already hold an Oxford MPhil degree in anthropology and are continuing research in the area of your MPhil thesis. Oxford MPhil students may apply for admissions directly to DPhil status, but only where there is clear continuity between the topic of their MPhil thesis and that of their proposed DPhil.

If you are admitted with PRS status, within a maximum of four terms as a full-time PRS student or eight terms as a part-time PRS student, you will be expected to apply for, and achieve, transfer of status from Probationer Research Student to DPhil status. This application is normally made in the third term for full-time students and in the sixth term for part-time students.

Students who have achieved DPhil status must apply for and gain confirmation of DPhil status, to show that your work continues to be on track. Confirmation of DPhil status takes place once students are well advanced with their writing up. Both Transfer of Status and Confirmation of Status assessments involve submission of a piece of written work and an interview with two assessors (other than your supervisor) and therefore provide important experience for the final oral examination. Confirmation of Status needs to be achieved within nine terms for full-time students and eighteen terms for part-time students who were admitted with PRS status, or within six terms for full-time students and twelve terms for part-time students who were admitted directly with full DPhil status.

The course is ultimately examined by the submission of a thesis and oral examination, after three to four years of full-time study, or six to eight years of part-time study.

Graduate destinations

Many graduates from the course enter teaching and research. Others go on to work in government, policy-making, public bodies, larger private companies, development agencies, NGOs and other organisations.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

Entry requirements for entry in 2024-25

Proven and potential academic excellence.

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. 

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• a master’s degree with an overall grade of 67% or above and normally with a dissertation at 67% or above; and
• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in any subject.

At least one such degree should normally be in a branch of anthropology (eg social, cultural, medical, biological, evolutionary) relevant to their proposed research. Distinction-level students in a closely related discipline may be considered for direct entry as Probationer Research Students on the condition that they undertake some coursework in the relevant field of anthropology in their first year. The final degree result should be 67%, or equivalent.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum acceptable GPA sought is 3.75 out of 4.0.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

• Part-time applicants will also be expected to show evidence of the ability to commit time to study and, if applicable, an employer's commitment to make time available to study, to complete coursework, and attend course and University events and modules. Where appropriate, evidence should also be provided of permission to use employers’ data in the proposed research project.
• Publications are not expected of applicants.
• This degree involves the close analysis of published sources as well as verbal and written critical reflections in the form of oral presentations, essays and exam answers. It is therefore essential to your chance of successfully completing the program that you meet these higher-level English language requirements as stipulated by the University.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's  higher level . If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) † Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides  further information about the English language test requirement .

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview

Interviews are not normally held as part of the admissions process.

How your application is assessed

Your application will be assessed purely on your proven and potential academic excellence and other entry requirements described under that heading.

References  and  supporting documents  submitted as part of your application, and your performance at interview (if interviews are held) will be considered as part of the assessment process. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed.

An overview of the shortlisting and selection process is provided below. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide  more information about how applications are assessed . 

Shortlisting and selection

Students are considered for shortlisting and selected for admission without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, sexual orientation, as well as other relevant circumstances including parental or caring responsibilities or social background. However, please note the following:

• socio-economic information may be taken into account in the selection of applicants and award of scholarships for courses that are part of  the University’s pilot selection procedure  and for  scholarships aimed at under-represented groups ;
• country of ordinary residence may be taken into account in the awarding of certain scholarships; and
• protected characteristics may be taken into account during shortlisting for interview or the award of scholarships where the University has approved a positive action case under the Equality Act 2010.

Processing your data for shortlisting and selection

Information about  processing special category data for the purposes of positive action  and  using your data to assess your eligibility for funding , can be found in our Postgraduate Applicant Privacy Policy.

Admissions panels and assessors

All recommendations to admit a student involve the judgement of at least two members of the academic staff with relevant experience and expertise, and must also be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Committee (or equivalent within the department).

Admissions panels or committees will always include at least one member of academic staff who has undertaken appropriate training.

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:

• the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the  About  section of this page;
• the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
• minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.

Offer conditions for successful applications

If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide more information about offers and conditions . 

In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:

Financial Declaration

If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a  Financial Declaration  in order to meet your financial condition of admission.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any  relevant, unspent criminal convictions  before you can take up a place at Oxford.

You will receive all or most of your academic supervision in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. You will have a named supervisor, possibly two, who will have overall responsibility for the direction of your work from inception to submission.

Workspaces are available in the school on a first-come, first-served basis, though your college will also have library and workspace facilities and desks are also available in the Bodleian and other University libraries. Laboratory and other dedicated workspaces and equipment for methods teaching will be provided where required. All students receive an email account.

The Social Sciences Library is the main resource library for degrees in anthropology. The Pitt Rivers Museum has its own library, the Balfour Library. You may also use other departmental libraries, your college library and the University’s Bodleian Library and its dependent libraries. The University has a wealth of electronic resources, some specific to particular libraries.

As a research student, you are permitted – though not obliged - to undertake some undergraduate teaching, where available. Methods and skills training are offered through the school, the Social Sciences Doctoral Training Centre and other institutions.

A programme of research seminars is available, some specifically for research students and others featuring talks by invited speakers, often from outside the university. The principal event in this programme is the departmental seminar, run weekly on Fridays during term time.

A student-run society, the Oxford University Anthropology Society, runs coffee mornings, talks and other social and academic events throughout the year. Seminars, especially those involving outside speakers, often proceed to local pubs or restaurants after the talk.

Anthropology and Museum Ethnography

The School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography is renowned for its contributions to anthropological theory, its commitment to long-term ethnographic fieldwork, and its association with the Pitt Rivers Museum. 

Home to over forty academic staff, over a hundred doctoral students, providing both master’s programmes and undergraduate degrees, the school is one of the world’s largest and most vibrant centres for teaching and research in the discipline.

The school is divided into a number of constituent parts:

• The  Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology  is a leading centre for anthropological teaching and research in the UK and the world. This is complemented by its relationship with the Pitt Rivers Museum, which houses one of the world's many ethnographic collections.
• The  Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology  (ICEA) brings together evolutionary anthropology and cognitive science with the aim of developing understanding of the evolution of human behaviour.
• The  Institute for Science, Innovation and Society  (InSIS) researches and informs the key processes of social and technological innovation that are critical to business, governments and civil society in the 21st century and beyond.
• The  Centre on Migration, Policy and Society  (COMPAS) provides a strategic, integrated research approach to understanding contemporary and future migration dynamics in the UK and EU.
• The  Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion  (CSSC) conducts research on the causes and consequences of social cohesion – the bonds that hold groups together, from families and gangs to nations and world religions.

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The University expects to be able to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across the collegiate University in 2024-25. You will be automatically considered for the majority of Oxford scholarships , if you fulfil the eligibility criteria and submit your graduate application by the relevant December or January deadline. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential. 

For further details about searching for funding as a graduate student visit our dedicated Funding pages, which contain information about how to apply for Oxford scholarships requiring an additional application, details of external funding, loan schemes and other funding sources.

Please ensure that you visit individual college websites for details of any college-specific funding opportunities using the links provided on our college pages or below:

Please note that not all the colleges listed above may accept students on this course. For details of those which do, please refer to the College preference section of this page.

Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the school's website.

Annual fees for entry in 2024-25

Full-time study.

Further details about fee status eligibility can be found on the fee status webpage.

Part-time study

Information about course fees

Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges .

Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.

Continuation charges

Following the period of fee liability , you may also be required to pay a University continuation charge and a college continuation charge. The University and college continuation charges are shown on the Continuation charges page.

Where can I find further information about fees?

The Fees and Funding  section of this website provides further information about course fees , including information about fee status and eligibility  and your length of fee liability .

Additional information

There are no compulsory elements of this course that entail additional costs beyond fees (or, after fee liability ends, continuation charges) and living costs. However, please note that, depending on your choice of research topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses. Standard travel insurance can be provided by the University. However, students may be required to pay any additional insurance premiums associated with travel to areas with an increased level of risk and/or for travel of more than 12 months duration, and should factor this into their planning for fieldwork.

Please note that you are required to attend in Oxford for a minimum of 30 days each year, and you may incur additional travel and accommodation expenses for this. Also, depending on your choice of research topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur further additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses.

Living costs

In addition to your course fees, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the range of likely living costs for full-time study is between c. £1,345 and £1,955 for each month spent in Oxford. Full information, including a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs, is available on our living costs page. The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. When planning your finances for any future years of study in Oxford beyond 2024-25, it is suggested that you allow for potential increases in living expenses of around 5% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. UK inflationary increases will be kept under review and this page updated.

If you are studying part-time your living costs may vary depending on your personal circumstances but you must still ensure that you will have sufficient funding to meet these costs for the duration of your course.

Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). 

If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief  introduction to the college system at Oxford  and our  advice about expressing a college preference . For some courses, the department may have provided some additional advice below to help you decide.

The following colleges accept students for full-time study on this course:

• Blackfriars
• Campion Hall
• Green Templeton College
• Harris Manchester College
• Hertford College
• Keble College
• Kellogg College
• Linacre College
• Magdalen College
• Regent's Park College
• Reuben College
• St Anne's College
• St Antony's College
• St Catherine's College
• St Cross College
• St Edmund Hall
• St Hugh's College
• St John's College
• St Peter's College
• Wolfson College
• Wycliffe Hall

The following colleges accept students for part-time study on this course:

Before you apply

Our  guide to getting started  provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance . Check the deadlines on this page and the  information about deadlines and when to apply  in our Application Guide.

Application fee waivers

An application fee of £75 is payable per course application. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:

• applicants from low-income countries;
• refugees and displaced persons; 
• UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and 
• applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.

You are encouraged to  check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver  before you apply.

Readmission for current Oxford graduate taught students

If you're currently studying for an Oxford graduate taught course and apply to this course with no break in your studies, you may be eligible to apply to this course as a readmission applicant. The application fee will be waived for an eligible application of this type. Check whether you're eligible to apply for readmission .

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

Before you apply, you should identify an academic member of staff who is willing to supervise you and has the resources to support your proposed research project. You should do this by contacting them directly. Details of academic staff, including their research interests and contact details, can be found on the department's website.

Completing your application

You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents .

For this course, the application form will include questions that collect information that would usually be included in a CV/résumé. You should not upload a separate document. If a separate CV/résumé is uploaded, it will be removed from your application .

If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.

Proposed field and title of research project

Under the 'Field and title of research project' please enter your proposed field or area of research if this is known. If the department has advertised a specific research project that you would like to be considered for, please enter the project title here instead.

You should not use this field to type out a full research proposal. You will be able to upload your research supporting materials separately if they are required (as described below).

Proposed supervisor

If known, under 'Proposed supervisor name' enter the name of the academic(s) whom you would like to supervise your research. Otherwise, leave this field blank.

Referees: Three overall, academic preferred

Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.

Ideally three academic letters of reference are required. Only if one or more such letters cannot be provided should professional reference(s) be supplied instead.

Your references will support intellectual ability, academic achievement and motivation.

Official transcript(s)

Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.

Research proposal: A maximum of 2,000 words

Your research proposal should state the research question, briefly discuss any key literature, discuss methods and provide a basic research timetable. Your research proposal must be written in English. The word count does not include any bibliography.

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.

This will be assessed for the coherence of the proposal; the originality of the project; evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study; the ability to present a reasoned case in English; the feasibility of successfully completing the project in the time available for the course; commitment to the subject, beyond the requirements of the degree course; preliminary knowledge of research techniques; capacity for sustained and intense work; reasoning ability; ability to absorb new ideas, often presented abstractly, at a rapid pace.

It will be normal for your ideas subsequently to change in some ways as you investigate the evidence and develop your project. You should nevertheless make the best effort you can to demonstrate the extent of your research question, sources and method at this moment.

Written work: Two essays, a maximum of 2,000 words each

You should submit two pieces of academically-related written work in English, in any discipline. The two items may be separate extracts from a longer work like a taught-course thesis. The word count does not need to include any bibliography or brief footnotes.

This will be assessed for a comprehensive understanding of the subject area; understanding of problems in the area; ability to construct and defend an argument; powers of analysis; and powers of expression.

Start or continue your application

You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please  refer to the requirements above  and  consult our Application Guide for advice . You'll find the answers to most common queries in our FAQs.

