Program Overview

---

Overview

By joining Archaeology & Palaeoecology you will become part of a dynamic group of researchers in one of two interdisciplinary Research Clusters: Environmental Change & Resilience (ECR) for more environmentally-related projects, and Culture & Society (C&S) for more humanities-related Archaeology projects.

Projects involving Palaeoecology or Scientific Archaeology focus on themes such as long-term changes and resilience in ecosystems, humans, environments and climate, using approaches such as pollen analysis, tephra dating, dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Much of our research spans several disciplines – for example projects on the hydrogeology and restoration of bogs.

Research in the C&S cluster explores the material manifestations of culture through time and space. We combine innovative scientific methods with theoretically-informed analyses to understand past human experience, bringing together the humanities and the sciences.

The combination of environmental archaeology, and especially bio-archaeology, with more traditional approaches to the past, helps to differentiate Queen's from most other Archaeology departments and is seen as both a strength and stimulus to future developments.

---

---

---

---

Subject Summary

As a member of the Society & Culture Research Cluster you will join a thriving research community that explores the material manifestations of culture through time and space, focusing particularly on the development of agriculture, domestic and ritual space; populations and palaeodiet from Ireland to Eurasia; religion, society and material culture in the ancient Mediterranean, prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval Ireland; Irish connections with the New World, and social and bio-archaeological approaches to death. As a member of the Environmental Change & Resilience Research Cluster you will join a vibrant palaeoecology research group studying past environment and climate change, using a variety of records from around the world. Our research focuses on how Earth’'s environments have changed, or are changing, over a range of timescales, and covers carbon dynamics and climate change, geoforensics, geographical information studies and geostatistics, glacial and periglacial landscapes, human-environment interactions, climate and environmental change, and scientific dating and chronological techniques.

---

---

---

---

Archaeology & Palaeoecology Highlights

---

---

---

---

Career Development

The University’s Graduate School provides postgraduate students with a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary hub to support their personal and professional development.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/graduate-school/

Archaeology & Palaeoecology at Queen’s have a long-standing record of inter-disciplinary approaches to understanding the relationship between past humans and their environment. Our alumni are going on to successful careers in academia and beyond.

https://archaeology-palaeoecology-qub.com/

QUB’s Researcher Plus scheme provides PhD and MPhil students with an opportunity to develop skills which are transferable beyond their research degrees, and the Researcher Plus award provides them with official recognition for the skills acquired in addition to their research.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/graduate-school/development/researcher-plus/

---

---

---

---

World Class Facilities

The School boasts the internationally renowned 14CHRONO Centre for Climate, the Environment and Chronology that together with our Dendrochronology Laboratory, Stable Isotope Facility, Archaeomaterials Laboratory and other in-house laboratory facilities helps us understand past societal and environmental issues.

http://14chrono.org/

The Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork (CAF) bolsters the School’s capacity for conducting innovative field research, using the latest technology in geophysical prospection, remote sensing and 3D modelling of archaeological sites and artefacts.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/CentreforArchaeologicalFieldworkCAF/

The School’s Centre for Geographic Information Science and Geomatics provides cutting-edge infrastructure for research projects involving elements of geospatial analysis.

https://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/GIS/

The Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis, likewise situated within the School, lends crucial technical support to research projects across the digital humanities and beyond.

https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/NBE/Research/research-centres-and-institutes/

The University's Core Technology Units (CTUs) provide researchers and graduate students in Archaeology & Palaeoecology with high-quality training in advanced laboratory techniques and access to state-of-the-art equipment for mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, palaeogenomics and advanced imaging. The Advanced Informatics unit helps us to maintain a comprehensive and systematic data management framework for our research data.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/core-technology-units/

The University’s McClay Library holds one of the most comprehensive collections of resources on Irish, British, European and World Archaeology in Ireland and the UK, and provides state-of-the-art study facilities.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/about/Campus-and-facilities/The-McClay-Library/

Access to the research infrastructure offered by the world-leading range of Research Centres and laboratory facilities based in the School and by the University’s Core Technology Units. Research students are encouraged to play a full and active role in relation to the wide range of research activities undertaken within the School and there are many resources available, including:

---

---

---

---

Internationally Renowned Experts

Undertaking a research degree with Archaeology & Palaeoecology at Queen’s, you will work with and be supervised by world-leading experts in their respective fields.

---

---

---

---

Key Facts

Archaeology at Queens is in the Top 150 in the World QS Rankings (2022).

As a Russell Group university and ranked in the UK top 10 (Complete University Guide 2022), Queen’s is one of the best places in the UK to study Archaeology.

Office accommodation with access to computing facilities and support to attend conferences for full-time MPhil students.

Visit our School website and read about the exciting research being undertaken by our current students.

Apply now

Register your interest