anthropology phd in uk

Anthropology MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

An Anthropology MPhil/PhD means being an unrivalled expert on human life, culture, society, ecology, biology, or some combination of those. Sustained fieldwork is normally required and graduates of this programme specialise in a wide range of research methods. Doctoral-level anthropologists are sought for work in government, policy, social research, design and high-tech industries, development, heritage, marketing and journalism, as well as academia.

UK tuition fees (2024/25)

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

• Entry requirements

Ideal candidates will have a Master's degree with Distinction in Anthropology or a relevant discipline from a UK university or an overseas qualification of equivalent standard. Minimum entry requirements are a Master's degree with Merit or a Bachelor's Honours degree with Distinction in Anthropology or a relevant discipline. Applicants must contact their proposed supervisors prior to applying to secure support for their application.

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

Research may be pursued in or across five main areas, each of which is the focus of separate sections in the department: Evolutionary and Environmental Anthropology; Social Anthropology; Material Culture; Medical Anthropology; and Public Anthropology. We offer a wide range of specialisations within these fields.

Who this course is for

The programme is suited both for ambitious researchers who want to pursue an academic career and professionals who aim to continue their professional development.

What this course will give you

The advantage of undertaking advanced research in UCL Anthropology is the breadth of expertise available within the sections of the department. Most anthropology departments specialise in the sub-disciplines of social or biological anthropology. However, students at UCL can tackle research in interdisciplinary areas and expect to receive expert supervision in social and cultural, biological and medical anthropology, as well as material, visual and digital culture. Additionally, each of these sections in the department offers a diverse range of theoretical, methodological, topical and geographic interests and specialisms.

One factor that supplements this breadth and interdisciplinarity is the existence of a flourishing Research and Reading Group (RRG) culture in which staff and students informally come together outside of area sections to share knowledge and discuss individual research on subjects of shared interest. This leads to formal workshops, conferences, and publications that engage broader audiences and offer platforms for students to present their work.

Studying at UCL Anthropology also offers opportunities to post, edit and publish original work in the numerous academic journals and blogs associated with or managed by the department, as well as in Anthropolitan, the scholarly magazine edited by students. Other opportunities for research students include generous support for organising conferences and events, teaching assistantships and assistant curatorships, and research within the department's special collections and labs.

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.

The foundation of your career

A majority of our MPhil/PhD graduates have taken up lectureships in universities in the UK and abroad, or continue their research interests through fellowships and other research posts.

Anthropology as a profession has become more sought-after in recent years. UCL graduates work in a range of areas. These include:

• Social and market research
• Government and policy (including senior levels of Government in the UK)
• Digital and high-tech design
• Development
• Heritage, museums and environmental reserves

Employability

The MPhil/PhD cultivates advanced skills in qualitative and quantitative methods, expert knowledge of the anthropological issues pertinent to their field of study and original data collection. Anthropology doctorates are valued by employers for not only providing empirical data for known situations, but critical thinking skills enabling them to reflect on and re-think social, economic, medical, environmental, biological and political situations as they change.

Our graduate students attend and participate in seminars, workshops and conferences within the department and interdisciplinary research centres across UCL, providing opportunities to network with leading academics across a variety of research fields.

Teaching and learning

You will have continuous support to develop your research throughout the programme. In the first year, you will undertake rigorous training in research methods (Methods Seminar) and will explore the academic skills required to plan and carry out a successful PhD (ResDesPres Seminar), with a focus on writing skills, research ethics, wellbeing and policy and media engagement, etc.

The PhD is examined by a viva committee comprising of two experts in the field, an external examiner who can be based anywhere in the world, and an internal examiner who is normally from the University of London. You should not have had much prior contact with either examiner. Your supervisor nominates suitable examiners during your final year, in consultation with you, and the nominations are scrutinised by UCL’s examinations office who may approve or reject them. 

The examiners have several weeks, or sometimes months, to read your thesis in detail. The viva exam is a meeting in which the examiners and yourself discuss your work, both through direct questions and more informal conversation, and it normally takes two or more hours.

We expect you to use 15 hours each week for the taught element of the programme, and 20 hours for self-directed study and research planning.

Research areas and structure

The department provides supervision in the following areas, among others:

• Anthropological Issues in Education and Learning (AIEL)
• Art and Anthropology
• Biosocialities, Health and Citizenship
• Built Environment, Landscape and Public Spaces
• Cognition and the Anthropology of the Mind
• Cultures of Consumption and the Home
• Cosmology, Religion, Ontology and Culture (CROC)
• Culture and Human Wellbeing
• Design Anthropology
• Digital Anthropology
• Dirt, Excrement, and Decay (DEAD)
• Documentary Film and Film Ethnography
• Ethics and the Person
• Fashion and Clothing
• Finance, Money, and Social Systems
• Human Ecology Research Group (HERG)
• Human Evolutionary Ecology Group (HEEG) London Latin America Seminar
• Materials and Making
• Medical Materialities
• Object-based Research
• Palaeoanthropology and Comparative Anatomy (PACA)
• Pastoralism
• Performance, Theatre and Ethnography of the Imagination
• Politics, Criminality and the State
• Primate Sexualities: Beyond the Binary
• Reproduction and Sexuality
• Risk, Power and Uncertainty
• Social Media
• Space, Exploration and Planetary Futures
• Sustainability, Environment and Cultures of Materials (SEM)
• Technology and Infrastructure
• Visual Culture

Regional strengths include the UK, Caribbean, Central and Latin America, the Central Congo Delta, East Africa, Europe (East and West), Mongolia, Oceania, South Asia, and the US. Staff also regularly supervise beyond these areas and in conjunction with supervisors in other departments.

Research environment

The MPhil/PhD takes place in a research environment that includes the following components. These are:

• Weekly research seminars, organised according to sub-disciplinary section. Doctoral Researchers are strongly expected to attend their seminar series every week.
• RRGs – Research & Reading Groups which PGRs set up and/or join.
• Supportive courses, notably Research Design and Presentation (Year 1); Thesis-Writing Seminar (Years 2 & 3); Research Methods (Year 1)
• Peer-group interaction facilitated by common-room and hot-desk office spaces

Workshops organised in the department at the rate of up to 10 per year.

In Year One, you will crystallise your project with your Primary Supervisor, select a Secondary Supervisor and prepare for upgrade from MPhil to PhD as UCL requires. The upgrading normally comprises in a panel of staff, chaired by your subsidiary supervisor, who probe your detailed research review and proposal. This panel normally takes place after 9 months, before fieldwork commences but (a) may occur at 12 months and sometimes (b) after the period of fieldwork.

You will usually spend between 12 and 15 months undertaking data collection. For ethnographic projects this means being  ‘in the field’, but data collection can also take place in laboratory or archive settings (for example in Biological Anthropology or some Material Culture work). For some projects, shorter periods in the field are appropriate. Undertaking fieldwork is subject to approval as regards data protection, ethics, and risk issues.

You will usually return from fieldwork to write up in your third year and during the final CRS year (CRS means Completing Research Status, during which you do not pay fees). Your third year should ideally be devoted to writing exclusively. Assuming your PhD progresses well during that year, you are encouraged to gain teaching experience during your CRS writing-up year, or to undertake some similar vocational experience such as publications. Minor variations of this structure occur within the sub-disciplinary sections of the Department.

The degree promotes advanced skills in qualitative and quantitative methods and expert knowledge of the anthropological issues pertinent to their sub-disciplinary field of study. You will collect original data through methodologies that include but are not limited to participant observation, formal and informal interviews, ethnographic recordings, surveys, object and visual analyses, archival research, auto-ethnography, oral and genealogical histories, laboratory work, excavation, and participatory action research.

The MPhil/PhD programme is expected to be completed by full-time researchers in three years plus one in CRS (ie. it is officially three years of registration but researchers are permitted to take up to four years). For part-time researchers, the work is to be completed in five fee-paying years, plus two in CRS. You enter CRS when you are judged to be within less than one year of submitting, so if you have not made sufficient progress at the end of the third year, you may not be able to enter CRS.

A part-time MPhil/PhD takes place over five years, plus two in CRS.

There is no standard placement programme. Some anthropologists do work in institutions for up to a year as a part of their fieldwork, and many form collaborations with other institutions.

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

For unfunded researchers, fieldwork is normally undertaken at their own expense.

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

To apply for funding through the department, you must first apply for the MPhil/PhD.