Application Guide   Apply - Full time Apply - Part time

ADMISSION STATUS

Closed to applications for entry in 2024-25

Register to be notified via email when the next application cycle opens (for entry in 2025-26)

12:00 midday UK time on:

Friday 5 January 2024 Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships Final application deadline for entry in 2024-25

† Three-year average (applications for entry in 2021-22 to 2023-24)

Further information and enquiries

This course is offered by the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography

• Course page  and FAQs on the school's website
• Funding information from the school
• Academic and research staff
• Research in the school
• Social Sciences Division
• Residence requirements for full-time courses
• Postgraduate applicant privacy policy

Course-related enquiries

Advice about contacting the department can be found in the How to apply section of this page

✉ [email protected] ☎ +44 (0)1865 274670

Application-process enquiries

See the application guide

Visa eligibility for part-time study

We are unable to sponsor student visas for part-time study on this course. Part-time students may be able to attend on a visitor visa for short blocks of time only (and leave after each visit) and will need to remain based outside the UK.

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MRes/PhD Anthropology

• Graduate research
• Department of Anthropology
• Application code L6ZB
• Starting 2024
• Home full-time: Closed
• Overseas full-time: Closed
• Location: Houghton Street, London

This programme offers you the chance to undertake a substantial piece of work that is worthy of publication and which makes an original contribution to the field of anthropology. You will begin on the MRes, and will need to meet certain requirements to progress to the PhD.

LSE has one of the most famous anthropology departments in the world. The research interests of our staff span all the major theoretical spheres of modern social anthropology. We carry out ethnographic research in diverse settings such as bureaucracies, corporations, NGOs, rural and urban communities and religious and social movements. Our expertise covers all the regions of the world including China, South Asia, South East Asia, the U.S.A, Europe, Latin America and post-socialist states. Our Department is well known for the rigour of its ethnography in settings such as these, and also for the pivotal contributions it makes to foundational topics in the social sciences such as politics, economics, religion and kinship.

The MRes/PhD programme is central to the life of the Department, and we support students with their field research and professional development. By joining this programme you will be actively involved in innovative research, which is rooted in our Department’s anthropological traditions of: long-term ethnographic fieldwork; a commitment to broad comparative inquiries into human sociality; and a critical engagement with social theory.

The programme is built around long-term participant observation fieldwork in locations throughout the world. You will normally undertake fieldwork for around 18 months. After fieldwork, you begin work on your thesis dissertation.

Programme details

Entry requirements

Minimum entry requirements for mres/phd anthropology.

We require applicants to have a significant prior training in social anthropology at degree level. Normally, this will be evidenced by a merit or higher result on a taught MSc/MA in social anthropology from a UK university, or the equivalent of this from an overseas university; or by a 2:1 or higher result on an undergraduate BA/BSc in social anthropology from a UK university, or the equivalent of this from an overseas university. In brief, you need to have taken a significant number of anthropology courses at university level and to have achieved a good result in your degree overall.   

Applicants who do not hold these qualifications should first complete a one-year MSc/MA programme in social anthropology, such as those convened by our Department, before applying for the MRes/PhD track. 

Note that for students who are already currently registered on one of the Department’s MSc programmes,  specific additional conditions of admission to the MRes/PhD programme may apply.  

Competition for places at the School is high. This means that even if you meet our minimum entry requirements, this does not guarantee you an offer of admission.

Assessing your application

We welcome applications for research programmes that complement the academic interests of our members of staff, and we recommend that you investigate  staff research interests  before applying.

We carefully consider each application on an individual basis, taking into account all the information presented on your application form, including your:

- academic achievement (including existing and pending qualifications) - statement of academic purpose - references - CV - research proposal - sample of written work.

See further information on supporting documents

You may also have to provide evidence of your English proficiency. You do not need to provide this at the time of your application to LSE, but we recommend that you do.  See our English language requirements .

When to apply

The application deadline for this programme is 15 January 2024 . However, to be considered for any LSE funding opportunity, you must have submitted your application and all supporting documents by the funding deadline. See the fees and funding section for more details.

Fees and funding

Every research student is charged a fee in line with the fee structure for their programme. The fee covers registration and examination fees payable to the School, lectures, classes and individual supervision, lectures given at other colleges under intercollegiate arrangements and, under current arrangements, membership of the Students' Union. It does not cover living costs or travel or fieldwork.

Tuition fees 2024/25 for MRes/PhD Anthropology

Home students: £4,786 for the first year Overseas students: £22,632 for the first year

The fee is likely to rise over subsequent years of the programme. The School charges home research students in line with the level of fee that the Research Councils recommend. The fees for overseas students are likely to rise in line with the assumed percentage increase in pay costs (ie, 4 per cent per annum).

The Table of Fees shows the latest tuition amounts for all programmes offered by the School.

The amount of tuition fees you will need to pay, and any financial support you are eligible for, will depend on whether you are classified as a home or overseas student, otherwise known as your fee status. LSE assesses your fee status based on guidelines provided by the Department of Education.

Further information about fee status classification.

Scholarships, studentships and other funding

The School recognises that the  cost of living in London  may be higher than in your home town or country, and we provide generous scholarships each year to home and overseas students.

This programme is eligible for  LSE PhD Studentships , and  Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funding . Selection for the PhD Studentships and ESRC funding is based on receipt of an application for a place – including all ancillary documents, before the funding deadline.

Funding deadline for the LSE PhD Studentships and ESRC funding: 15 January 2024

In addition to our needs-based awards, LSE also makes available scholarships for students from specific regions of the world and awards for students studying specific subject areas.  Find out more about financial support.

External funding 

There may be other funding opportunities available through other organisations or governments and we recommend you investigate these options as well.

Further information

Fees and funding opportunities

Information for international students

LSE is an international community, with over 140 nationalities represented amongst its student body. We celebrate this diversity through everything we do.  

If you are applying to LSE from outside of the UK then take a look at our Information for International students . 

1) Take a note of the UK qualifications we require for your programme of interest (found in the ‘Entry requirements’ section of this page). 

2) Go to the International Students section of our website. 

3) Select your country. 

4) Select ‘Graduate entry requirements’ and scroll until you arrive at the information about your local/national qualification. Compare the stated UK entry requirements listed on this page with the local/national entry requirement listed on your country specific page.

Programme structure and courses

The first year focuses on fieldwork preparation and training in research methodologies. You will take courses and seminars based in the Department of Anthropology. Depending on your qualifications and background, you will also be asked to take additional coursework in social anthropology by attending lecture courses in, for example, economics, kinship or religion.

You will also audit (attend but not participate in assessment) one or two of the Department’s main lecture courses, to the value of one unit.

Throughout the pre-fieldwork year, your main task is to prepare – in close consultation with your two supervisors – a formal research proposal (with a 10,000-word limit). This is formally assessed by the Department. You will normally be upgraded from MRes to PhD registration if your proposal is approved, and if you have achieved the required marks in your coursework. You are then allowed to proceed to fieldwork. 

Qualitative and Quantitative Methods for Anthropologists Provides you with insights into the process by which anthropological knowledge is produced, and trains you in the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. 

Evidence and Arguments in Anthropology and Other Social Sciences Considers research practices across a range of social and natural sciences in order to explore methodological issues which are specifically relevant to ethnography. 

Supervised Reading Course and Fieldwork Preparation Gives you a detailed knowledge of the regional ethnographic literature relevant to your proposed research project, as well as providing you with a firm grounding in the theoretical literature relevant to your research objectives. 

Research Proposal Preparation of a formal Research Proposal of 8,000-10,000 words for submission to the Department on or before the deadline in June/August. 

Seminar on Anthropological Research

After meeting the progression requirements, you will be upgraded to PhD registration and will commence the fieldwork phase of the programme. Most students carry out fieldwork for approximately 18 months, however the timing and duration of the fieldwork and post-fieldwork stages may vary to some extent between students. During fieldwork – depending on the practicalities of communication – you are expected to maintain close contact with your supervisor about the progress of your work.

After fieldwork, doctoral candidates begin writing their PhD dissertations under the close guidance of their supervisors. During this period of your studies, you will also attend seminars on: thesis-writing; professional development and our departmental seminar in which external speakers present their latest research. Most students complete their dissertations between one and two years after their fieldwork has ended.

First and second year of the PhD (typically 18 months)

Second to fourth year of the phd (typically 18 to 24 months).

Advanced Professional Development in Anthropology Examines key theoretical concepts and approaches in anthropology at an advanced level that may be relevant to post-fieldwork doctoral candidates. Enhances your professional development by providing you with advanced training in writing and presentation skills and skills relevant to your career progression.

Thesis Writing Seminar This non-assessed course involves you presenting draft dissertation chapters amongst your cohort.

For the most up-to-date list of optional courses please visit the relevant School Calendar page.

You must note, however, that while care has been taken to ensure that this information is up to date and correct, a change of circumstances since publication may cause the School to change, suspend or withdraw a course or programme of study, or change the fees that apply to it. The School will always notify the affected parties as early as practicably possible and propose any viable and relevant alternative options. Note that the School will neither be liable for information that after publication becomes inaccurate or irrelevant, nor for changing, suspending or withdrawing a course or programme of study due to events outside of its control, which includes but is not limited to a lack of demand for a course or programme of study, industrial action, fire, flood or other environmental or physical damage to premises.  

You must also note that places are limited on some courses and/or subject to specific entry requirements. The School cannot therefore guarantee you a place. Please note that changes to programmes and courses can sometimes occur after you have accepted your offer of a place. These changes are normally made in light of developments in the discipline or path-breaking research, or on the basis of student feedback. Changes can take the form of altered course content, teaching formats or assessment modes. Any such changes are intended to enhance the student learning experience. You should visit the School’s  Calendar , or contact the relevant academic department, for information on the availability and/or content of courses and programmes of study. Certain substantive changes will be listed on the  updated graduate course and programme information page.

Supervision, progression and assessment

Supervision.

You will be assigned two supervisors who are specialists in your chosen research field, though not necessarily in your topic.

Progression and assessment

You will need to meet certain criteria to progress to PhD registration, such as achieving certain grades in your coursework, and earning a minimum mark on your research proposal, which includes a viva oral examination.

Your progress will also be reviewed at the end of each year of your PhD study, and will be based on written reports. The mandatory third year progress review for students in anthropology is held in the third term (or, exceptionally, in the fourth term) after your return from fieldwork; this entails a viva with both supervisors and one external examiner.

Your final award will be determined by the completion of an original research thesis and a viva oral examination.

More about progression requirements.

Student support and resources

We’re here to help and support you throughout your time at LSE, whether you need help with your academic studies, support with your welfare and wellbeing or simply to develop on a personal and professional level.

Whatever your query, big or small, there are a range of people you can speak to who will be happy to help.  

Department librarians   – they will be able to help you navigate the library and maximise its resources during your studies. 

Accommodation service  – they can offer advice on living in halls and offer guidance on private accommodation related queries.

Class teachers and seminar leaders  – they will be able to assist with queries relating to specific courses. 

Disability and Wellbeing Service  – they are experts in long-term health conditions, sensory impairments, mental health and specific learning difficulties. They offer confidential and free services such as  student counselling,  a  peer support scheme  and arranging  exam adjustments.  They run groups and workshops.  

IT help  – support is available 24 hours a day to assist with all your technology queries.   

LSE Faith Centre  – this is home to LSE's diverse religious activities and transformational interfaith leadership programmes, as well as a space for worship, prayer and quiet reflection. It includes Islamic prayer rooms and a main space for worship. It is also a space for wellbeing classes on campus and is open to all students and staff from all faiths and none.   

Language Centre  – the Centre specialises in offering language courses targeted to the needs of students and practitioners in the social sciences. We offer pre-course English for Academic Purposes programmes; English language support during your studies; modern language courses in nine languages; proofreading, translation and document authentication; and language learning community activities.

LSE Careers  ­ – with the help of LSE Careers, you can make the most of the opportunities that London has to offer. Whatever your career plans, LSE Careers will work with you, connecting you to opportunities and experiences from internships and volunteering to networking events and employer and alumni insights. 

LSE Library   –   founded in 1896, the British Library of Political and Economic Science is the major international library of the social sciences. It stays open late, has lots of excellent resources and is a great place to study. As an LSE student, you’ll have access to a number of other academic libraries in Greater London and nationwide. 

LSE LIFE  – this is where you should go to develop skills you’ll use as a student and beyond. The centre runs talks and workshops on skills you’ll find useful in the classroom; offers one-to-one sessions with study advisers who can help you with reading, making notes, writing, research and exam revision; and provides drop-in sessions for academic and personal support. (See ‘Teaching and assessment’). 

LSE Students’ Union (LSESU)  – they offer academic, personal and financial advice and funding.  

PhD Academy   – this is available for PhD students, wherever they are, to take part in interdisciplinary events and other professional development activities and access all the services related to their registration. 

Sardinia House Dental Practice   – this   offers discounted private dental services to LSE students.  

St Philips Medical Centre  – based in Pethwick-Lawrence House, the Centre provides NHS Primary Care services to registered patients.

