Program Overview

Anthropology and Archaeology

Overview

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 Creativity'.

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 and organic residue analysis laboratories on site. We foster partnerships with professional institutions nationally and locally to provide additional collaborative opportunities for our students.

Key Information

• Programme duration: MPhil: one year full-time; two years part-time. PhD: up to four years full-time; up to eight years part-time.
• Start date: January 2025, September 2025, January 2026.
• Application deadline:
  • January 2025 start: 1 December 2024.
  • September 2025 start: Overseas applicants: 25 July 2025. Home applicants: 1 August 2025.
  • January 2026 start: 1 December 2025.
• Delivery method: Distance Learning, On-Campus
• Location: Clifton
• Awards available: PhD, MPhil

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.

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.

Fees and Funding

• Home: full-time: £4,850 per year
• Home: part-time: £2,425 per year
• Overseas: full-time: £21,300 per year

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

• Dr Conrad Brimacombe
• Dr Neil Carrier
• Dr Lucy Cramp
• Dr Helen Fewlass
• Professor Mhairi Gibson
• Professor Mark Gillings
• Dr Theresia Hofer
• Professor Fiona Jordan
• Dr Camilla Morelli
• Dr Kit Opie
• Dr Amy Penfield
• Professor Stuart Prior
• Dr William Tantam
• Dr Juan Zhang

Research Groups

• Ecologies: Our research coalesces around critical issues of the human relationship with the environment and our long-term planetary futures.
• Liveable Futures: What is needed for life to be sustained? What conditions must be in place if we are to occupy a world that is habitable, and a society that enables human and non-human life to flourish?
• Turbulence and Transition: Whether affected by disease, drugs, changing diets, migrations, trauma, extractive practices, hurricanes, political shifts, or conflict we are interested in how humans live through and make sense of world altering events and everyday lived experiences.
• Connections & Creativity: Here we explore the possibilities for new forms of discovery and methodological engagement with past and contemporary societies.