Common sources of funding, which our researchers have benefitted from, include:

• ESRC/ UBEL Doctoral Partnership (DTP): the UK's funding body for normal social science work.
• AHRC/ LAHP DTP: Funding for Arts and Humanities, projects submitted here often have an artistic, design or material culture angle.
• London NERC DTP: Funding for Environmental Science and related areas, for more scientific and environmental projects.
• BBSRC: Biological Sciences funding, worth considering for Biological Anthropology work.
• Soc-B CDT: a UCL Centre of Doctoral Training, relevant for some BioSocial projects.
• Wellcome Trust: funds medical-related research, worth considering for medical anthropology and related areas.
• Leverhulme Trust: charitable scheme funding annual Doctoral Research Scholarships.
• Wolfson Awards: UCL scholarship scheme for work relating to History, Literature or Languages.
• Mary Douglas Scholarships: scholarship scheme specific to our department, which may not run each year, depending on the benefactor.
• Collaborative Awards: if your research envisages a collaboration between the university and another institution, check for collaborative awards (a collaborative student may have a supervisor at UCL, and another in a company/Government body). Both ESRC and AHRC have collaborative schemes.
• The ESRC also has specific awards for Quantitative Projects (AQM awards, Biological Anthropology or Digital projects using quantitative data); and Interdisciplinary Awards.

Research students in the department have also received funding from CONCIETAS, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, as well as studentships provided by numerous governments.

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

UCL Research Opportunity Scholarship (ROS)

Deadline: 12 January 2024 Value: UK rate fees, a maintenance stipend, conference costs and professional development package (3 years) Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need Eligibility: UK

We take account of three things in an application:

• CV (ie. Does the candidate have the background to execute this work to a world-class standard of excellence).
• Project proposal (ie. Is it anthropological and does it have academic merit for new knowledge).
• Prospective supervisor (ie. Whether we have the expertise to advise on this research).

Every anthropology project is a little different. Normally candidates require the support of a prospective supervisor in the department, with whom they have talked through their proposal, their interests, experience and ideas.

It is not an official requirement to have a previous academic background which includes anthropology, but the project and the candidate should clearly be equipped to undertake research in an anthropology department and which contributes to anthropology. In general, projects supervised in the Social and Cultural Anthropology and in the Medical Anthropology subsections do tend to require you to have an anthropology background. Biological Anthropology and Material Visual & Digital Culture are more mixed, with some candidates coming from areas such as biological sciences, palaeontology, archaeology, design, design history, HCI, and museum studies.

Advice on these issues can be sought from prospective supervisors and from the departmental PhD handbook.

Deadlines and start dates are usually dictated by funding arrangements so check with the department or academic unit to see if you need to consider these in your application preparation. You must identify and contact potential supervisors before making your application. For more information see our How to apply page.

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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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.

IMPORTANT : Please note that while most of the content of these pages relates to the course starting in 2024-25, this information about course fees and the additional information section on this page relate to entry in 2025-26 . The remaining content will be updated for 2025-26 entry later in September.

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.

If you are a current Oxford student and you would like to remain at your current Oxford college, you should check whether it is listed below. If it is, you should indicate this preference when you apply. If not, you should contact your college office to ask whether they would be willing to make an exception. Further information about staying at your current college can be found in our Application Guide. 

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 for each application to this course. 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 .

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:

Thursday 9 January 2025

Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships Final application deadline for entry in 2025-26

† 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

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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.

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• Student intranet

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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

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.

Doctoral Research

DPhil in Anthropology

The DPhil in Anthropology trains students in the preparation of independent and original research in Anthropology. You will develop your scholarly communication of the results of such research and prepare for academic employment in anthropology or related fields, or in a professional environment where sensitivity to cross-cultural variability is required.

You will develop a thorough knowledge and understanding of the fundamental concepts, techniques, principles and theories in social and cultural, medical, biological or cognitive and evolutionary anthropology and apply it in designing and implementing an original and independent plan of research. This may be through  fieldwork   with human subjects, though this is not compulsory.  You will have the opportunity to use research methods of anthropology, including qualitative and quantitative aspects (which can include statistical methods and, where appropriate, mathematical modelling) and to present the results of your research in a well written, carefully argued thesis.

As a DPhil student you will undertake your own original research project under the guidance of your supervisor, with whom you will be in regular contact and who you will typically meet at least two to three times a term. Your  supervisor  will help develop and guide your project and  provide feedback. You will work on your own extensively however, and will need a high level of motivation. 

Full-time and part-time study options are available.

Please note this is not offered as a distance learning course.

Dr Elizabeth Ewart  is the Course Director for DPhil in Anthropology

Dr Elizabeth Ewart  is the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS)

For admissions questions please contact the  Graduate Courses Administrator .

Apply here for the DPhil in Anthropology

The application deadline is now early January each year.

DPhil in Migration Studies

The DPhil in Migration Studies is offered jointly by The School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (SAME) and the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID). As a DPhil student in Migration Studies you will undertake an interdisciplinary in-depth project focused on a specific and important contemporary challenge facing the world by drawing on world class research departments, centres and scholars. Academics from SAME and ODID can offer supervision in a wide range of subjects. Examples include migrant integration, identity formation, transnationalism, urban change, diasporas, humanitarianism, asylum and refugees, citizenship, health and wellbeing.

Please note, this is not offered as a distance learning course.

Click here for details about ESRC Migration Studies Studentships 2023-24

Dr Peter Walsh  is the Course Director for the DPhil in Migration Studies

Dr Elizabeth Ewart  is the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS)

Apply here for the DPhil in Migration Studies

Anthropology

Find a course, start dates.

January 2024 / June 2024 / September 2024

Application deadline

International and EU applicants apply 5 months before enrolment date. Applications received less than 5  months before cannot be guaranteed. UK applicants apply 4 months before enrolment date. Applications received less than 4 months before cannot be guaranteed.

Course length

Full time: 1 - 3 years

Part time: 1 - 4 years

School of Law and Social Sciences

Funding status

Self-funded

[email protected]

The study of Anthropology in the School of Law and Social Sciences takes place in an environment of cutting-edge research and innovation. Spanning the whole of anthropology from biological, social archaeology & primatology, our innovative and influential research has received international recognition, and we are changing our understanding of what it means to human from deep time to the present day.

We offer students close supervision from two supervisors who have research expertise in your research area and plentiful opportunities to present your work and participate in our research training and other research events. 

Anthropology at Oxford Brookes comprises several collaborative research clusters supporting our doctoral students and encouraging wide participation both through our partnerships and our full programme of conferences, public events and lectures. Our research clusters are grouped together within the Centre for Environment and Society (CES).

Research expertise

We have research strengths across the whole of anthropology; especially migration, labour, urban spaces, human origins & disease, and conservation. We strongly recommend that prior to submitting a full application you identify and make contact directly with a potential Director of Studies. Please look at our research group pages and individual staff profiles to help you identify the appropriate member of staff and to find out whether your proposed research focus is one that we can supervise.

Institutes and Centres

• Centre for Environment and Society (CES)
• Europe Japan Research Centre
• Human Origins and Palaeo Environments (HOPE)
• Humans, Animals and Environment
• Nocturnal Primate Research Group (NPRG)
• Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group
• Primatology and Conservation
• Space and Temporalities

Degree routes

All students enrol as probationer research students. During the first year you will formally register your research proposal for one of the below routes. 

The degree for which you register will depend on your academic qualifications and research experience. 

There are two routes toward obtaining a PhD. 

MPhil/PhD route

By far the most popular and common is the MPhil/PhD route. This entails students initially registering for the degree of MPhil/PhD, before transferring to full PhD status, should sufficient progress have been made with their work. Transfer to full PhD status normally happens after 18 months for full time students and after roughly 24-26 months for part time students.

Thesis: 80,000 - 100,000 words.

Length of study: minimum of three years full time and four years part time.

Entry requirement: the minimum entry requirement for the MPhil/PhD route is:

• a first-class or upper second-class UK honours degree
• a relevant master’s qualification
• or an equivalent qualification. 

Applications from those holding qualifications other than the above will be considered on their merits and in relation to the nature and scope of the work proposed.   

The alternative route toward obtaining a PhD is known as a PhD Direct in which the student registers directly to study for a PhD. Accordingly, the student does not need to undergo a formal transfer assessment and the minimum period of study is shorter compared to the MPhil/PhD route.   

Thesis: 80,000 - 100,000 words.

Length of study: minimum of two years full time and three years part time.

Entry requirement: This is the same as for the MPhil/PhD route, except that the student must demonstrate an exceptional level of preparedness and aptitude for PhD study, for instance in the form of an MPhil degree or an outstanding performance at Masters level in an area very closely aligned with the PhD.

Why Oxford Brookes University?