Student Services Centre  – our staff here can answer general queries and can point you in the direction of other LSE services.  

Student advisers   – we have a  Deputy Head of Student Services (Advice and Policy)  and an  Adviser to Women Students  who can help with academic and pastoral matters.

Student life

As a student at LSE you’ll be based at our central London campus. Find out what our campus and London have to offer you on academic, social and career perspective. 

Student societies and activities

Your time at LSE is not just about studying, there are plenty of ways to get involved in  extracurricular activities . From joining one of over 200 societies, or starting your own society, to volunteering for a local charity, or attending a public lecture by a world-leading figure, there is a lot to choose from. 

The campus 

LSE is based on one  campus  in the centre of London. Despite the busy feel of the surrounding area, many of the streets around campus are pedestrianised, meaning the campus feels like a real community. 

Life in London 

London is an exciting, vibrant and colourful city. It's also an academic city, with more than 400,000 university students. Whatever your interests or appetite you will find something to suit your palate and pocket in this truly international capital. Make the most of career opportunities and social activities, theatre, museums, music and more. 

Want to find out more? Read why we think  London is a fantastic student city , find out about  key sights, places and experiences for new Londoners . Don't fear, London doesn't have to be super expensive: hear about  London on a budget . 

Student stories

Jiazhi fengjiang  mphil/phd anthropology london, uk  .

The PhD programme in Anthropology at LSE is extremely stimulating and rewarding. The department of anthropology produces world-class research and enables students to access extensive academic resources and network beyond LSE in London. 

The programme allows me to conduct my doctoral research with close supervision and mentorship from my two academic supervisors as well as numerous consultations and advice from faculty members, research student cohort, and visiting researchers in the department through reading, research, and writing-up seminars. After one year of preparation on my research proposal, I conducted an eighteen-month fieldwork in China’s southeast coast. Over the course of writing up my thesis, I got chances to teach an undergraduate course and present my work at the Friday morning departmental seminar. I was also part of the Argonaut (the departmental journal) project as a cover designer and illustrator. Beyond the LSE academic community, London is a hub of exciting events and networks. I got to participate in varied workshops and collaborate with colleagues beyond LSE in reading groups, publications, as well as exploring visual and graphic anthropology. 

Following my PhD at LSE, my main plan is to publish my thesis as a book and publish a couple of journal articles while developing a new post-doc research project on grassroots transnational humanitarianism in Asia. I hope to continue my academic career as an anthropologist and deliver my research in varied forms to a wider audience. 

Megnaa Mehtta  MRes/PhD Anthropology London, UK 

I am a PhD student in the department of Social Anthropology. I was born in Udaipur, Rajasthan, and did my undergraduate degree at Yale University with short stints at Delhi University and the University of Cape Town. After my B.A, I worked as a community organizer in Buenos Aires on issues of urban waste and labour. I also taught social anthropology at a bachillerato popular (community college) in the city. After Argentina, I moved back to where I grew up in southern Rajasthan and worked as a community mobiliser and ethnographer focusing on issues around alternative politics.

My PhD research is based out of the Sundarbans mangrove forests that range across the borders of India and Bangladesh and are internationally famous as a protected habitat of the Royal Bengal tiger. Less well known are the 4.5 million people who live alongside these forests, and the many thousands who venture into them on a daily basis to earn a livelihood collecting fish, crabs and honey. During 22 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I lived with communities that ‘do the jungle’, sharing in their daily lives and venturing into the forests with them to fish, collect crabs, and understand the relationship they have to their labour and surrounding rivers and forests. As an environmental anthropologist interested in the intersection of political ecology and everyday ethics, my research explores what conserving life means to the people living alongside a global conservation hotspot. I delve into the fishers’ motivations for undertaking life-threatening work in the jungle, their notions of sufficiency and excess, what it means to sustain a household, and ultimately the kind of life they seek to conserve for themselves in relation to their surrounding landscape.

One of the most exciting aspects of LSE’s PhD program in Social Anthropology is the opportunity to do such long-term ethnographic fieldwork. In my pre-field year I had a completely different set of questions I wanted to explore.  However, when I arrived in the Sundarbans, I realized that the themes and issues most important to my interlocutors were completely different from what I had conceived of in my research proposal in London. I feel privileged to have been encouraged to pursue what I think is the truest way of doing anthropology, paying attention to people’s lives, the categories with which they themselves make sense of things, and their attempts to live a full life amidst the forces that constantly renegotiate their everyday realities.

An additional perk of studying at the LSE is the opportunity to participate in the departmental seminar series known as ‘Friday Seminars.’ Through weekly presentations, students and faculty get to hear some of the most intellectually stimulating research papers in contemporary anthropology that showcase the creative breadth the discipline allows for. In addition to ‘Friday Seminars’, Fridays are doubly fun thanks to a ritual of gathering at the pub with one’s colleagues. The Anthropology Department is a vibrant place distinguished both by its ideas and its people.             

Itay Noy MRes/PhD Anthropology Tel Aviv, Israel

The PhD community is very social and I enjoy the mix of students, from different countries and walks of life. It is an intellectually stimulating environment with lots of interesting speakers coming to our seminars. My thesis supervisors are also great, they are always encouraging and giving me lots of useful feedback on my work.

Quick Careers Facts for the Department of Anthropology

Median salary of our PG students 15 months after graduating: £28,000

Top 5 sectors our students work in:

• Government, Public Sector and Policy   
• Financial and Professional Services              
• FMCG, Manufacturing and Retail              
• Advertising, Marketing, PR Media, Entertainment, Publishing and Journalism           
• Recruitment and Employment Activities

The data was collected as part of the Graduate Outcomes survey, which is administered by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Graduates from 2020-21 were the fourth group to be asked to respond to Graduate Outcomes. Median salaries are calculated for respondents who are paid in UK pounds sterling and who were working in full-time employment.

Students who successfully complete the programme often embark on an academic career. 

Students who graduated within the last ten years have gone on to a range of occupations such as:

Amit Desai (PhD 2007) – Research Fellow, Nursing & Midwifery Research Department, King’s College London Fraser McNeill (PhD 2007) – Senior Lecturer of Anthropology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa Andrew Sanchez (PhD 2009) – Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Cambridge Elizabeth Hull (PhD 2009) – Lecturer in Anthropology, SOAS Food Studies Centre and the Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research in Agriculture and Health Judith Bovensiepen (PhD 2010) – Senior Lecturer, School of Anthropology & Conservation, University of Kent Victoria Boydell (PhD 2010) – Rights and Accountability Advisor, Reproductive Sociology Research Group, University of Cambridge Katie Dow (PhD 2010) – Senior Research Associate, Reproductive Sociology Research Group, University of Cambridge Maxim Bolt (PhD 2011) – Reader in Anthropology and Africa at the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham Indira Arumugam (PhD 2011) – Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore Elizabeth Frantz (PhD 2011) – Senior Program Officer, Open Society Foundations Tom Boylston (PhD 2012) – Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Edinburgh Kimberly Chong (PhD 2012) – Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Sussex Dina Makram-Ebeid (PhD 2013) –  Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology and Egyptology, The American University in Cairo Giulia Liberatore (PhD 2013) – Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, COMPAS, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford Ruben Andersson (PhD 2013) - Associate Professor of Migration and Development, International Migration Institute, Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford Jovan Scott Lewis (PhD 2014) – Assistant Professor, University of California UC Berkeley Amy Penfield (PhD 2015) – Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Manchester Méadhbh Mclvor (PhD 2016) – Teaching Fellow in Social Anthropology, UCL Agustin Diz (PhD 2017) – LSE Fellow in Anthropology, LSE

Further information on graduate destinations for this programme

Support for your career

Many leading organisations give careers presentations at the School during the year, and LSE Careers has a wide range of resources available to assist students in their job search. Find out more about the  support available to students through LSE Careers .

Find out more about LSE

Discover more about being an LSE student - meet us in a city near you, visit our campus or experience LSE from home. 

Experience LSE from home

Webinars, videos, student blogs and student video diaries will help you gain an insight into what it's like to study at LSE for those that aren't able to make it to our campus.  Experience LSE from home . 

Come on a guided campus tour, attend an undergraduate open day, drop into our office or go on a self-guided tour.  Find out about opportunities to visit LSE . 

LSE visits you

Student Marketing, Recruitment and Study Abroad travels throughout the UK and around the world to meet with prospective students. We visit schools, attend education fairs and also hold Destination LSE events: pre-departure events for offer holders.  Find details on LSE's upcoming visits . 

How to apply

Virtual Graduate Open Day

Register your interest

Related programmes, mphil/phd gender.

Code(s) Y2ZG

MSc Social Anthropology

Code(s) L6U5

MPhil/PhD Sociology

Code(s) L3ZS

MPhil/PhD European Studies

Code(s) M1ZE

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PhD Social Anthropology / Overview

Year of entry: 2024

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• Bachelor's (Honours) degree in a cognate subject at 2:1 or above (or overseas equivalent); and
• Master's degree in a relevant subject - with an overall average of 65% or above, a minimum mark of 65% in your dissertation and no mark below 55% (or overseas equivalent)

Full entry requirements

Apply online

Please ensure you include all required supporting documents at the time of submission, as incomplete applications may not be considered.

Application Deadlines

For consideration in internal funding competitions, you must submit your completed application by 1 December 2023.

If you are applying for or have secured external funding (for example, from an employer or government) or are self-funding, you must submit your application before the below deadlines to be considered. You will not be able to apply after these dates have passed.

• For September 2024 entry: 30 June 2024

Programme options

Programme overview

• Examine human behaviour and relationships under expert research supervision.
• Join a lively PhD community of students working in all of the world's continents and on a variety of topics.
• Work closely with an expert supervisor, with further guidance from at least one extra supervisor.

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We will be conducting our PGR virtual open week in October 2024. Find out more about future events and postgraduate research sessions by signing up for our email alerts.

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2024, the tuition fees are as follows:

• PhD (full-time) UK students (per annum): £4,786 International, including EU, students (per annum): £21,500
• PhD (part-time) UK students (per annum): £2,393 International, including EU, students (per annum): £10,750

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

Scholarships/sponsorships

There are a range of scholarships, studentships and awards available to support both UK and overseas postgraduate researchers, details of which can be found via the links below.

To apply University of Manchester funding, you must indicate in your application the competitions for which you wish to be considered. The deadline for most internal competitions, including School of Social Sciences studentships is 1 December 2023.

All external funding competitions have a specified deadline for submitting your funding application and a separate (earlier) deadline for submitting the online programme application form, both of which will be stated in the funding competition details below.

For more information about funding, visit our funding page to browse for scholarships, studentships and awards you may be eligible for.

• ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) PhD Studentships - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• School of Social Sciences PhD Studentships 2024 Entry
• China Scholarship Council - The University of Manchester (CSC-UoM) Joint Scholarship Programme - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• Trudeau Doctoral Scholarships 2024 Entry
• PhD Studentship with the Stuart Hall Foundation (Social Sciences) - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (High Income Countries)
• Future of the Academy PhD Studentship (Politics) - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• Humanities Doctoral Academy Humanitarian Scholarship 2024 Entry
• Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (Least Developed Countries and Fragile States)
• President's Doctoral Scholar (PDS) Awards - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry

Contact details

See: School Subjects

Programmes in related subject areas

Use the links below to view lists of programmes in related subject areas.

• Social Anthropology
• Social Sciences

Regulated by the Office for Students

The University of Manchester is regulated by the Office for Students (OfS). The OfS aims to help students succeed in Higher Education by ensuring they receive excellent information and guidance, get high quality education that prepares them for the future and by protecting their interests. More information can be found at the OfS website .

You can find regulations and policies relating to student life at The University of Manchester, including our Degree Regulations and Complaints Procedure, on our regulations website .

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Anthropology PhD

Key information, find a supervisor.

Mode of study

3 years full-time

6 years part-time

International £21,260

Entry requirements

Research profile

Brunel Anthropology is a team of internationally recognised researchers, producing ground-breaking work rooted in ethnographic fieldwork spanning Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Academic staff, post-doctoral researchers and PhD students alike work within a single Social Anthropology research grouping, designed both to capitalise on our historic strengths—in the anthropologies of global health; childhood and youth; histories and concepts of anthropological knowledge; and performance, politics and violence—as well as enabling a proactive embrace of new global challenges. The latter includes exciting new work that engages with international environmental crises, human-animal relations, and contemporary imaginings of the future.

Find out about the exciting research we do in this area. Browse profiles of our experts, discover the research groups and their inspirational research activities you too could be part of. We’ve also made available extensive reading materials published by our academics and PhD students.  

Learn more about research in this area.