• Each research student in the Faculty will be allocated £700 (£350 for MA by Research students) towards the costs associated with specific research activities during the research programme.
• Close supervision from experts in your chosen research area, including joint supervision across departments for interdisciplinary projects. 
• research seminars with presentations from high profile external guest speakers
• specialist seminars organised by individual research groups and clusters
• methodology workshops.
• You will also be encouraged to submit publications to leading research journals.
• You may have the opportunity to develop your teaching, mentoring and demonstrating skills by undertaking paid teaching activities for up to six hours a week. You may also be required to attend the Associate Teachers course which is run by the University Oxford Centre for Academic Enhancement and Development .
• As a core part of the Faculty’s Doctoral Training Programme, the School offers also high quality research training and study facilities that can be accessed by both full-time and part-time students. PhD students can also apply for reader access to the Bodleian Library.
• All our research students also become part of the University’s Graduate College , which runs a comprehensive programme of training sessions and workshops.

After you graduate

Career prospects.

We are passionate about fostering the careers of our researchers and ensure that they gain research skills training, leadership experience and teaching practice as part of the doctoral programmes we offer.

Bespoke careers advice is also embedded into our programme as we think this is a key element of your personal and professional development during your time with us.

With a PhD in Anthropology, you will be highly valued by employers in public, private and non-government sectors for a range of skills including numeracy, literacy, communication, problem-solving, research methods and being able to engage a comparative perspective. Our PhD students have moved on to jobs in the NGO sector, the civil service, academia and the private sector.

How to apply

Entry requirements.

Please see the specific entry requirement details in the degree routes section above.

If you choose to study full-time you must be able to devote a minimum of 35 hours per week over a 44-week year to your research. You should not undertake more than 20 hours per week paid employment or other commitments (including a maximum of six hours per week teaching, demonstrating, or other paid work directly related to your research training).

If you choose to study part-time you must be able to devote a minimum of 15 hours per week over a 44-week year to the programme of research.

You must also meet our  residence requirements .

English language requirements

Applicants whose main language is not English must meet the Faculty’s English language requirements. The minimum IELTS score required for entry to the research degree programme is 6.5–7 overall. 

In addition, we require a minimum of 6.5 in each component of the test. We do not accept IELTS certificates that are over two years old. 

English requirements for visas

If you need a student visa to enter the UK you will need to meet the UK Visas and Immigration minimum language requirements as well as the University's requirements. Find out more about English language requirements .

Application process

It is essential that you first check whether your specific research interests can be adequately supervised before submitting a full application. To do this please email the Research Administrator ( [email protected] ) your provisional research proposal. This should be 1500–2000 words in length and should include a title and a summary of the proposed subject area.

There is no specific format for research proposals but the following areas are usually covered:

• introduction
• evidence of background reading and knowledge/previous experience of research area
• details of research methods proposed to carry out the project
• the aims of the research project and any proposed hypotheses/outcomes
• literature review
• how your research project will make an original and independent contribution to knowledge.

If your area of research can potentially be supervised you will be encouraged to submit a full application  via our online application system .

The Research Administrator will acknowledge receipt of your application by email. We strive to make a decision within one month of receiving your application. Please note, however, decisions may take longer during busier periods of the academic year.

Supporting documents

Please read through the  list of supporting documentation  that  must  be uploaded along with your application or emailed separately.

Tuition fees

Fees quoted are for the first year only. If you are studying a course that lasts longer than one year, your fees will increase each year.

For International fees the following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support. 

Home fees are set by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and are released approximately five months before the start of each academic year.

If you have any questions about fees, get in touch with the Research Degrees Team at  [email protected] .

How and when to pay

Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.

• For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
• For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy  page

Compulsory costs

Optional costs

Funding your studies

Financial support and scholarships.

Featured funding opportunities available for this course.

All financial support and scholarships

View all funding opportunities for this course

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Social Anthropology PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Social Anthropology

Introduction to Postgraduate Study at the University of Edinburgh

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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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• Undergraduate: Part I
• Undergraduate: Part IIA overview
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• Dissertation
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• Undergraduate: Optional Papers overview
• SAN7: Ethnographic Methods and Writing
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• Information for Postgraduates
• Teaching and Supervisions
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• MPhil in Social Anthropology overview
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• Paper 1: Scope of Social Anthropology: Production & Reproduction
• Paper 2: Scope of Social Anthropology: Systems of Power & Knowledge
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• Paper 4: Theory, Methods and Enquiry in Social Anthropology
• Planning Your Dissertation
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• Dominik Hoehn
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• 2018 Entries overview
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• Julian Sommerschuh
• Jordan Thomas
• Amy Binning
• Patricia Garcia
• David Ginsborg
• Peter Lockwood
• Michael Long
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• 2017 Entries overview
• Alexander Taylor
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• Priscilla Garcia
• Helen Jambunathan
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• 2016 Entries overview
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• 2015 Entries overview
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• REPRESENT: Community Engagement Roadmap to Improve Participant Representation in Cancer Research Early Detection
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• Transforming Political Subjectivities in Somaliland
• Translingual History and Politics of 'Minzu' (Nationality) and ‘Zuqun’ (Ethnicity) in China’
• Where Rising Powers Meet: China and Russia at their North Asian Border
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• Study of the International Venture Capital (VC) Industry
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PhD in Social Anthropology

• MPhil in Social Anthropological Research

The PhD in Social Anthropology is intended for students who already have full training at undergraduate and/or Master's level in the methods and perspectives of Social/Cultural Anthropology. A first class Honours degree or strong High Pass in a Master's degree in Social Anthropology is normally required.

The course includes intensive fieldwork training in the first year, a research period of 12 to 18 months, and a further year for writing the dissertation (a maximum of four years is allowed in total). Students work under the guidance of a principal Supervisor and a Faculty Advisor, and the Department also provides compulsory training and specialist seminars which students are expected to attend. Opportunities are available for teaching practice for senior PhD students.

The PhD course consists in the first place of nine months training in research issues and methods culminating in the preparation of a research proposal. This training can be undertaken through the nine-month (three-term) Pre-Fieldwork Course. Students undertaking the PhD Pre-Fieldwork Course can expect to leave for field research at the end of their third term (June-July).

Students whose PhD projects will require fluency in an unfamiliar language must build into their application statement and their research proposal a consideration of how and when they will acquire the necessary language skills for their fieldwork.

For information on postgraduate supervision and facilities see the  Supervision and Facilities  page.

Further details about the PhD in Social Anthropology, including information about eligibility, funding, training and assessment and how to submit your supporting documents can be found on the Postgraduate Admissions website .   To apply, visit the PhD pages in the Postgraduate Admissions Course Directory .

Applications for each academic year open from mid-September and close on 30 April each year. Applications for funding close early December each year.

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

Contact: [email protected]

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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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Social Anthropology PhD

Key information.

• 7th  in the UK for our research overall in Anthropology in  REF 2021   (Times Higher Education)

There was a real community among PhD candidates and staff in anthropology, and it allowed me to build collaborations with other researchers. The intellectual environment is unique: progressive, dedicated and welcoming.” James McMurray Social Anthropology PhD

Areas of study

Sussex Anthropology has a reputation for world-leading research and a commitment to studying global issues, including:

• health, science and the body
• gender and sexuality
• human rights, justice and violence
• politics, power and political movements
• the global economy, finance and development
• moral and alternative economies
• race, ethnicity and indigeneity
• religion and religious practices
• environment, natural resources and extractive industries
• migration, transnationalism and connectivity
• visual anthropology, culture and media.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision. We’ll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities described in this prospectus. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to government or regulatory requirements, or unanticipated staff changes, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.

Masters and P h D events

Meet us on campus or online

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Entry requirements

• UK requirements
• International requirements

Please select your country from the list.

Philippines

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

South Korea

Switzerland

United Arab Emirates

My country is not listed

If your country is not listed, you need to contact us and find out the qualification level you should have for this course. Contact us

English language requirements

Ielts (academic).

High level (6.5 overall, including at least 6.0 in each component).

IELTS scores are valid for two years from the test date. You cannot combine scores from more than one sitting of the test. Your score must be valid when you begin your Sussex course.  Find out more about IELTS

We accept IELTS One Skills Retake.

We do not accept IELTS Online.

Check full details of our English Language requirements and find out more about some of the alternative English language qualifications listed below

Alternative English language qualifications

Proficiency tests, cambridge advanced certificate in english (cae).

169 overall, including at least 162 in each skill.

We would normally expect the CAE test to have been taken within two years before the start of your course.

You cannot combine scores from more than one sitting of the test. Find out more about Cambridge English: Advanced

Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)

We would normally expect the CPE test to have been taken within two years before the start of your course.

You cannot combine scores from more than one sitting of the test. Find out more about Cambridge English: Proficiency

LanguageCert Academic SELT

High level (70 overall, including at least 65 in each component).

LanguageCert Academic SELT scores are valid for two years from the test date. Your score must be valid when you begin your Sussex course.  Find out more about LanguageCert Academic SELT

We only accept LanguageCert when taken at SELT Test Centres.

We do not accept the online version.  We also do not accept the non-SELT version.

LanguageCert International ESOL SELT

High level (International ESOL SELT B2 with a minimum of 39 in each component)

LanguageCert International ESOL scores are valid for two years from the test date. Your score must be valid when you begin your Sussex course. Find out more about LanguageCert SELT

We only accept LanguageCert when taken at SELT Test Centres. We do not accept the online version.

Pearson PTE Academic

High level (62 overall, including at least 59 in all four skills)

PTE (Academic) scores are valid for two years from the test date. You cannot combine scores from more than one sitting of the test. Your score must be valid when you begin your Sussex course. Find out more about Pearson (PTE Academic)

We do not accept the PTE Academic Online test.

TOEFL (iBT)

High level 88 overall, including at least 20 Listening, 19 in Reading, 21 in Speaking, 23 in Writing.

TOEFL (iBT) scores are valid for two years from the test date. You cannot combine scores from more than one sitting of the test. Your score must be valid when you begin your Sussex course. Find out more about TOEFL (iBT)

We do not accept TOEFL (iBT) Home Edition.

The TOEFL Institution Code for the University of Sussex is 9166.

English language qualifications

As/a-level (gce).

Grade C or above in English Language.

Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE)/ AS or A Level: grade C or above in Use of English.

GCE O-level

Grade C or above in English.

Brunei/Cambridge GCE O-level in English: grades 1-6.

Singapore/Cambridge GCE O-level in English: grades 1-6.

GCSE or IGCSE

Grade C or above in English as a First Language (Grade 4 or above in GCSE from 2017).

Grade B or above in English as a Second Language.

Ghana Senior Secondary School Certificate

If awarded before 1993: grades 1-6 in English language.

If awarded between 1993 and 2005: grades A-D in English language.

Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE)

 Level 4, including at least 3 in each component in English Language.

Indian School Certificate (Standard XII)

The Indian School Certificate is accepted at the grades below when awarded by the following examination boards:

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) – English Core only: 70%

Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) - English: 70% 

International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB)

English A or English B at grade 5 or above.

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education

Grades A - C in English language

Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) 1119/GCE O-level

If taken before the end of 2008: grades 1-6 in English Language.

If taken from 2009 onwards: grade C or above in English Language.

The qualification must be jointly awarded by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES).

West African Senior School Certificate

Grades A1-C6 (1-6) in English language when awarded by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) or the National Examinations Council (NECO).

Country exceptions

Select to see the list of exempt english-speaking countries.

If you are a national of one of the countries below, or if you have recently completed a qualification equivalent to a UK Bachelors degree or higher in one of these countries, you will normally meet our English requirement. Note that qualifications obtained by distance learning or awarded by studying outside these countries cannot be accepted for English language purposes.

You will normally be expected to have completed the qualification within two years before starting your course at Sussex. If the qualification was obtained earlier than this, we would expect you to be able to demonstrate that you have maintained a good level of English, for example by living in an English-speaking country or working in an occupation that required you to use English regularly and to a high level.

Please note that this list is determined by the UK’s Home Office, not by the University of Sussex.

List of exempt countries: 

• Antigua and Barbuda
• New Zealand
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• The British Overseas Territories
• Trinidad and Tobago
• United Kingdom

** Canada: you must be a national of Canada; other nationals not on this list who have a degree from a Canadian institution will not normally be exempt from needing to provide evidence of English.

English language support

If you don’t meet the English language requirements for your degree, you may be able to take a pre-sessional course

• Visas and immigration

Admissions information for applicants

If your qualifications aren’t listed or you have a question about entry requirements, contact us

• How to apply

If you’d like to join us as a research student, there are two main routes:

• browse funded projects in this subject area
• browse our potential supervisors and propose your own research project.

Find out how to apply for a PhD at Sussex

Full-time and part-time study

Choose to work on your research full time or part time, to fit around your work and personal life. For details about part-time study, contact us at [email protected]

PhD or MPhil?

You can choose to study for a PhD or an MPhil. PhD and MPhil degrees differ in duration and in the extent of your research work.

• For a PhD, your research work makes a substantial original contribution to knowledge or understanding in your chosen field.
• For an MPhil, your work is an independent piece of research but in less depth than for a PhD. You’ll graduate with the degree title Master of Philosophy. You might be able to change to a PhD while you study for an MPhil.

Our supervisors

Dr Paul Boyce

Reader in Anthropology and International Development

[email protected]

View profile of Paul Boyce

Dr Stuart Cartland

Lecturer in Global Studies

[email protected]

View profile of Stuart Cartland

Prof Geert De Neve

Head of School Global Studies

[email protected]

View profile of Geert De Neve

Dr Demet Dinler

Lecturer in Anthropology and International Development

[email protected]

View profile of Demet Dinler

Prof James Fairhead

Professor of Social Anthropology

[email protected]

View profile of James Fairhead

Prof Anne-Meike Fechter

Professor of Anthropology and International Development

[email protected]

View profile of Anne-Meike Fechter

Prof Elizabeth Harrison

[email protected]

View profile of Elizabeth Harrison

Dr Diana Ibanez-Tirado

Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology

[email protected]

View profile of Diana Ibanez-Tirado

Prof Raminder Kaur

Professor of Anthropology & Cultural Studies

[email protected]

View profile of Raminder Kaur

Prof Pamela Kea

[email protected]

View profile of Pamela Kea

Dr Evan Killick

[email protected]

View profile of Evan Killick

Prof Magnus Marsden

Professor Of Social Anthropology

[email protected]

View profile of Magnus Marsden

Dr Lyndsay McLean

[email protected]

View profile of Lyndsay McLean

Dr James McMurray

Lecturer in Social Anthropology

[email protected]

View profile of James McMurray

Dr Jon Mitchell

[email protected]

View profile of Jon Mitchell

Dr Agathe Mora

[email protected]

View profile of Agathe Mora

Prof Filippo Osella

Professor Of Anthropology And South Asian Studies

[email protected]

View profile of Filippo Osella

Dr Karis Jade Petty

Lecturer in Anthropology

[email protected]

View profile of Karis Jade Petty

Dr Rebecca Prentice

[email protected]

View profile of Rebecca Prentice

Dr Dinah Rajak

[email protected]

View profile of Dinah Rajak

Prof Anke Schwittay

Professor of Anthropology & Global Development

[email protected]

View profile of Anke Schwittay

Prof Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner

Professor of Social & Medical Anthropology

[email protected]

View profile of Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner

Prof Maya Unnithan

Professor 0f Social And Medical Anthropology

[email protected]

View profile of Maya Unnithan

Dr Alice Wilson

Senior Lecturer in Anthropology

[email protected]

View profile of Alice Wilson

Funding and fees

How can i fund my course, funded projects and scholarships.

Our aim is to ensure that every student who wants to study with us is able to despite financial barriers, so that we continue to attract talented and unique individuals. Don’t miss out on scholarships – check the specific application deadlines for funding opportunities. Note that funded projects aren’t available for all our PhDs.

Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (for least developed countries and fragile states) for full-time doctoral study at a UK university.

Find out more

Applying for USA Federal Student Aid?

If any part of your funding, at any time, is through USA federal Direct Loan funds, you will be registered on a separate version of this degree which does not include the possibility of distance learning which is prohibited under USA federal regulations. Find out more about American Student Loans and Federal Student Aid .

Part-time work

We advertise around 2,500 part-time jobs a year so you can make money and gain work experience. We have a special scheme to employ students on campus, wherever possible.

Find out more about careers and employability

How much does it cost?

Fees for self-funding students.

Home students: Fees are not yet set for entry in the academic year 2025/26. Fees will become available once set by United Kingdom Research and Innovation.

Channel Islands and Isle of Man students: Fees are not yet set for entry in the academic year 2025/26. Fees will become available once set by United Kingdom Research and Innovation.

International students: £22,575 per year for full-time students

Home PhD student fees are set at the level recommended by United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) annually, rising in line with inflation. Overseas fees are subject to an annual increase - see details on our tuition fees page

Additional costs

Note about additional costs.

Please note that all costs are best estimates based on current market values. Activities may be subject to unavoidable change in response to Government advice. We’ll let you know at the earliest opportunity. We review estimates every year and they may vary with inflation. Find out how to budget for student life .