Diversity and openness

PhD students come to Brunel from diverse cultural backgrounds and belong to a genuinely international anthropology department. (The Times Higher Educational Supplement recently described Brunel as “the most international university”.) Brunel’s teaching and research reflect this diversity. Our supervisors have expertise in a wide range of topics and countries and our students have carried out research in five continents. 

A multidisciplinary ethos in a leading centre of social sciences

Socially and culturally diverse, Brunel anthropology also benefits from its position within a multidisciplinary social sciences school in which students are able to take modules in the sister disciplines of psychology, social psychology, and sociology/communications. (Even if, as a PhD candidate, you do not want to opt for a psychology module, you may find it stimulating to sit in on lectures in the evolutionary psychology series or catch the odd distinguished visiting lecturer.) Anthropology students join with other social sciences students in the Graduate Research Skills and Professional Development module which helps them with presentation skills, and gives them the know-how necessary to get research published and make the most of career opportunities.

A friendly and supportive research environment

Added to Brunel’s diversity and openness is the friendly and supportive atmosphere of its anthropology department: something not possible in a large impersonal institution. In a middle-sized department, what we can offer is a high level of personal attention, with training and supervision tailored to the interests of individual students. You will be assigned two supervisors, often with complementary expertise, but you will of course benefit from the broader range of knowledge in our anthropology team.

Browse the work of subject-relevant research groups

You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour .

Our researchers create knowledge and advance understanding, and equip versatile doctoral researchers with the confidence to apply what they have learnt for the benefit of society. Find out more about working with the Supervisory Team .

You are welcome to approach your potential supervisor directly to discuss your research interests. Search for expert supervisors for your chosen field of research.

The Anthropology staff and their research interests:

• Nicolas Argenti - Youth, childhood, performance, political violence and collective memory; Cameroon, Greece
• Andrew Beatty - Psychological and psychiatric anthropology, emotion, religion and ritual, new approaches to ethnographic writing; Indonesia and Mexico
• Liana Chua - Anthropology of conversion, ritual and religion; development and conservation; human-animal relations and multispecies ethnography; ‘anthropocene’ discourses, politics and ontologies; materiality, museology, visual anthropology; Malaysian Borneo
• Peggy Froerer - Education and schooling; childhood and youth; poverty and development; inequality and social mobility; nationalism and ethnic conflict; South Asia
• Eric Hirsch - Historicity and landscape; myth, personhood and ritual; power and property relations; Papua New Guinea, Britain
• Maria Kastrinou - Sectarianism, nationalism and minorities; the state, authoritarianism, statelessness; Islam and Druze religion; Syrian war, refugees; social politics of energy and electricity; post-conflict reconciliation and development; Middle East, Greece, Europe
• Isak Niehaus - Political anthropology; witchcraft and cosmology; HIV/AIDS; masculinity and sexuality; history of anthropology; Southern Africa
• Will Rollason - Development and the post-colony; the future; youth; football; Rwanda, Papua New Guinea
• James Staples - Medical anthropology (leprosy, disability, the body and pain); suicide; anthropology of food; biography and life history; South Asia

Please browse our online individual staff profiles, but in general, we welcome anthropological research in the following areas:

• Medical Anthropology
• Psychological and Psychiatric Anthropology
• Anthropology of Education and Schooling
• Anthropology of Childhood and Youth
• International Development and Humanitarian Assistance
• Global Conservation
• Human/Animal Relations and Multi-Species Ethnography
• Anthropology of Food
• Anthropology of Emotion
• Collective Memory
• Biography and Life History
• Performance and Embodiment
• Landscape, Time and Temporality
• Religion and Ritual
• Anthropocenic Discourses and Ontologies
• Political Violence, the State, Nationalism
• Visual Anthropology, Materiality, Museology

While we welcome applications from students with a clear direction for their research, we can also provide you with some ideas. Search for PhD topics for your chosen field of research.

Research journey

A PhD involves demonstrating through original research or other advanced scholarship the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, a systematic acquisition and understanding of a substantial body of knowledge at the forefront of an academic discipline or professional practice, the ability to conceptualise, design and implement a project for the general of new knowledge, applications or understanding at the forefront of the discipline.

This course can be studied undefined undefined, starting in undefined.

Find out about what progress might look like at each stage of study here:  Research degree progress structure.

Research support

Excellent research support and training

The Graduate School provides a range of personal, professional and career development opportunities. This includes workshops, online training, coaching and events, to enable you to enhance your professional profile, refine your skills, and plan your next career steps as part of the Researcher Development Programme . The researcher development programme (RDP) offers workshops and seminars in a range of areas including progression, research management, research dissemination, and careers and personal development. You will also be offered a number of online, self-study courses on BBL, including Research Integrity, Research Skills Toolkit, Research Methods in Literature Review and Principles of Research Methods.

Library services

Brunel's Library is open 24 hours a day, has 400,000 books and 250,000 ebooks, and an annual budget of almost £2m. Subject information Specialists train students in the latest technology, digital literacy, and digital dissemination of scholarly outputs. As well as the physical resources available in the Library, we also provide access to a wealth of electronic resources. These include databases, journals and e-books. Access to these resources has been bought by the Library through subscription and is limited to current staff and students.

Dedicated research support staff provide guidance and training on open access, research data management, copyright and other research integrity issues.

Find out more: Brunel Library

Careers and your future

You will receive tailored careers support during your PhD and for up to three years after you complete your research at Brunel. We encourage you to actively engage in career planning and managing your personal development right from the start of your research, even (or perhaps especially) if you don't yet have a career path in mind. Our careers provision includes online information and advice, one-to-one consultations and a range of events and workshops. The Professional Development Centre runs a varied programme of careers events throughout the academic year. These include industry insight sessions, recruitment fairs, employer pop-ups and skills workshops.

In addition, where available, you may be able to undertake some paid work as we recognise that teaching and learning support duties represent an important professional and career development opportunity.

Find out more.

Paid work available to research students Undertaking teaching and learning support duties represents an important professional and career development opportunity for postgraduate research students. Brunel offers two levels of paid work available to Postgraduate Research students. The first level post is as a  Demonstrator  and the second level post is as a  Graduate Teaching Assistant  (GTA). Teaching and learning support duties will vary between Departments and research students should not rely on such opportunities being available. Find out more  here .

Following the completion of the course students may follow several career paths:

• Career path within academia
• Career path within the international development sector or aid industry, working with non-governmental organisations (e.g., Oxfam, Save the Children, Green Peace) or with international governmental agencies (e.g . World Health Organisation, World Food Programme, UNESCO, etc.)
• Career path with cultural organisations: museum curator, education officer, independent researcher
• Career path in government or with the civil service (e.g., UK Department for International Development, the NHS, local Councils)
• Career path with local or international corporations, as organisational consultants (Intel, IBM, Saatchi and Saatchi, Nike)

UK entry requirements

The general University entrance requirement for registration for a research degree is normally a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree (1st or 2:1). 

An interview will be required as part of the admissions process and will be conducted by at least two academic staff members remotely via MS Teams, Zoom, or face to face.

Applicants will be required to submit a personal statement  and a research statement. Please contact your proposed supervisor, where possible, to receive feedback and guidance on your research statement before submitting it. Learn how to prepare a research statement  here .   

EU and International entry requirements

If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you must prove knowledge of the English language so that we can issue you a Certificate of Acceptance for Study (CAS). To do this, you will need an IELTS for UKVI or Trinity SELT test pass gained from a test centre approved by  UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and on the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) list . This must have been taken and passed within two years from the date the CAS is made.

English language requirements

• IELTS: 6.5 (min 6 in all areas)
• Pearson: 59 (59 in all subscores)
• BrunELT : 63% (min 58% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 90 (min 20 in all) 

You can find out more about the qualifications we accept on our  English Language Requirements  page.

Should you wish to take a pre-sessional English course to improve your English prior to starting your degree course, you must sit the test at an approved SELT provider for the same reason. We offer our own BrunELT English test and have pre-sessional English language courses for students who do not meet requirements or who wish to improve their English. You can find out more information on English courses and test options through our  Brunel Language Centre .

Please check our Admissions  pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants. This information is for guidance only and each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Entry requirements are subject to review, and may change.

Fees and funding

2024/5 entry, international.

£21,260 full-time

£10,630 part-time

£4,786 full-time

£2,393 part-time

Fees quoted are per year and are subject to an annual increase.

Some courses incur  additional course related costs . You can also check our  on-campus accommodation costs  for more information on living expenses.

Brunel offers a number of funding options to research students that help cover the cost of their tuition fees, contribute to living expenses or both. Recently the UK Government made available the Doctoral Student Loans of up to £25,000 for UK and EU students and there is some funding available through the Research Councils. Many of our international students benefit from funding provided by their governments or employers. Brunel alumni enjoy tuition fee discounts of 15%.

Scholarships and bursaries

• Brunel Graduate Discount

Related courses

Culture and evolution phd, social work phd, sociology and communication phd, ageing studies phd, creative writing phd.

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MPhil/PhD Anthropology

Content navigation menu, why study mphil/phd anthropology at goldsmiths.

The Department of Anthropology offers supervision in a wide range of areas for research degrees.

In addition to the particular research interests of each member of staff , we have a number of postgraduate students undertaking research of contemporary social and political relevance in Britain and Europe.

Current students are engaged in research projects covering a broad range of subjects, located in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr Henrike Donner .

3-4 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time

Home - full-time: £4786 Home - part-time: £2393 International - full-time: £17690

Anthropology

How do I choose between the MRes and MPhil/PhD?

Normally research students register for the MRes in order to complete the requisite training to carry out a doctoral research project. You then transfer to MPhil status after completing your MRes dissertation in September (or in your second year if you are part-time).

However, if you already have a substantial background, it is possible to register directly for the full-time MPhil, provided the department and your future supervisor(s) agree.

MPhil-registered students audit the same research training modules as MRes students without assessment. They prepare material for their formal ‘upgrade’ viva to PhD status, which may allow them to upgrade to PhD status and fieldwork or other forms of data-collection in that year (not before May), but usually not before the end of that first year.

Whether you start registered as MRes or MPhil, upgrading to PhD status takes place at a later date.

You'll research

Your first year.

In the induction week before the beginning of the academic term in September, Goldsmiths provides an Induction Programme for all new research postgraduates. You will be introduced to Goldsmiths-wide and departmental facilities and procedures, and attend sessions on what is involved in doing a research degree, as well presentations of current research across Goldsmiths and the Graduate School .

In the first year, you are registered as an MPhil student initially and will work on your own research project and your 'upgrade material' for the transfer to the PhD status in conversation with your supervisors. You will also be expected to take or audit taught courses in the department and across Goldsmiths, including sessions provided for research students by the Graduate School.

Training offered to all students on the MPhil/PhD includes:

• Research Design
• Doing Ethnography
• Visual Anthropology Training (MPhil/PhD Visual Anthropology only)
• Core Qualitative Research Methods
• Modelling Social Data I

You may also take other modules depending on your specific training needs – such as learning a language, or auditing an MA course –  either in the department or elsewhere, of particular relevance to your research project. You are encouraged to attend seminars in other parts of the University of London , attend conferences, and go on outside modules such as those organised by  SeNSS (South East Network of Social Science) or CHASE (Consortium for the Humanities and Arts South East England) .

From the beginning of your programme you will receive regular supervision, and you will be expected to produce work to be discussed in supervision sessions. Your progress and any outstanding training requirements will be formally reviewed by the Graduate School annually in conversation with your supervision team.

Fieldwork, upgrade from MPhil to PhD, and writing up your thesis

Your fieldwork or other process of data collection will typically start sometime between the summer term of your first year and the start of your second year. This always requires ethical clearance in the course of the 'upgrade' process from MPhil to PhD before the research has started.

The upgrade is part of your PhD process and usually takes place in the first year of registration by means of 'viva' examination based on material related to your project that includes a literature review, a detailed discussion of your project, an extended ethics form and the oral exam conducted by an internally appointed panel of examiners. This formal assessment (also referred to as 'upgrade') sanctions your transfer from MPhil to PhD registration.

Assessment for your PhD will be via written thesis (80,000 to 100,000 words) and viva voce.

Fees and funding

Annual tuition fees.

These are the PG fees for students starting their programme in the 2024/2025 academic year.

• Home - full-time: £4786
• Home - part-time: £2393
• International - full-time: £17690

If your fees are not listed here, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office , who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment .

Funding opportunities

Esrc/senss doctoral studentships.

Fully-funded ESRC studentships are available to research students via this Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP). Find out more about the ESRC/SENSS Doctoral Studentships .

Goldsmiths scholarships and studentships

Explore the Goldsmiths scholarships finder  to find out what funding you may be eligible for.

Paying your fees

Find out about paying your tuition fees .

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page .