Empirical research costs

On top of your PhD fees and living costs, you may also need to cover some research and training costs, relevant to your research project. These costs will depend on your research topic and training needs, but may include: - travel (to archives, collections or scientific facilities) - a laptop - overseas fieldwork costs (travel and accommodation, and language training) - conference costs (travel, registration fees and accommodation) - laboratory consumables and workshop materials - participant costs - transcription or translation costs - open-access publication costs. If you have a scholarship from one of the UK Research Councils, your scholarship should cover these types of costs. You'll receive details of how to claim this additional funding. If you're self funded, or if your scholarship doesn’t cover these costs, check with the Research and Enterprise Co-ordinator in your School for details of School or Doctoral School funding that may be available.

• Living costs

Find out typical living costs for studying at Sussex

Find out about our terms and conditions

Explore our campus

Experience Sussex life in our virtual tour.

Start your virtual tour

PhD Information Sessions

Visit campus and chat to staff and students. Book your place

Online PhD Sessions

Join a live webchat. Book your place

International

Meet us in your country

Course enquiries

+44 (0)1273 876787

Send us a message

Admissions enquiries

If you haven’t applied yet:

+44 (0)1273 877107 globalresearch@​sussex.ac.uk

Professor Geert De Neve Social Anthropology PhD Convenor +44 (0)1273 873242 g.r.de-neve@​sussex.ac.uk

Find out about the School of Global Studies

After you’ve applied:

+44 (0)1273 877773 [email protected]

Find out how to apply

Quick links

• Guide to PhD study
• PhD support
• Academic facilities
• Open Days and events
• Accommodation
• International students
• Student life
• Order a printed prospectus

What do you want to do next?

• Courses Browse our courses by subject area
• Sussex Life Find out about life at Sussex
• Visit Come to a PhD Open Evening
• Apply Find out how to apply

We have 32 Anthropology PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships in the UK

Anthropology

United Kingdom

Institution

All Institutions

All PhD Types

All Funding

Anthropology PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships in the UK

Plants in the wrong place weeds and weeding in britain c.1500-c.1950, 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 (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.

After the Single Use project PhD Studentship: Eliminating single-use plastics in Scottish healthcare

Optimising opportunities for victim identification in complex mass fatality incidents, 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.

Exploring (inter-) generational experiences of living with a bleeding disorder (ref: SF23/HLS/NMH/Lariviere)

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, documentary practice and knowledge co-production.

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.

Humanities Research Programme

Humanities 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.

German PhD (option of joint PhD with Stuttgart or Humboldt University)

History phd (option of joint phd with hong kong university or national university of singapore).

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Anthropology and Archaeology

PhD, MPhil Anthropology and Archaeology

The Department of Anthropology and Archaeology has an international 'four-field' approach, combining archaeology with evolutionary, social and linguistic anthropology. Our key strengths lie in our integrated approaches to understanding cultural, biological and social diversity and change. We focus particularly on adaptation, adversity and globalisation. Our research themes include 'Ecologies', 'Liveable Futures', 'Transitions and Turbulence', and 'Connections and Methods'.

Our research spans from earliest prehistory to the modern day. Field research takes place in the UK, as well as Bhutan, Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominica, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, Venezuela, and elsewhere.

We are well equipped to undertake anthropological and archaeological fieldwork, including excavation, and we have world-class radiocarbon dating, isotopic and micro-imaging laboratories on site. We foster partnerships with professional institutions nationally and locally to provide additional collaborative opportunities for our students (for example, with the Royal Anthropological Institute Ethnographic Film Festival, UNESCO City of Film, and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery).

In addition, we draw on expertise and facilities from across the University (such as the Brigstow Institute ; Cabot Institute for the Environment ; Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research ; Jean Golding Institute ). We also work closely with institutes and centres in the Faculties of Social Sciences and Law ( Migration Mobilities Bristol ; the Centre for Environmental Humanities ; and the Centre for Health, Humanities and Science ), as well as the Faculty of Science ( Bristol Isotope Group ; Organic Geochemistry Unit ).

Programme structure

MPhil: a standalone, one-year (full-time) research degree. Students will undertake their own research project, concluding in the submission of a 25,000-word dissertation. Students may have the option to audit units from our taught master's programmes if they are relevant to their research.

PhD: a research project undertaken across four years (full-time, minimum period of study three years), culminating in an 80,000-word thesis. As well as having the option to audit taught units, there may be the potential for PhD students to teach units themselves from their second year of study onwards.

The MPhil and PhD can be studied via distance learning.

World-leading research

The University of Bristol is ranked fifth for research in the UK ( Times Higher Education ).

94% of our research assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent.

Entry requirements

MPhil: A mid-level upper second-class degree or international equivalent, with evidence of first class research. Please note, acceptance will also depend upon evidence of your readiness to pursue a research degree.

PhD: A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent, with evidence of first class/distinction-level research. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent). Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study.

See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.

Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.

If English is not your first language, you will need to reach the requirements outlined in our  profile level C.

Further information about  English language requirements and profile levels .

Fees and funding

Fees are subject to an annual review. For programmes that last longer than one year, please budget for up to an 8% increase in fees each year.

More about tuition fees, living costs and financial support .

Alumni discount

University of Bristol students and graduates can benefit from a 25% reduction in tuition fees for postgraduate study.  Check your eligibility for an alumni discount.

Funding for 2024/25

Students will be eligible to apply for PhD studentships from the AHRC South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWWDTP) , which will be offering studentships for September entry.

From 2024, students will also be eligible to apply for PhD studentships from the ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership (SWDTP )

For information on other funding opportunities, including University-funded studentships, please see the Faculty of Arts funding pages .

Further information on funding for prospective UK and international postgraduate students.

Career prospects

Graduates from our department have gone on to work in diverse professional contexts, including higher education and research, museums, the heritage sector, government, public and private sector organisations, international development, NGOs, and policy-making organisations.

Meet our supervisors

The following list shows potential supervisors for this programme. Visit their profiles for details of their research and expertise.

Research groups

Adversity: We address the resilience of humanity in the face of major challenges past and present, such as diet and disease, climate change, energy use and resource extraction, conflict and technological change.

Adaptation: We explore the biological and cultural evolutionary processes that generate human diversity.

Globalisation: We discover how the movement of people, ideas and objects has an impact on continuity and change, from the Neolithic to the present day.

How to apply

Apply via our online application system. For further information, please see the guidance for how to apply on our webpages.

January 2024 start: 1 December 2023 September 2024 start: 1 August 2024 January 2025 start: 1 December 2024

The deadlines for funding applications fall well in advance of these dates. Preliminary contact with staff from the department is welcome at any time of the year. We strongly encourage prospective applicants to contact us early, before submitting an application.

Postgraduate Admissions

Faculty of Arts

School of Arts

Department of Anthropology and Archaeology

Explore more

Find out about the bristol doctoral college.

Alternatively, use our A–Z index

Attend an open day

Discover more about this subject area

PhD Social Anthropology / Overview

Year of entry: 2025

• View full page
• Bachelor's (Honours) degree in Social Anthropology or a cognate subject with an overall average of 2:1 or above (or overseas equivalent); and
• Master's degree in Social Anthropology or a relevant subject with an overall average of 2:1 or above.
• Normally applicants will hold one or both degrees in Social Anthropology.

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 2024.

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 2025 entry: 30 June 2025

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.

Please enable JavaScript to watch this video.

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.

Fees for entry in 2025 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2024 were 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 2024.

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.

You will need to be nominated by your proposed supervisor for a number of our scholarships. Therefore, we highly recommend you discuss these funding opportunities with your supervisor first, so they can advise on your suitability and ensure you meet nomination deadlines.

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 .

Recommended pages

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Social Anthropology PhD/ MA by Research (On-Campus or by Distance Learning)

Annual tuition fee 2024 entry: UK: £4,786 full-time, £2,393 part-time International: £21,840 full-time; £10,920 part-time (distance learning only) More detail .

• Visit an Open Day
• Request a prospectus
• Course details
• Entry Requirements
• Employability

The Department of African Studies and Anthropology is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence in research and postgraduate training. 

As a postgraduate researcher in the Department, you will benefit from its international staff, interdisciplinary approach, diverse range of expertise, and active research community.  Alongside our expertise in Africa and its diasporas, current DASA anthropologists also work in Europe and Melanesia, and can supervise projects related to their wide-ranging thematic expertise.   Our staff  are committed to long term, on the ground,  research on matters of global importance  .

Free Webinar - Masters programmes in History and Cultures - 7 December 2023, 12pm-1pm (GMT)

We are hosting an online webinar specifically for prospective students interested in our Masters programmes in the School of History and Cultures. The event will be taking place via Zoom on Thursday 7 December, from 12pm – 1pm (GMT). It will cover our Masters programmes in African Studies and Anthropology; Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology; Heritage Studies; and History.

Book your place

AHRC funding for PhD students

The University of Birmingham is part of the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (M4C), offering Arts and Humanities Research Council PhD studentships for campus-based programmes. These include a number of Collaborative Doctoral Award opportunities. Each studentship includes research fees, a substantial maintenance grant and additional research training support. Applications are open until 12:00 (noon), 13 January 2021.

Find out more

Scholarships for 2024 entry

The University of Birmingham is proud to offer a range of scholarships for our postgraduate programmes. With a scholarship pot worth over £2 million, we are committed to alleviating financial barriers to support you in taking your next steps.

Each scholarship has its own specific deadlines and eligibility criteria. Please familiarise yourself with the information on individual scholarship webpages prior to submitting an application.

Explore our scholarships

ESRC funding for PhD students

The University of Birmingham is part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Midlands Graduate School Doctoral Training Partnership, offering ESRC PhD studentships for campus-based programmes. ESRC awards are available for a range of social science disciplines including Applied Linguistics, Area Studies (African Studies), Economic and Social History, and Socio-Legal Studies.

Postgraduate scholarships available

The College of Arts and Law is offering a range of scholarships for our postgraduate taught and research programmes to ensure that the very best talent is nurtured and supported.

Learn more about our scholarships

We offer two postgraduate research-only programmes, whether you are looking to complete your academic studies with a PhD or pursue your research at Masters level. Find out more about what to expect from a PhD and MA by Research .

At Birmingham, Postgraduate Taught and Postgraduate Research students also have the opportunity to learn graduate academic languages free of charge, to support your studies.

• Graduate School Language Skills

I love being a part of the academic community at Birmingham and my department is incredibly supportive. I enjoy attending regular research seminars which keep me up to date with the latest developments in the subject, while the University hosts an annual conference which is a great chance to meet scholars from across Africa. Stacey

Why study this course?

• World-leading research : The Department of African Studies and Anthropology is ranked second among all Area Studies departments in the UK in the Research Excellence Framework exercise 2021 based on Grade Point Average, according to Times Higher Education. 
• Fantastic research environment : Graduate students play a vital and active role in the Department’s research community, contributing to and organising a range of activities from weekly departmental seminars, which bring leading researchers in  to present their work, to frequent international conferences on cutting-edge research topics hosted on campus.
• Staff expertise : The Department is home to an energetic and friendly community of anthropologists and africanists, who produce world-leading research in all core areas and a number of speciality areas. 
• Excellent resources : Research students have access to unique resources held by the University, including the Cadbury Research Library. 

The postgraduate experience

The College of Arts and Law offers excellent support to its postgraduates, from libraries and research spaces, to careers support and funding opportunities. Learn more about your postgraduate experience .

We charge an annual tuition fee. Fees for 2024 entry are as follows:

• UK: £4,786 full-time; £2,393 part-time *
• International: £21,840 full-time; £10,920 part-time (distance learning only)

The same fees apply to both campus-based and distance learning study. The distance learning programme also includes one fully-funded visit to campus in the first year of study.

The above fees quoted are for one year only; for those studying over two or more years, tuition fees will also be payable in subsequent years of your programme.

* For UK postgraduate research students the University fee level is set at Research Council rates and as such is subject to change. The final fee will be announced by Research Councils UK in spring 2024.

Eligibility for UK or international fees can be verified with Admissions. Learn more about fees for international students .

Paying your fees

Tuition fees can either be paid in full or by instalments. Learn more about postgraduate tuition fees and funding .

How To Apply

Application deadlines.

Postgraduate research can start at any time during the year, but it is important to allow time for us to review your application and communicate a decision. If you wish to start in September 2024, we would recommend that you aim to submit your application and supporting documents by 1 June 2024.

If the programme has a Distance learning option then students will usually attend a residential visit in September or January, and those students wishing to attend the September residential are also encouraged to apply by 1 June 2024. The visit will take place at the end of September/beginning of October and you will receive further details once you have accepted your offer.

Six steps to apply for our Postgraduate Research courses

Do you have an idea for an interesting research project? You can follow our six easy steps to apply to study for our postgraduate research courses . These include guidance on identifying funding opportunities and writing your research proposal .

Please also see our additional guidance for  applicants to the PhD Distance Learning study mode .

Please note: While our PhD programmes are normally studied in three years full-time or six years part-time, and Masters-level research programmes one year full-time or two years part-time, many programmes have a longer length listed in course or funding applications. This is because the course length is defined as the maximum period of registration, which includes a period of supervised study plus a thesis awaited period. The maximum period of registration for a full-time PhD is four years (three years supervision plus one year thesis awaited). For a full-time Masters-level research programme, it is two years (one year supervision plus one year thesis awaited). For part-time programmes, the periods are double the full-time equivalent.

• How to apply

To apply for a postgraduate research programme, you will need to submit your application and supporting documents online. We have put together some helpful information on the research programme application process and supporting documents on our how to apply page . Please read this information carefully before completing your application.

Our Standard Requirements

Our requirements for postgraduate research are dependent on the type of programme you are applying for:

• For MRes and MA by Research programmes, entry to our programmes usually requires a good (normally a 2:1 or above) Honours degree, or an equivalent qualification if you were educated outside the UK, usually in a relevant area.
• Applicants for a PhD will also need to hold a Masters qualification at Merit level or above (or its international equivalent), usually in a relevant area.

Any academic and professional qualifications or relevant professional experience you may have are normally taken into account, and in some cases, form an integral part of the entrance requirements.

If you are applying for distance learning research programmes, you will also be required to demonstrate that you have the time, commitment, facilities and experience to study by distance learning.

If your qualifications are non-standard or different from the entry requirements stated here, please contact the admissions tutor.

International students

IELTS 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in any band is equivalent to:

• TOEFL: 88 overall with no less than 21 in Reading, 21 Listening, 22 Speaking and 21 in Writing
• Pearson Test of English (PTE): Academic 59 in all four skills
• Cambridge English (exams taken from 2015): Advanced - minimum overall score of 176, with no less than 169 in any component

Learn more about international entry requirements

International Requirements

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 14/20 from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of the Licenciado or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Argentinian university, with a promedio of at least 7.5, may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Applicants for PhD degrees will normally have a Maestria or equivalent

Applicants who hold a Masters degree will be considered for admission to PhD study.

Holders of a good four-year Diplomstudium/Magister or a Masters degree from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 2.5 will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students with a good 5-year Specialist Diploma or 4-year Bachelor degree from a recognised higher education institution in Azerbaijan, with a minimum GPA of 4/5 or 80% will be considered for entry to postgraduate taught programmes at the University of Birmingham.

For postgraduate research programmes applicants should have a good 5-year Specialist Diploma (completed after 1991), with a minimum grade point average of 4/5 or 80%, from a recognised higher education institution or a Masters or “Magistr Diplomu” or “Kandidat Nauk” from a recognised higher education institution in Azerbaijan.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 75% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a CGPA of 3.0-3.3/4.0 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Students who hold a Masters degree from the University of Botswana with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 (70%/B/'very good') will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Please note 4-year bachelor degrees from the University of Botswana are considered equivalent to a Diploma of Higher Education. 5-year bachelor degrees from the University of Botswana are considered equivalent to a British Bachelor (Ordinary) degree.

Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

A Licenciatura or Bacharelado degree from a recognised Brazilian university:

• A grade of 7.5/10 for entry to programmes with a 2:1 requirement
• A grade of 6.5/10for entry to programmes with a 2:2 requirement

Holders of a good Bachelors degree with honours (4 to 6 years) from a recognised university with a upper second class grade or higher will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.  Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good post-2001 Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students with a minimum average of 14 out of 20 (or 70%) on a 4-year Licence, Bachelor degree or Diplôme d'Etudes Superieures de Commerce (DESC) or Diplôme d'Ingénieur or a Maîtrise will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Holders of a bachelor degree with honours from a recognised Canadian university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. A GPA of 3.0/4, 7.0/9 or 75% is usually equivalent to a UK 2.1.

Holders of the Licenciado or equivalent Professional Title from a recognised Chilean university will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Applicants for PhD study will preferably hold a Magister degree or equivalent.