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments.

Entry requirements

Should you not hold an MA in Anthropology from a UK university it is likely that you need to register for the MRes Anthropology before you can move to the MPhil.

There is little difference between the taught Masters and the qualifying year, except that the qualifying year is not a qualification in itself and involves no dissertation. If you achieve the required standard, you can apply to register for the MRes or MPhil/PhD.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the  qualifications we accept from around the world .

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or  equivalent English language qualification ) of  6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0  to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of  courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate study .

How to apply

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system.

Before submitting your application you'll need to have:

• Details of your education history , including the dates of all exams/assessments
• The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively an electronic copy of your academic reference
• Contact details of a second referee
• A personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online
• Details of your research proposal  (see below)
• If available, an electronic copy of your educational transcript (this is particularly important if you have studied outside of the UK, but isn’t mandatory)

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

Before you apply for a research programme, we advise you to get in touch with the programme contact, listed above. It may also be possible to arrange an advisory meeting.

Before you start at Goldsmiths, the actual topic of your research has to be agreed with your proposed supervisor, who will be a member of staff active in your general field of research. The choice of topic may be influenced by the current research in the department or the requirements of an external funding body. 

If you wish to study on a part-time basis, you should also indicate how many hours a week you intend to devote to research, whether this will be at evenings or weekends, and for how many hours each day.

Research proposals

Along with your application and academic reference, you should also upload a research proposal at the point of application. This should be in the form of a statement of the proposed area of research and should include:

• Delineation of the research topic 
• Why it has been chosen 
• A section on methodology 
• A brief list of major secondary sources 

How detailed a research proposal are we looking for on the application form?  

Obviously what you put on the form and exactly what you end up researching may be rather different, but in order to judge whether or not to offer you a place, the department needs to know whether you have the broad outlines of a viable project. This means: 

• A project that is both worthwhile and interesting, but not over-ambitious 
• A project that can realistically be achieved within the confines of PhD on a full-time (four years typically) or part-time (six years maximum) basis 
• We need to be sure that you have thought about it carefully and are fully committed to the research 
• We need to be sure that you understand what is involved in doing a PhD 
• Your research proposal should give us enough information to be able to interview you (if you are in the UK) or reach a decision as to whether to admit you if you are not based in the UK

When to apply

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September.

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place conditional on you achieving a particular qualification.

If you're applying for external funding from one of the Research Councils, make sure you submit your application by the deadline they've specified.

Selection process

Once we receive your application form, it is forwarded to the Postgraduate Convenor, who normally sets up a formal interview with two other members of staff with relevant expertise. You may wish to contact the convenor as well.

At the interview you will be asked about your academic background and to elaborate on your plans for research, and you can also ask questions.

Further guidance

Find out more about applying .

Dr Henrike Donner

Reader, PGR Admissions

I am an urban anthropologist with research interests in gender and kinship, class and urban politics.

Current staff and postgraduate research ranges across the world and across many sub-fields of social anthropology.

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Similar programmes.

MRes Anthropology

This programme offers advanced training to students who intend to undertake a doctorate in anthropology, and it presents a valuable standalone research degree in and of itself that allows students to apply for researcher positions.

MRes Visual Anthropology

The MRes Visual Anthropology offers advanced-level training to students who normally already have an undergraduate degree or an MA. Alternative practical experiences will be considered and assessed on a case-to-case basis. The programme offers training to students who intend to undertake a doctorate in anthropology and/or it presents a research degree in and of itself.

MPhil/PhD Visual Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology offers supervision in a wide range of areas at MPhil and PhD level.

MPhil/PhD Visual Sociology

We offer MPhil and PhD research programmes in Visual Sociology for full or part-time study.

• Schools & departments

Social Anthropology PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Social Anthropology

Discovery Day

Join us online on 21st August to learn more about postgraduate study at Edinburgh.

Find out more and register

Research profile

Our Social Anthropology group forms an international centre of excellence for postgraduate training, recognised as one of the premier research departments in the UK.

Edinburgh’s Social Anthropology department is among the largest in the UK, and our research interests are correspondingly diverse.

Our research is global in scope and includes core themes in:

• health and wellbeing
• religion and society
• migration and refugee studies
• science and technology
• the anthropology of kinship
• peace and conflict studies
• anthropology and the arts
• media anthropology
• cultural heritage
• international development
• human-animal relations
• the anthropology of design

Our work generally combines a traditional anthropological emphasis on ethnographic fieldwork with a focus on contemporary issues.

We welcome interdisciplinary research and are home to the Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology (EdCMA), and numerous collaborations with the Edinburgh College of Art, including the Atelier Network.

We also work closely with the Centre for African Studies (CAS), particularly with research on international development.

Programme structure

Usually undertaken full-time over three years, or part-time over six years, the PhD in Social Anthropology is a research degree in which you will make an original contribution to our knowledge by pursuing an extended and focused piece of research on a topic of your interest.

The programme is supported by the Graduate School of Social and Political Science, which enables you to acquire a broader set of transferable skills during your time with us.

Training and support

The PhD programme combines work on your thesis project, usually based on long-term fieldwork, with systematic training in anthropological and social research skills.

A wide range of training facilities are available to PhD students. The Graduate School provides a range of ESRC-recognised research training courses for social science students across the University. You are encouraged to participate in taught Masters level courses to assist your intellectual development and support you research.

The University’s Institute for Academic Development provides a range of courses and events to assist with methodological training and career development.

• Institute for Academic Development

Research library and archive facilities in Edinburgh are outstanding.

You will be a member of the Graduate School of Social & Political Science, with full access to the Graduate School’s facilities in the Chrystal Macmillan Building.

Other library and archive facilities include the University’s Main Library, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish Records Office. Proximity to the Scottish Parliament and other institutions of national government provides further research opportunities.

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in social anthropology. Your application will also be considered if you have a UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in another subject, and a postgraduate masters level degree in social anthropology.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 59 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

Fees and costs

Tuition fees, scholarships and funding, featured funding.

School of Social and Political Science Scholarships

UK Research Council Awards

For specialised guidance on submitting a competitive scholarship application, please follow the requirements and recommendations and how to contact relevant academic staff as advised here:

• Important information and recommendations

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

• your programme
• the duration of your studies
• your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• Postgraduate Admissions Team
• Phone: +44 (0)131 650 4086
• Contact: [email protected]
• Programme Advisor, Dr Alice Street
• Contact: [email protected]
• Graduate School of Social & Political Science
• Chrystal Macmillan Building
• 15A George Square
• Central Campus
• Programme: Social Anthropology
• School: Social & Political Science
• College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This programme is not currently accepting applications. Applications for the next intake usually open in October.

Start date: September

Awards: PhD (36 mth FT, 72 mth PT)

Application deadlines

We encourage you to apply at least one month prior to entry so that we have enough time to process your application. If you are also applying for funding or will require a visa then we strongly recommend you apply as early as possible.

• How to apply

You must submit a research proposal demonstrating your knowledge of your field of research, which will be closely scrutinised as part of the decision-making process. We request that PhD research proposals are no more than four A4 typed pages in Times New Roman, 12pt font. This includes charts and figures but does not include references or a bibliography.

We require PhD applicants in particular to contact potential supervisors before applying to discuss their research proposal so we can ensure there is adequate supervision.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

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PhD in Anthropology

Anthropology PhD students can take either a Sociocultural or Biological route. Both routes last three years and are examined by thesis. We encourage prospective PhD students to make informal contact with a member of the academic staff to discuss their application at an early stage.

PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology/ PhD in Biological Anthropology

Within the first few months of study, students will agree a work plan with their supervisors and identify any training needs, which may involve attending modules from our masters programmes as appropriate.

Students are encouraged to attend our writing seminars designed for research students. This seminar series brings together both pre- and post-fieldwork students to discuss reports of fieldwork in progress, draft chapters written by students and recent publications of relevance to students' work.

All PhD students are required to produce a 7,000 word progression report towards the end of their 1st year. This will be examined by two internal examiners who will hold a progression viva at which the student and examiners will discuss the progression script. Upon successfully passing their progression viva students will be permitted to proceed with their PhD research.

Students should aim to complete their research and write-up, and to submit their thesis by the end of their 3rd year.

Entry Requirements

The standard entry requirements for a PhD in Anthropology are usually:

• Master’s degree in Anthropology or a related discipline (although may not be required for some funding competitions – e.g. NineDTP 1+3)
• Two satisfactory academic references
• English language evidence – Band C (more information on English Language requirements can be found here and here )
• A viable research project supported by 2 supervisors within the Department (A list of academic staff in the Anthropology department can be found here )

Apply for postgraduate study

Previous PhD Theses

• Beautiful Mistakes: An Ethnographic Study of Women’s Lives after Marriage in a Rural Sinhala Village.
• Cultural Evolution of Material Knot Diversity.
• Sedentary time during pregnancy and gestational diabetes risk: a mixed methods approach among women in the UK.
• Establishing predictors of learning strategies; an investigation of the development of, and evolutionary foundations of, intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing when we learn from others and from whom we learn.
• The evolution of brain size and structure in primates.
• To Love An(other): Narratives of Mixed Marriage Amongst British Pakistani Muslims.
• ‘Hands Up’: Female Call Centre Workers’ Labour, Protest and Health in the Seoul Digital Industrial Complex, Korea.
• A study of Wai Phra Kao Wat (Paying Homage to a Buddha Image in the Nine Temples) in Bangkok, Thailand.
• Faith, Fashion, Feminism: Interrogating the Islamic Veil in Contemporary Britain.
• Disease, Morality and Bioethics: An Ethnographic Study of a TB Vaccine Trial Site in South Africa.
• Childhood Obesity in Bangladeshi Immigrants: A biocultural investigation.
• Understanding the place and meaning of physical activity in the lives of young people: An ethnographic study with two youth centres in a low-income urban area of Northern England.
• The Indigeneity question: State Violence, Forced Displacement and Women's Narratives in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.
• “From the Café We Went to War”: Political Manoeuvring and Protest in Pristina's Public Spaces.
• Human-primate conflict: an interdisciplinary evaluation of wildlife crop raiding on commercial crop farms in Limpopo Province, South Africa.
• Immunities at the margins: Negotiating health and bodily care among Haredi Jews in the UK.
• Entangling Molecules: an ethnography of a carbon offset project in Madagascar’s eastern rainforest.
• An Ethnographic Analysis of the Use of Schooling as an International Development Tool in Eragayam Tengah, Papua.
• Juvenile primates in the context of their social group: a case study of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) in an afro-montane environment.
• The Influence of Red Colouration on Human Perception of Aggression and Dominance in Neutral Settings.

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LLM Law - Labour Law and Corporate Governance

Llm law - law and globalisation, llm law - public law, llm law, environment, sustainability & business.

Find out about the University of Bristol's LLM in Law, Environment, Sustainability and Business, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

LLM Law, Environment, Sustainability and Business

Llm law, innovation & technology.

Find out about the University of Bristol's LLM in Law, Innovation and Technology, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

LLM Law, Innovation and Technology

Ma anthropology.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MA in Anthropology, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MA Black Humanities

Ma chinese-english audiovisual translation.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MA in Chinese-English Audiovisual Translation, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MA Chinese-English Translation

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MA Comparative Literatures and Cultures

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MA Composition of Music for Film and Television

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MA Creative Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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MA Creative Writing

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MA English Literature

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MA Environmental Humanities

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MA Film and Television

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Find out about the University of Bristol's MA in History, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MA History of Art

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MA Immersive Arts (Virtual and Augmented Reality)

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc, PGCert and PGDip in Immersive Arts (Virtual and Augmented Reality) including structure and career prospects.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MA in Law, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MA Logic and Philosophy of Mathematics

Ma medieval studies.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MA in Medieval Studies, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MA in Music, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MA Philosophy

Ma philosophy and history of science, ma philosophy of biological and cognitive sciences, ma philosophy of physics, ma religion, ma translation, ma translation (online).

Find out about the University of Bristol's PhD in Management, including entry requirements, structure and research groups.

Mathematics

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Mechanical Engineering

Find out about the University of Bristol's PhD in Mechanical Engineering, including entry requirements, supervisors and research groups.

Medieval Studies

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Molecular, Genetic and Lifecourse Epidemiology (Wellcome)

Find out about the University of Bristol's PhD in Molecular, Genetic and Lifecourse Epidemiology, fully funded by the Wellcome Trust for UK students.

MRes Advanced Quantitative Methods

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MRes Economics

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MRes Education

Find out about the University of Bristol's MRes in Education, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MRes Global Political Economy

Mres health sciences research.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MRes in Health Sciences Research, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MRes Security, Conflict and Human Rights

Mres sustainable futures.

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MSc Accounting and Finance

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MSc Accounting, Finance and Management

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MSc Advanced Composites

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MSc Advanced Microelectronic Systems Engineering

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MSc Aerial Robotics

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MSc Applied Neuropsychology

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MSc Applied Neuropsychology (Distance Learning)

Msc applied neuropsychology (online), msc banking, regulation and financial stability.

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MSc Bioinformatics

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MSc Biomedical Engineering

Msc biomedical sciences research.

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MSc Biorobotics

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MSc Business Analytics

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MSc Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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MSc by research Global Environmental Challenges

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MSc Cardiovascular Perfusion (distance learning)

Msc cardiovascular perfusion (online), msc climate change science and policy.

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MSc Clinical Neuropsychology

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MSc Clinical Perfusion Science

Msc clinical research methods and evidence-based medicine, msc communication networks and signal processing.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Communication Networks and Signal Processing, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Computer Science (Conversion)

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MSc Contemporary Identities

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MSc Cyber Security (Infrastructures Security)

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MSc Data Science

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MSc Data Science (Distance Learning)

Msc data science (online), msc dental implantology.

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MSc Development and Security

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MSc Digital Health

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MSc Earthquake Engineering and Infrastructure Resilience

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MSc East Asian Development and the Global Economy

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MSc Economics

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MSc Economics and Finance

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MSc Economics with Data Science

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MSc Economics, Finance and Management

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MSc Education (Education and Climate Change)

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MSc Education (Inclusive Education)

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MSc Education (Leadership and Policy)

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MSc Education (Learning, Technology and Society)

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MSc Education (Mathematics Education)

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MSc Education (Neuroscience and Education)

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MSc Education (Open Pathway)

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MSc Education (Policy and International Development)

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MSc Education (Teaching and Learning)

Msc engineering mathematics.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Engineering Mathematics, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Engineering with Management

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MSc Environmental Analytical Chemistry

Msc environmental modelling and data analysis.

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MSc Environmental Policy and Management

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MSc Epidemiology

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MSc Finance and Investment

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MSc Financial Technology

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MSc Financial Technology with Data Science

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MSc Gender and International Relations

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MSc Geographic Data Science and Spatial Analytics

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MSc Global Development and Environment

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MSc Global Management

Msc global operations and supply chain management.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Global Operations and Supply Chain Management, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Global Wildlife Health and Conservation

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MSc Health Economics and Health Policy Analysis

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MSc Health Professions Education

Msc health professions education (online), msc healthcare management, msc healthcare management (online), msc human geography: society and space.

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MSc Human Resource Management and the Future of Work

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MSc Human-Computer Interaction (Online)

Msc image and video communications and signal processing.

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MSc Immersive Technologies (Virtual and Augmented Reality)

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MSc Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Msc international business and strategy: global challenges.

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MSc International Development

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MSc International Relations

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MSc International Security

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MSc Management

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MSc Management (CSR and Sustainability)

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MSc Management (Digitalisation and Big Data)

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MSc Management (Entrepreneurship and Innovation)

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MSc Management (International Business)

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MSc Management (International Human Resource Management)

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MSc Management (Marketing)

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MSc Management (Project Management)

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MSc Marketing

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MSc Mathematical Sciences

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MSc Medical Statistics and Health Data Science

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MSc Molecular Neuroscience

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Molecular Neuroscience, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Nanoscience and Functional Nanomaterials

Msc nuclear science and engineering.

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MSc Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health

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MSc Optical Communications and Signal Processing

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MSc Optoelectronic and Quantum Technologies

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MSc Oral Medicine

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Oral Medicine, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Orthopaedic Research Methods and Evidence-Based Medicine

Msc palaeobiology.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Palaeobiology, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Perfusion Science

Msc periodontology.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc and Postgraduate Certificate in Perfusion Science, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Policy Research

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Policy Research, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Psychology (Conversion)

Msc psychology of education bps.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc conversion programme in Psychology of Education, accreddiated by the British Psychological Society,

MSc Public Health

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Public Health, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Public Policy

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MSc Public Policy Analysis (Distance Learning)

Msc reproduction and development.

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc, PGCert and PGDip in Reproduction and Development, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Robotics

Find out about the University of Bristol's MSc in Robotics, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

MSc Science Communication for a Better Planet

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MSc Scientific Computing with Data Science

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MSc Social and Cultural Theory

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MSc Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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MSc Social Science Research Methods (Management)

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MSc Social Science Research Methods (Politics)

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MSc Social Science Research Methods (Sociology)

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MSc Social Work

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MSc Social Work Research

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MSc Society, Politics and Climate Change

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MSc Socio-Legal Studies

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MSc Sociology

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MSc Stem Cells and Regeneration

Msc stem cells and regeneration (online), msc strategy, change and leadership.

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MSc Sustainable Engineering

Msc teaching and learning for health professionals, msc teaching english to speakers of other languages (tesol).

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MSc Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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MSc Translational Cardiovascular Medicine

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MSc Translational Cardiovascular Medicine (Online)

Msc volcanology, msc water and environmental management.

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MSc Wireless Communications and Signal Processing

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Find out about the University of Bristol's PhD in Music, including entry requirements, supervisors and research groups.

Oral and Dental Sciences

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PG Certificate (Postgraduate Certificate) Clinical Neuropsychology Practice

Find out about the University of Bristol's Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Neuropsychology Practice, including structure and career prospects.

PG Certificate (Postgraduate Certificate) Clinical Oral Surgery

Find out about the University of Bristol's Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Oral Surgery, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

PG Certificate (Postgraduate Certificate) Clinical Perfusion Science

Pg certificate (postgraduate certificate) healthcare improvement, pg certificate (postgraduate certificate) healthcare improvement (online), pg certificate (postgraduate certificate) perfusion science, pg diploma (postgraduate diploma) applied neuropsychology, pg diploma (postgraduate diploma) applied neuropsychology (bristol-based), pg diploma (postgraduate diploma) applied neuropsychology (distance learning), pg diploma (postgraduate diploma) applied neuropsychology (online), pg diploma (postgraduate diploma) clinical neuropsychology.

Find out about the University of Bristol's Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Neuropsychology, including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

PG Diploma (Postgraduate Diploma) Orthodontic Therapy

Pg diploma (postgraduate diploma) philosophy, pg diploma (postgraduate diploma) theoretical and practical clinical neuropsycho, pg diploma (postgraduate diploma) theoretical and practical clinical neuropsychology.

Find out about the University of Bristol's PG Diploma in Theoretical and Practical Clinical Neuropsychology, including structure and entry requirements.

PGCE Education (Secondary)

Find out about the University of Bristol's PGCE in Education (Secondary) including structure, entry requirements and career prospects.

PhD Accounting and Finance

Phd advanced composites, phd advanced quantitative methods, phd aerosol science, phd aerospace engineering, phd anthropology and archaeology, phd biochemistry, phd biological sciences, phd cellular and molecular medicine, phd chemistry, phd civil engineering, phd classics and ancient history, phd comparative literatures and cultures, phd computational statistics and data science: compass, phd computer science, phd creative writing, phd cyber security (tips at scale), phd digital health and care, phd disability studies, phd dynamic molecular cell biology (wellcome trust), phd earth sciences, phd east asian studies, phd economics, phd education, phd electrical and electronic engineering, phd engineering mathematics, phd english literature, phd exercise, nutrition and health, phd film and television, phd geographical sciences (human geography), phd geographical sciences (physical geography), phd global political economy, phd great western four+ doctoral training partnership (nerc), phd health and wellbeing, phd hispanic, portuguese and latin american studies, phd history, phd history of art, phd innovation and entrepreneurship, phd integrative cardiovascular science (bhf), phd interactive artificial intelligence, phd italian, phd management, phd mathematics, phd mechanical engineering, phd medieval studies, phd molecular, genetic and lifecourse epidemiology (wellcome), phd oral and dental sciences, phd philosophy, phd physics, phd physiology, pharmacology and neuroscience, phd politics, phd population health sciences, phd psychology, phd quantum engineering, phd religion and theology, phd robotics and autonomous systems, phd russian, phd security, conflict and human rights, phd social policy, phd social work, phd sociology, phd south west biosciences doctoral training partnership (bbsrc), phd south west doctoral training partnership (esrc), phd sustainable futures, phd technology enhanced chemical synthesis, phd theatre and performance, phd translation, phd translational health sciences, phd veterinary sciences.

Find out about the University of Bristol's PhD in Philosophy, including entry requirements, supervisors and research groups.

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Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience

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Find out about the University of Bristol's PhD in Politics, including key themes and entry requirements.

Population Health Sciences

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Practice-Oriented Artificial Intelligence

Quantum information science and technologies, religion and theology.

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Social Policy

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Social Work

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Sociotechnical Futures and Digital Methods

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South West Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (BBSRC)

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Sustainable Futures

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Technology Enhanced Chemical Synthesis

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Theatre and Performance

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Translation

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Translational Health Sciences

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Veterinary Sciences

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PhD in Biological Anthropology

Postgraduate Study

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The PhD in Biological Anthropology is an opportunity for original research leading to a thesis within a structured research environment that encourages both independence and collaboration. The PhD is normally obtained after three years of study (five years part-time) on an approved topic within the field of Biological Anthropology, and includes an oral examination on the thesis and the general field of knowledge in which it falls. 

The thesis topic is normally proposed by the student and then decided between the student and the supervisor, and assistance is provided on elements of methodology and analysis, as well as with the written presentation. The thesis must satisfy the examiners that the candidate can design and carry out investigations, assess and interpret the results obtained, and place the work in the wider perspective of the subject. The PhD is assessed solely on the basis of the thesis. 

A PhD thesis in Biological Anthropology must represent a significant contribution to knowledge, with a word count of not more than 80,000 words. The work may be in the format of a thesis, or as a collection of at least three research articles first-authored by the student. In the case of the latter, the submission should include an in-depth discussion of the topic on which the work falls, an overall discussion of the results obtained and insights gained, and a single combined bibliography. Students may be required to complete courses in research design, statistical analysis, interpretation, communication and safety during their first Michaelmas term at Cambridge, and attend such lectures and courses as are considered appropriate by their supervisor. 

Learning Outcomes

A PhD thesis in Biological Anthropology is expected to be a lucid, scholarly and substantial research contribution to knowledge on its topic, and to demonstrate a good understanding of the wider context of the chosen topic. 

Students at the University of Cambridge taking an MPhil course that includes taught and research components, such as the MPhil in Human Evolutionary Studies, who wish to continue to the PhD in Biological Anthropology are required to achieve a mark of at least 68 overall in Biological Anthropology or a related subject and at least 68 in the dissertation.

Students who are taking an MPhil course by research, such as the MPhil in Biological Anthropological Science, need to have passed the MPhil to have their admission to the PhD programme confirmed.

Students must submit a PhD research proposal and obtain the support of an appropriate supervisor prior to submitting an application. Funding deadlines concentrate around October-December, so students who wish to apply for a PhD should approach potential supervisors with project ideas early in the academic year.

The Postgraduate Virtual Open Day usually takes place at the end of October. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the  Postgraduate Open Day  page for more details.

See further the  Postgraduate Admissions Events  pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.

Key Information

3-4 years full-time, 4-7 years part-time, study mode : research, doctor of philosophy, department of archaeology, course - related enquiries, application - related enquiries, course on department website, dates and deadlines:, lent 2024 (closed).

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Easter 2024 (Closed)

Michaelmas 2024 (closed), easter 2025, funding deadlines.

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2024, Lent 2025 and Easter 2025.

Similar Courses

• Human Evolutionary Studies MPhil
• Biological Anthropological Science MPhil
• Archaeology PhD
• Medical Science (Clinical Biochemistry) MPhil
• Medical Science (Medical Genetics) MPhil

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MPhil in Social Anthropology

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MPhil in Health, Medicine and Society

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Postgraduate Courses

• MPhil in Social Anthropological Research

PhD in Social Anthropology

The University of Cambridge was rated as the best in the world for Anthropology in the influential global rankings by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) in 2018. The Department is also ranked first by the Complete University Guide and What Uni .

The Department of Social Anthropology offers two postgraduate qualifications:  the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

The Cambridge MPhil by Advanced Study in Social Anthropology is an intensive 11-month graduate degree programme intended as a conversion course for students with little or no previous training in anthropological methods and perspectives. It provides a wide yet thorough grounding in the theoretical and ethnographic dimensions of the field.

MPhil in Social Anthropological Research

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This MPhil will provide specialist training in Social Anthropology to students with a first degree in the discipline. It will consist of a core course on contemporary themes and professional development, together with an evolving programme of methods teaching and specialist training in cutting edge social anthropology, directly linked to staff research interests.