Students with a bachelor’s degree (4 years minimum) may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. However please note that we will only consider students who meet the entry guidance below.  Please note: for the subject areas below we use the Shanghai Ranking 2022 (full table)  ,  Shanghai Ranking 2023 (full table) , and Shanghai Ranking of Chinese Art Universities 2023 .

需要具备学士学位（4年制）的申请人可申请研究生课程。请根据所申请的课程查看相应的入学要求。 请注意，中国院校名单参考 软科中国大学排名2022（总榜） ，  软科中国大学排名2023（总榜） ，以及 软科中国艺术类高校名单2023 。  

Business School    - MSc programmes (excluding MBA)  

商学院硕士课程（MBA除外）入学要求

School of Computer Science – all MSc programmes 计算机学院硕士课程入学要求

College of Social Sciences – courses listed below 社会科学 学院部分硕士课程入学要求 MA Education  (including all pathways) MSc TESOL Education MSc Public Management MA Global Public Policy MA Social Policy MA Sociology Department of Political Science and International Studies  全部硕士课程 International Development Department  全部硕士课程

  All other programmes (including MBA)   所有其他 硕士课程（包括 MBA）入学要求

Please note:

• Borderline cases: We may consider students with lower average score (within 5%) on a case-by-case basis if you have a relevant degree and very excellent grades in relevant subjects and/or relevant work experience. 如申请人均分低于相应录取要求（5%以内），但具有出色学术背景，优异的专业成绩，以及（或）相关的工作经验，部分课程将有可能单独酌情考虑。
• Please contact the China Recruitment Team for any questions on the above entry requirements. 如果您对录取要求有疑问，请联系伯明翰大学中国办公室   [email protected]

Holders of the Licenciado/Professional Title from a recognised Colombian university will be considered for our Postgraduate Diploma and Masters degrees. Applicants for PhD degrees will normally have a Maestria or equivalent.

Holders of a good bachelor degree with honours (4 to 6 years) from a recognised university with a upper second class grade or higher will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.  Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Bacclaureus (Bachelors) from a recognised Croatian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 4.0 out of 5.0, vrlo dobar ‘very good’, or a Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a Bachelors degree(from the University of the West Indies or the University of Technology) may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. A Class II Upper Division degree is usually equivalent to a UK 2.1. For further details on particular institutions please refer to the list below.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Masters degree or Mphil from the University of the West Indies.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum overall grade of 6.5 out of 10, or a GPA of 3 out of 4, and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bakalár from a recognised Czech Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 1.5, B, velmi dobre ‘very good’ (post-2004) or 2, velmi dobre ‘good’ (pre-2004), or a good post-2002 Magistr (Masters), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum overall grade of 7-10 out of 12 (or 8 out of 13) or higher for 2:1 equivalence and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters/ Magisterkonfereus/Magister Artium degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of the Licenciado or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Ecuadorian university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Grades of 70% or higher can be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Magister/Masterado or equivalent qualification, but holders of the Licenciado with excellent grades can be considered.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 75% from a recognised institution. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bakalaurusekraad from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 4/5 or B, or a good one- or two-year Magistrikraad from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree with very good grades (grade B, 3.5/4 GPA or 85%) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. 

Holders of a good Kandidaatti / Kandidat (old system), a professional title such as Ekonomi, Diplomi-insinööri, Arkkitehti, Lisensiaatti (in Medicine, Dentistry and Vetinary Medicine), or a Maisteri / Magister (new system), Lisensiaatti / Licenciat, Oikeustieteen Kandidaatti / Juris Kandidat (new system) or Proviisori / Provisor from a recognised Finnish Higher Education institution, with a minimum overall grade of 2/3 or 4/5, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters/Maîtrise with a minimum overall grade of 13 out of 20, or a Magistère / Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies / Diplôme d'Etudes Supérieures Specialisées / Mastère Specialis, from a recognised French university or Grande École to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a Magister Artium, a Diplom or an Erstes Staatsexamen from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 2.5, or a good two-year Lizentiat / Aufbaustudium / Zweites Staatsexamen or a Masters degree from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good four-year Ptychio (Bachelor degree) with a minimum overall grade of 6.5 out of 10, from a recognised Greek university (AEI), and will usually be required to have completed a good Metaptychiako Diploma Eidikefsis (Masters degree) from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

4-year Licenciado is deemed equivalent to a UK bachelors degree. A score of 75 or higher from Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC) can be considered comparable to a UK 2.1, 60 is comparable to a UK 2.2.  Private universities have a higher pass mark, so 80 or higher should be considered comparable to a UK 2.1, 70 is comparable to a UK 2.2

The Hong Kong Bachelor degree is considered comparable to British Bachelor degree standard. Students with bachelor degrees awarded by universities in Hong Kong may be considered for entry to one of our postgraduate degree programmes.

Students with Masters degrees may be considered for PhD study.

Holders of a good Alapfokozat / Alapképzés or Egyetemi Oklevel from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 3.5, or a good Mesterfokozat (Masters degree) or Egyetemi Doktor (university doctorate), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a 60% or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of the 4 year Sarjana (S1) from a recognised Indonesian institution will be considered for postgraduate study. Entry requirements vary with a minimum requirement of a GPA of 2.8.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a score of 14/20 or 70% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution, with 100 out of 110 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Students who hold the Maitrise, Diplome d'Etude Approfondies, Diplome d'Etude Superieures or Diplome d'Etude Superieures Specialisees will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees (14-15/20 or Bien from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 12-13/20 or Assez Bien is considered comparable to a UK 2.2).

Students with a Bachelor degree from a recognised university in Japan will be considered for entry to a postgraduate Masters degree provided they achieve a sufficiently high overall score in their first (Bachelor) degree. A GPA of 3.0/4.0 or a B average from a good Japanese university is usually considered equivalent to a UK 2:1.

Students with a Masters degree from a recognised university in Japan will be considered for PhD study. A high overall grade will be necessary to be considered.

Students who have completed their Specialist Diploma Мамаң дипломы/Диплом специалиста) or "Magistr" (Магистр дипломы/Диплом магистра) degree (completed after 1991) from a recognised higher education institution, with a minimum GPA of 2.67/4.00 for courses requiring a UK lower second and 3.00/4.00 for courses requiring a UK upper second class degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate Masters degrees and, occasionally, directly for PhD degrees.  Holders of a Bachelor "Bakalavr" degree (Бакалавр дипломы/Диплом бакалавра) from a recognised higher education institution, with a minimum GPA of  2.67/4.00 for courses requiring a UK lower second and 3.00/4.00 for courses requiring a UK upper second class degree, may also be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/50

Holders of a good Postgraduate Diploma (professional programme) from a recognised university or institution of Higher Education, with a minimum overall grade of 7.5 out of 10, or a post-2000 Magistrs, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a score of 16/20 or 80% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised university in Libya will be considered for postgraduate study. Holders of a Bachelors degree will normally be expected to have achieved score of 70% for 2:1 equivalency or 65% for 2:2 equivalency. Alternatively students will require a minimum of 3.0/4.0 or BB to be considered.

Holders of a good pre-2001 Magistras from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 8 out of 10, or a good post-2001 Magistras, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes

Holders of a good Bachelors degree from a recognised Luxembourgish Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 16 out of 20, or a Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées (comparable to a UK PGDip) or Masters degree from a recognised Luxembourgish Higher Education institution will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees (70-74% or A or Marginal Distinction from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 60-69% or B or Bare Distinction/Credit is considered comparable to a UK 2.2).

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised Malaysian institution (usually achieved with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average minimum of 3.0) will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a good Bachelors degree from the University of Malta with a minimum grade of 2:1 (Hons), and/or a Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree (Honours) from a recognised institution (including the University of Mauritius) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2:1).

Students who hold the Licenciado/Professional Titulo from a recognised Mexican university with a promedio of at least 8 will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Students who have completed a Maestria from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree, licence or Maîtrise and a Masters degree, with a score of 14/20 or 70% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Students with a good four year honours degree from a recognised university will be considered for postgraduate study at the University of Birmingham. PhD applications will be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 60-74% or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Doctoraal from a recognised Dutch university with a minimum overall grade of 7 out of 10, and/or a good Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree (minimum 4 years and/or level 400) from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum GPA of B/Very Good or 1.6-2.5 for a 2.1 equivalency, and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters, Mastergrad, Magister. Artium, Sivilingeniør, Candidatus realium or Candidatus philologiae degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a CGPA of 3.0/4 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised university in the Palestinian Territories will be considered for postgraduate study. Holders of Bachelors degree will normally be expected to have achieved a GPA of 3/4 or 80% for 2:1 equivalency or a GPA of 2.5/4 or 70% for 2:2 equivalency.    