This new MPhil is for students who have already a strong engagement with the core themes of our discipline but wish to develop their expertise along more specialist lines, either as grounding for a PhD or as preparation for a job outside the academy. 

If you have a degree in Social Anthropology – either as a single track or as part of a joint degree – this MPhil could be for you. 

The MPhil in Health, Medicine and Society is jointly run by the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Department of Social Anthropology and Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge. In addition to history, sociology and social anthropology, the course also includes ethics and philosophy, thus offering an unparalleled educational experience. It is designed to provide students with combined advanced skills in the social and historical analysis of health and medicine. The course offers a high-level interdisciplinary approach to theory and methodology, build confidence in conceptual and empirical analysis, and ensure familiarity with key scholarly literatures. Research training is a core component of the course, which will enable students to design individual projects, collect and analyse data, and develop substantial arguments based on independent study. 

A Cambridge PhD is very highly regarded in the field of Anthropology, both in the UK and overseas, and we have some extremely distinguished alumni who have been enormously influential in academic anthropology globally.  The majority of our PhD graduates go on to jobs in academia, while the rest build very successful careers in the media, civil service, and the development sector, among others. We have the largest cohort of postgraduate Anthropology students in the UK. Social Anthropology Cambridge is unparalleled as a place to study for a PhD, combining world class teaching and resources with a friendly but intellectually challenging atmosphere.

Here is one student's comments on studying for his PhD in the Department. 

Department of Social Anthropology Free School Lane Cambridge CB2 3RF Tel: 01223 334 599

Contact: [email protected]

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We have 40 Anthropology PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

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Anthropology PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

PhDs in Anthropology are doctoral research degrees that allow students to deeply explore a particular aspect of human societies, cultures, and their development.

Specifics vary drastically between programmes, but may involve research into the complexities of human behaviour, cultural practices, and the impact of social structures on diverse populations.

Entry requirements typically include an undergraduate degree in an appropriate subject such as Anthropology, Sociology, or History. A relevant Masters degree may also be required depending on the programme.

Why study a PhD in Anthropology?

Develop skills and knowledge.

A PhD in Anthropology allows you to not only develop your own knowledge of Anthropology, but also to make a unique, original contribution to the subject as a whole. By doing so, you will hone a variety of transferable skills, such as:

• Research and Analytical Skills: Ability to design, conduct, and analyse complex research projects.
• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Expertise in evaluating anthropological theories and practices to address challenges.
• Communication and Presentation Skills: Proficiency in effectively conveying ideas and findings to diverse audiences.

Further Career Development

If you're hoping for a career in academia, a PhD is typically required. Other research-based careers may likewise require a PhD, and even when they don't, employers will value the research skills and knowledge developed during your degree. For more information, please visit our PhD employability guide .

After completing your PhD in Anthropology, a potential career option might be employment as an Academic Researcher . According to UK salary data from Glassdoor , an Academic Researcher earns an average of £33,747 per year , dependent on factors such as experience, employer and employment location.

Improve Employability

Completing a PhD may also improve your employability. According to the UK government's LEO Graduate and Postgraduate Outcomes survey , 83% of Anthropology PhD students were in further education or employment three years after graduation.

What do prospective Anthropology PhD students think about study?

We host the Pulse postgraduate survey to understand the motivations, concerns and expectations of students just like you. For prospective Anthropology PhD students in 2023:

• 71% were either positive or very positive about employment after graduation.
• 64% preferred on campus learning, 12% preferred online/distance learning, and 24% preferred a blended approach.
• 21% were interested in part-time study.
• Subject interest
• Skills development

If you'd like to make your voice heard, why not complete our survey? Your feedback will help us ensure our site is as helpful as possible for students like you!

Note: This guidance was produced with the assistance of AI. However, all data is derived from reliable, authoratitive sources, and all content has been reviewed by humans.

Take your research degree in Arts and Social Sciences or Business at Monash University Malaysia

Funded phd programme (students worldwide).

Some or all of the PhD opportunities in this programme have funding attached. Applications for this programme are welcome from suitably qualified candidates worldwide. Funding may only be available to a limited set of nationalities and you should read the full programme details for further information.

International PhD Programme

International PhD programs are often designed for international students. Your PhD will usually be delivered in English, though some opportunities to gain and use additional language skills might also be available. Students may propose their own PhD topics or apply for advertised projects.

Funded fellowship opportunities in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Visualization and Graphics

Canada phd programme.

A Canadian PhD usually takes 3-6 years. Programmes sometimes include taught classes and training modules followed by a comprehensive examination. You will then carry on to research your thesis, before presenting and defending your work. Programmes are usually offered in English, but universities in Québec and New Brunswick may teach in French.

‘Water Stories: capturing, mapping and sharing stories and imagined futures in the Forth Water Basin’ - - A prestigious, fully-funded, 4-year PhD studentship linked to an exciting, ground-breaking £5m UKRI-funded Local Policy Innovation Partnership

Phd research project.

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

This project has funding attached, subject to eligibility criteria. Applications for the project are welcome from all suitably qualified candidates, but its funding may be restricted to a limited set of nationalities. You should check the project and department details for more information.

Circadian Rhythms and Ageing

Self-funded phd students only.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

ESRC Studentship: ‘How life course perceptions shape climate discourses and practices in the North West of England’

Competition funded phd project (students worldwide).

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities. Applications for the project are welcome from all suitably qualified candidates, but potential funding may be restricted to a limited set of nationalities. You should check the project and department details for more information.

Shifting Global Polarities PhD Studentship

Funded phd project (uk students only).

This research project has funding attached. It is only available to UK citizens or those who have been resident in the UK for a period of 3 years or more. Some projects, which are funded by charities or by the universities themselves may have more stringent restrictions.

Shifting Global Polarities: Russia, China, and Eurasia in Transition

Youth side hustles, social sciences research programme.

Social Sciences Research Programmes present a range of research opportunities, shaped by a university’s particular expertise, facilities and resources. You will usually identify a suitable topic for your PhD and propose your own project. Additional training and development opportunities may also be offered as part of your programme.

Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities and Social Sciences

The PhD opportunities on this programme do not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Predicting diverse facial appearance

Exploring (inter-) generational experiences of living with a bleeding disorder (ref: sf23/hls/nmh/lariviere), ethnographic explorations of the security needs of participants in protests, moving beyond oil from below through creative practice and urban artivism for the transition to post-fossil fuels cities, ageing well with rheumatoid arthritis: exploring online health communities for middle aged and older women in the uk.

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Social and Cultural Anthropology MSc

London, Bloomsbury

This MSc provides a thorough grounding in anthropological theory and analysis, an understanding of ethnographic approaches to the study of social worlds, and a strong foundation in research practices. This programme is unique in training and supporting students to carry out their own qualitative research projects to help them develop practical skills relevant to a wide range of careers.

UK tuition fees (2024/25)

Overseas tuition fees (2024/25), programme starts, applications accepted.

Applications closed

Applications open

• Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 4

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website .

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

The programme aims to develop knowledge and understanding of major theoretical, ethnographic and methodological debates in social anthropology. Students develop an understanding of human cultural worlds through in-depth historical study, gain knowledge of specific societies and specialist approaches, and enhance their independent research skills through practical training in research methods.

Who this course is for

The programme is suitable for graduates in anthropology and other social sciences, and suitably qualified applicants from other disciplines, who wish to develop the ability to analyse a broad range of contemporary issues in order to pursue a career in research, teaching, development, public service, journalism and many other fields.

What this course will give you

UCL Anthropology was the first in the UK to integrate biological and social anthropology with material culture into a broad-based conception of the discipline. It is one of the largest anthropology departments in the UK in terms of both staff and research student numbers, offering an exceptional breadth of expertise.

UCL Anthropology ranks fourth in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 , making it the top ranked institution in London, and third in the UK and Europe for the subject.

Students are encouraged to take full advantage of the wider anthropological community in London and the department's strong links with European universities and international institutions.

The foundation of your career

Recent graduates of this degree have pursued careers in fields including government, business, development, social research and consultancy, and the media, as well as in academia as professional anthropologists.

Employability

In addition to the analytical, interpretative skills honed by its core academic training, the degree is unique in focusing on the development of practical competencies in ethnographic and qualitative research. These skills are relevant to a wide range of professions including international development, education, local and national government, the creative industries and market research. Our close co-operation with UCL’s bespoke careers services provides opportunities for internships and placements during the programme or following its completion.

Students have the possibility of connecting with visiting scholars and experts across a wide range of fields, including the biological sciences, international development, digital humanities, medicine, psychology and social anthropology, through the departments many section research seminars and reading and research groups. Students are offered the opportunity to work with local third sector organizations in their dissertation projects through the Community Research Initiative (CRIS) which connects students with local community groups.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, small group presentations and discussion, tutorials, laboratory and practical work, independent directed reading, interactive teamwork, and video, film and web based courses. It includes a research seminar series with invited speakers.

Assessment is through unseen examination, essays, and the research dissertation.

The two compulsory modules typically involve around 72 contact hours (a mix of 1h lectures, 2h seminars and 3h workshop classes). The three optional modules (15 credit) usually amount to 54 contact hours (assuming 2 hour weekly seminar) but will vary depending on the choice of modules. Estimated time with your personal tutor (individual and small group tutorials) accounts for 5 further hours and estimated time in dissertation supervision another 4 hours (1h meetings).

The programme runs over one full academic year for full time students and over two full years for part-time students. The programme comprises three basic elements:

• Two compulsory modules: the seminar series in Critical Issues in Social Anthropology and research training in Methods in Ethnography.
• Three optional modules: you are free to choose optional modules from across the department but students must take at least one, if not more, optional modules from within the Social Anthropology section. Please note: some Biological Anthropology and Public Anthropology options are restricted.
• The 15,000 word dissertation: for this module you will individually conduct original research on an anthropological topic of your own choice.

Students take all their compulsory modules and typically one or two optional modules in the first year. In the second year they take their remaining optional module(s) and complete a 15,000 word dissertation which requires them to conduct original research on an anthropological topic of their own choice.

Compulsory modules

Optional modules.

Please note that the 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. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Social and Cultural Anthropology.

Students can choose to conduct fieldwork-based projects for their final dissertation.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk . Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team .

Fees and funding

Fees for this course.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees .

Additional costs

Students might incur some additional costs associated with their fieldwork, dependent on the project they choose.

In recent years our students have received fieldwork funding from the department’s Turing Scheme and the Anna Sturm Law Travel Prize.

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs .

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website .

Aziz Foundation Scholarships in Social and Historical Sciences

Value: Full tuition fees (equivalent to 1yr full-time) (1yr) Criteria Based on financial need Eligibility: UK

UCL East London Scholarship

NOW CLOSED FOR 2024/25 ENTRY Value: Tuition fees plus £15,700 stipend () Criteria Based on financial need Eligibility: UK

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this programme of £90 for online applications and £115 for paper applications. Further information can be found at Application fees .

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

• why you want to study Social and Cultural Anthropology at graduate level
• why you want to study Social and Cultural Anthropology at UCL
• what particularly attracts you to this programme
• how your personal, academic and professional background meets the demands of a challenging academic environment
• where you would like to go professionally with your degree

We are looking for students who have ‘done their homework’. You should show that you have a sound understanding of what anthropology is about, you should know what this programme in particular entails, and you should make the case for why this programme fits your research interests and personal career trajectory. In short, together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match with the programme we deliver.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2024-2025

Got questions get in touch.

Anthropology

[email protected]

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The ASA is the professional association for social anthropology. It was founded in 1946 to promote the study and teaching of anthropology and to uphold the interests and status of the discipline, primarily in the UK, but also extending to the Commonwealth, where it works collaboratively with fellow anthropology associations. The ASA’s major role is to assist its members in planning and conducting research, and to represent social anthropology and anthropologists in the academy, and in relation to policy and funding.

The ASA maintains a searchable directory of members , which is in effect a register of professional social anthropologists. It publishes the annual ASA monograph ; the peer-reviewed open access journal ASAonline and the Firth lectures . It supports the communication of social anthropology in various social media.

For more details about the ASA’s activities, past and present, please click here .

Join the ASA

Critical Junctions: Anthropology on the Move

Department of African Studies and Anthropology (DASA), University of Birmingham

08-11 April 2025

Wendy James

The ASA was sad to learn that longstanding member of the ASA and the anthropological community, Professor Wendy James, passed away on 27 April. Read her University's obituary notice .

The 2024 Firth Lecture

This year's Firth Lecture took place on 5th of April during PeopleFest . This year's lecture was titled The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India and will be given by Professor Alpa Shah (London School of Economics).