Holders of the Título de Licenciado /Título de (4-6 years) or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Paraguayan university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Grades of 4/5 or higher can be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent.  The Título Intermedio is a 2-3 year degree and is equivalent to a HNC, it is not suitable for postgraduate entry but holders of this award could be considered for second year undergraduate entry or pre-Masters.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Título de Maestría / Magister or equivalent qualification, but holders of the Título/Grado de Licenciado/a with excellent grades can be considered.

Holders of the Bachiller, Licenciado, or Título Profesional with at least 13/20 may be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Título de Maestría or equivalent qualification.

Holders of a good pre-2001 Magister from a recognised Polish university with a minimum overall grade of 4 out of 5, dobry ‘good’, and/or a good Swiadectwo Ukonczenia Studiów Podyplomowych (Certificate of Postgraduate Study) or post-2001 Magister from a recognised Polish university with a minimum overall grade of 4.5/4+ out of 5, dobry plus 'better than good', will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Licenciado from a recognised university, or a Diploma de Estudos Superiores Especializados (DESE) from a recognised Polytechnic Institution, with a minimum overall grade of 16 out of 20, and/or a good Mestrado / Mestre (Masters) from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised Romanian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 8 out of 10, and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree/Diploma de Master/Diploma de Studii Academice Postuniversitare (Postgraduate Diploma - Academic Studies) or Diploma de Studii Postuniversitare de Specializare (Postgraduate Diploma - Specialised Studies) to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Диплом Специалиста (Specialist Diploma) or Диплом Магистра (Magistr) degree from recognised universities in Russia (minimum GPA of 4.0) will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes/PhD study.

Students who hold a 4-year Bachelor degree with at least 16/20 or 70% will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.   

Students who hold a Maitrise, Diplome d'Etude Approfondies,Diplome d'Etude Superieures or Diplome d'Etude Superieures Specialisees will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. A score of 14-15/20 or Bien from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 12-13/20 or Assez Bien is considered comparable to a UK 2.2

Students who hold a Bachelor (Honours) degree from a recognised institution with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 (or a score of 60-69% or B+) from a well ranked institution will be considered for most our Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees with a 2:1 requirement.

Students holding a good Bachelors Honours degree will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a good three-year Bakalár or pre-2002 Magister from a recognised Slovakian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 1.5, B, Vel’mi dobrý ‘very good’, and/or a good Inžinier or a post-2002 Magister from a recognised Slovakian Higher Education institution will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Diploma o pridobljeni univerzitetni izobrazbi (Bachelors degree), Diplomant (Professionally oriented first degree), Univerzitetni diplomant (Academically oriented first degree) or Visoko Obrazovanja (until 1999) from a recognised Slovenian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 8.0 out of 10, and/or a good Diploma specializacija (Postgraduate Diploma) or Magister (Masters) will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor Honours degree (also known as Baccalaureus Honores / Baccalaureus Cum Honoribus) from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most Masters programmes will require a second class upper (70%) or a distinction (75%).

Holders of a Masters degree will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a Bachelor degree from a recognised South Korean institution (usually with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average 3.0/4.0 or 3.2/4.5) will be considered for Masters programmes.

Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 7 out of 10 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 60-74% or a CGPA 3.30/4.0 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Kandidatexamen (Bachelors degree) or Yrkesexamen (Professional Bachelors degree) from a recognised Swedish Higher Education institution with the majority of subjects with a grade of VG (Val godkänd), and/or a good Magisterexamen (Masters degree), International Masters degree or Licentiatexamen (comparable to a UK Mphil), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good "PostGraduate Certificate" or "PostGraduate Diploma" or a Masters degree from a recognised Swiss higher education institution (with a minimum GPA of 5/6 or 8/10 or 2/5 (gut-bien-bene/good) for a 2.1 equivalence) may be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0, 3.5/5 or 75% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bachelor degree (from 75% to 85% depending upon the university in Taiwan) from a recognised institution will be considered for postgraduate Masters study. Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for entry to our postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Masters degree or Mphil from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students with a Bachelors degree from the following universities may be considered for entry to postgraduate programmes:

• Ateneo de Manila University - Quezon City
• De La Salle University - Manila
• University of Santo Tomas
• University of the Philippines - Diliman

Students from all other institutions with a Bachelors and a Masters degree or relevant work experience may be considered for postgraduate programmes.

Grading Schemes

1-5 where 1 is the highest 2.1 = 1.75 2.2 = 2.25 

Out of 4.0 where 4 is the highest 2.1 = 3.0 2.2 = 2.5

Letter grades and percentages 2.1 = B / 3.00 / 83% 2.2 = C+ / 2.5 / 77%

Holders of a postdoctoral qualification from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.  Students may be considered for PhD study if they have a Masters from one of the above listed universities.

Holders of a Lisans Diplomasi with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0/4.0 from a recognised university will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a Yuksek Diplomasi from a recognised university will be considered for PhD study.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most Masters programmes will require a second class upper (2.1) or GPA of 3.5/5.0

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree / Диплом бакалавра (Dyplom Bakalavra), Диплом спеціаліста (Specialist Diploma) or a Dyplom Magistra from a recognised Ukrainian higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 4.0/5.0, 3.5/4, 8/12 or 80% or higher for 2:1 equivalence and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

The University will consider students who hold an Honours degree from a recognised institution in the USA with a GPA of:

• 2.8 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for entry to programmes with a 2:2 requirement 
• 3.2 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for entry to programmes with a 2:1 requirement 

Please note that some subjects which are studied at postgraduate level in the USA, eg. Medicine and Law, are traditionally studied at undergraduate level in the UK.

Holders of the Magistr Diplomi (Master's degree) or Diplomi (Specialist Diploma), awarded by prestigious universities, who have attained high grades in their studies will be considered for postgraduate study.  Holders of the Fanlari Nomzodi (Candidate of Science), where appropriate, will be considered for PhD study.

Holders of the Licenciatura/Título or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Venezuelan university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Scales of 1-5, 1-10 and 1-20 are used, an overall score of 70% or equivalent can be considered equivalent to a UK 2.1.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Maestria or equivalent qualification

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised Vietnamese institution (usually achieved with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average minimum GPA of 7.0 and above) will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.  Holders of a Masters degree (thac si) will be considered for entry to PhD programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree with a minimum GPA of 3.5/5.0 or a mark of 2.0/2.5 (A) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.   

Students who hold a good Bachelor Honours degree will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. 

The Department of African Studies and Anthropology is an interdisciplinary department with an international reputation for research in social anthropology and a commitment to fostering critical understandings of the contemporary world.  

We offer expert supervision in migration and diasporas, international development, religion and society, economic inequality and insecurity, marginality, law and justice, youth, the urban and rights to the city, popular culture, kinship and gender and sexuality.

You can see the list of staff in the Department and their research interests here . It is also possible to work with interdisciplinary supervisory teams including staff from other schools and departments. For example, current students in the department work with co-supervisors from International Development, Political science and International Studies, Art History, Modern Languages and History. 

The University of Birmingham is the top choice for the UK's major employers searching for graduate recruits, according to The Graduate Market 2024 report .

Your degree will provide excellent preparation for your future career, but this can also be enhanced by a range of employability support services offered by the University and the College of Arts and Law.

The University's Careers Network  provides expert guidance and activities especially for postgraduates, which will help you achieve your career goals. The College of Arts and Law also has a dedicated  careers and employability team  who offer tailored advice and a programme of College-specific careers events.

You will be encouraged to make the most of your postgraduate experience and will have the opportunity to:

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• Meet employers face-to-face at on-campus recruitment fairs and employer presentations
• Attend an annual programme of careers fairs, skills workshops and conferences, including bespoke events for postgraduates in the College of Arts and Law
• Take part in a range of activities to demonstrate your knowledge and skills to potential employers and enhance your CV

What’s more, you will be able to access our full range of careers support for up to 2 years after graduation.

Postgraduate employability: African Studies

African Studies graduates develop a range of skills including oral and written communication; analysis and evaluation; problem solving; independent working; and research skills, which can be used in a variety of occupations. Our graduates pursue a variety of career paths, including lecturing and paid research.

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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. 

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:.

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

Easter 2025

Michaelmas 2025, easter 2026, funding deadlines.

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2025, Lent 2026 and Easter 2026.

Similar Courses

• Human Evolutionary Studies MPhil
• Biological Anthropological Science MPhil
• Basic and Translational Neuroscience MPhil
• Biological Sciences (Reproduction and Embryogenesis) by advanced study MPhil
• Genetics PhD

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