Kent University: Proposal of withdrawal for Social Anthropology degree

ASA was concerned to hear that Kent University has put forward proposals to withdraw their degrees in Social Anthropology. Anthropology at Kent has a very illustrious history. Many leading Anthropologists have graduated from Kent, some now heads of Anthropology departments at other universities. Over 60 years, Kent has been one of the departments that shows what integrated anthropology could be, through cooperation between Social Anthropology and Conservation Biology in particular. In these times, when the issues of biodiversity and climate change are so immediate, that combination of research and teaching is more essential than ever. We are in touch with the leadership at Kent Canterbury, to urge them to reconsider their strategy. Social Anthropology is a growing discipline in some universities, and we know that when students have the opportunity to study with us, they usually become more interested and choose more Social Anthropology modules where they can. We also want to help dispel the myth, currently circulating among some university vice-chancellors, that applications to Social Anthropology are falling. In fact, we are seeing increased differentiation between universities, but no general decline in interest. Social Anthropology is a thriving subject, one that is increasingly valued across other disciplines, and many of us are finding ourselves in demand to contribute to interdisciplinary research. We are in a unique position to address pressing global challenges, as well as helping new generations to find ways to understand one another, develop empathy and challenge prejudices. We will be demonstrating this at our next public event, the PeopleFest in Manchester in April.

Network for the Anthropology of Time: inaugural lecture

The ASA was delighted to see the launch of a new network, the ASA Network for the Anthropology of Time . Launched at St Andrews University with a three-day conference in the first week of October, the keynote speaker, Dr Chloe Ahmann, gave a powerful talk entitled Time Bomb: Toxic Disavowal in the Shadow of Apocalypse . The talk is available on the network webpage . Congratulations to the network’s founding co-convenors, Dr Gabriela Manley, Dr Daniel Knight and Dr Felix Ringel.

What Does the Future Hold? Durham anthropologists in podcasts

ASA members have been active in the public sphere, with a panel at the Durham Book Festival on October 14th, under the heading What Does the Future Hold? .

Durham Book Festival, organised by New Writing North, have produced a podcast series featuring six Durham anthropologists, available online .

The State of UK Anthropology in 2023: findings and recommendations from the ASA Survey

The ASA is increasing its engagement both with existing members and with a new generation of anthropologists. As part of this aim, between January and May 2023, ASA gathered data on previous interactions with the association and gave members and prospective members the opportunity to share their views about the present and future of anthropology in the UK. The data gathered in the report aimed to investigate three main areas. First, the number of social anthropology PhDs and postdocs enrolled or working in UK institutions. Second, the post-PhD career destinations of anthropologists graduating from UK institutions. Third, the perspectives anthropologists have of the ASA as an organisation.

The overarching project sought to focus on the status of individuals at the earliest stages of their career in social anthropology and aimed at helping the ASA committee plan future events and enriching careers in anthropology at all levels.

The report has been updated after the mistaken earlier omission of Queen's University, Belfast.

Read the full report

My research in Anthropology videos

At the recent ASA annual conference, we interviewed a handful of delegates regarding their research interests. You are invited to browse the playlist of short recordings.

Charlotte Aull Davies

The ASA was very sorry to learn of the passing of Charlotte Aull Davies. Read about her life .

Pnina Werbner

The ASA was very sorry to learn of the passing of long-term and active member, Pnina Werbner, on 17th January. Well-known and respected for her work on cosmopolitanism, she was regularly to be seen at ASA conferences - indeed she hosted the 2006 jubilee conference at her University (Keele), resulting in an ASA monograph from it. Pnina is survived by her husband Dick Werbner (also a longstanding ASA member) and their two children. Read her obituary by Katharine Tyler .

Alan Barnard

The ASA is sorry to learn that longstanding ASA member Alan Barnard passed away suddenly on Friday. Dr. Magnus Course , Head of Social Anthropology at University of Edinburgh writes:

Alan was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but spent most his life here in Scotland, joining the Department of Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh in 1978. He received a personal chair in the Anthropology of Southern Africa in 2001 before retiring in 2015 after 37 years' service. His immense contribution to the discipline was recognized with his election to the British Academy in 2010. Alan was especially proud of his appointment to the role of Honorary Consul of the Republic of Namibia in 2007. Over the decades, Alan was the author of dozens of books and articles, ranging from his earlier work among the marginalized hunter-gather communities of Namibia and Botswana to later more theoretical work about the contribution social anthropology could make to explorations of the origins of human language and society.

His gentle kindness, his friendship, and his unfading passion for anthropology's biggest questions will be sorely missed.

Fixed term research assistant

The ASA invited applications for a fixed-term position as a research assistant under the supervision of Dr Andrea E. Pia. The ASA is undergoing a restructuring of its operations which aims at rendering the association more inclusive and relevant to contemporary British society. Read more .

Scholars at risk

Scholars at risk who are looking for safety and support are encouraged to apply to this joint scheme between the Academies in the UK and the Council for At-Risk Academics. Anthropologists are welcome to contact ASA for help in identifying suitable host institutions, and our directory of members is available for consultation.

War in Ukraine – an Interview with Dr Taras Fedirko

ASA Media Officer Andrea E. Pia talks with Dr Taras Fedirko about his recent ethnographic fieldwork on militarism and media oligopolies in Ukraine. Dr Fedirko discusses the political and social contexts of Ukraine after the Maidan revolution and clarifies the role that media corporations, Putin’s propaganda, and para-military groups have played in the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Read in full...

Statement on racism by the committee of the ASA

The ASA Committee believes that anthropologists today, like the vast majority of scholars in social science, the humanities and the natural sciences, think that racism, as a means of producing and reproducing inequality based on ideas about racial difference, is morally wrong and that... Read the full statement .

ASA Ethical Guidelines (EGG) Review

In the fall of 2019, the ASA Ethics Guidelines Working Group circulated a survey soliciting members' feedback on their experiences of institutional ethics review. 87 respondents completed the survey and a summary of the results is now available here . If you have any queries about the work of EGG, please contact Jude Robinson at ethics(at)theasa.org .

The ASA considers individual requests for financial assistance by members to support activities that will further the aims of the ASA and professional anthropology in the UK. The maximum amount that any applicant can apply for is £100. Read more .

Read the ASA's Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions , in relation to sale of membership and conference services.

ASA2022 Anthropology Educates : this six-month long conference's files, recordings and comments are available to all to enjoy online.

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Home / Study here / Graduate studies

Graduate studies

Graduate students at the University of Oxford are affiliated with both a department or faculty, and a college or hall. Your department will be responsible for your teaching and research, and your college will provide support for administration, welfare, facilities, and the community that we hope will become your home at Oxford.

Studying at St Antony’s

St Antony’s College accepts graduate students for research or taught courses in most subject areas offered by the Social Sciences and Humanities divisions. The college has strengths in modern history, international relations, economics, development studies, politics, and anthropology of different regions of the world. 

We accept candidates whose research proposal or statement of purpose demonstrates strong links to the college’s research areas, although we understand your research/interest may focus on a different area that overlaps with our specialisms. We have an excellent reputation for our cosmopolitan, vibrant community of international graduate students and our cultural diversity, known globally for our stimulating intellectual life and rich cultural environment.

Please consult the college guide page on the University website for more information about which colleges accept which courses. You can also see what courses St Antony’s accepts below or on the Graduate Studies website . Send us an email to [email protected] and we will be happy to answer any queries you may have.

We aim to admit a certain number of graduate students each year spread across the range of subjects, and this determines the number of offers we can make. Where there are more applicants than places, the relative academic merit and potential of the applicants may be considered.

All courses are offered on a full-time basis unless a part-time option is specified on the course webpage.

The University of Oxford Graduate Admissions website offers information about all of these courses, including information about subject-specific entry requirements, University scholarships, and selection criteria.

We accept graduate students for the following courses:

Course | mode of study | expected length.

African Studies  MSc Full time 9 months

Anthropology  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Anthropology  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Area Studies  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies  MSt Full time 9 months

Bachelor of Civil Law  BCL Full time 10 months

Comparative Literature and Critical Translation  MSt Full time 9 months

Comparative Social Policy  MPhil Full time 21 months

Comparative Social Policy  MSc Full time 1 year

Contemporary Chinese Studies  MSc Full time 9 months

Criminology  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Criminology  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Criminology and Criminal Justice  MSc Full time 9 months

Criminology and Criminal Justice  MSc Part time 21 months

Development Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Diplomatic Studies  MSt Full time 1 year

Economic and Social History  MPhil Full time 21 months

Economic and Social History  MSc Full time 11 months

Economics  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Economics  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Economics  MPhil Full time 21 months

Economics for Development  MSc Full time 9 months

Education  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Education  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Education (Comparative and International Education)  MSc Full time 1 year

Education (Digital and Social Change)  MSc Full time 1 year

Education (Higher Education)  MSc Full time 1 year

Education (Research Design and Methodology)  MSc Full time 1 year

Education (Research Design and Methodology)  MSc Part time 2 years

English  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Environmental Change and Management  MSc Full time 1 year

Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation  MPhil Full time 21 months

Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation  MSc Full time 1 year

Film Aesthetics  MSt Full time 9 months

Financial Economics  MSc Full time 9 months

Geography and the Environment  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Geography and the Environment  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Global and Area Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Global and Imperial History  MSt Full time 9 months

Global Governance and Diplomacy  MSc Full time 9 months

History  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

History  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

History  MPhil Full time 21 months

History  MSt Full time 9 months

History  MSt Part time 21 months

History (Economic and Social History)  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

History (Economic and Social History)  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

History of Science, Medicine and Technology  MPhil Full time 21 months

History of Science, Medicine and Technology  MSc Full time 11 months

Information, Communication and the Social Sciences  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Information, Communication and the Social Sciences  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

International Development  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

International Development  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

International Relations  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

International Relations  MPhil Full time 21 months

Islamic Studies and History  MPhil Full time 21 months

Islamic Studies and History  MSt Full time 9 months

Japanese Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Japanese Studies  MSc Full time 1 year

Korean Studies  MSt Full time 9 months

Latin American Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Latin American Studies  MSc Full time 9 months

Law  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Law  MPhil Full time 1 year

Law and Finance  MSc Full time 10 months

Management  DPhil Full time 4 years

Master of Business Administration  MBA Full time 1 year

Medical Anthropology  MPhil Full time 21 months

Medical Anthropology  MSc Full time 1 year

Medieval and Modern Languages  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Medieval and Modern Languages  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Migration Studies  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Migration Studies  MSc Full time 9 months

Modern Chinese Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Modern Languages  MPhil Full time 21 months

Modern Languages  MSt Full time 9 months

Modern Middle Eastern Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Modern Middle Eastern Studies  MSc Full time 1 year

Modern South Asian Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Modern South Asian Studies  MSc Full time 9 months

Nature, Society and Environmental Governance  MSc Full time 1 year

Political Theory Research  MSc Full time 1 year

Politics  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Politics (Comparative Government)  MPhil Full time 21 months

Politics (European Politics and Society)  MPhil Full time 21 months

Politics (Political Theory)  MPhil Full time 21 months

Politics Research  MSc Full time 1 year

Public Policy  DPhil Full time 3 years

Public Policy  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Public Policy  MPP Full time 1 year

Public Policy Research  MSc Full time 1 year

Refugee and Forced Migration Studies  MSc Full time 9 months

Russian and East European Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Russian and East European Studies  MSc Full time 9 months

Slavonic Studies  MPhil Full time 21 months

Slavonic Studies  MSt Full time 9 months

Social Anthropology  MPhil Full time 21 months

Social Anthropology  MSc Full time 1 year

Social Data Science  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Social Data Science  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Social Data Science  MSc Full time 10 months

Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Social Policy  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Social Policy  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Social Science of the Internet  MSc Full time 10 months

Social Science of the Internet  MSc Part time 22 months

Socio-Legal Research  MPhil Full time 1 year

Socio-Legal Studies  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Socio-Legal Studies  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Sociology  DPhil Full time 3-4 years

Sociology  DPhil Part time 6-8 years

Sociology  MSc Full time 1 year

Sociology and Demography  MPhil Full time 21 months

Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment  MSc Full time 1 year

Theology and Religion  DPhil Full time 3 years

Theology and Religion  DPhil Part time 6 years

Traditional China  MSt Full time 9 months

Traditional East Asia  MPhil Full time 21 months

Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology  MPhil Full time 21 months

Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology  MSc Full time 1 year

Water Science, Policy and Management  MSc Full time 1 year

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies  MSt Full time 9 months

World Literatures in English  MSt Full time 9 months

'Extraordinary' 2,000-year-old mosaic discovered in Wroxeter dig co-directed by University

Archaeologist Dr Roger White helped uncover the ancient aquarium-like floor at a former Roman townhouse in Shropshire.

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