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social anthropology

Topic description and stories.

Vision in the field: Photography from social anthropology

The University’s Department of Social Anthropology studies how people live: what they make, do, think and the organisation of their relationships...

Drowning in a paper sea: India’s welfare efforts failed by its peculiar bureaucracy

India’s sophisticated laws and progressive policies fail with startling regularity. A new study locates a possible reason as to why in the convoluted...

Rivers beyond Regeneration

Best-known for his treatment of shell-shock victims in World War I, a new study examines William Rivers’ crucial, but often overlooked contributions...

Looking for the good

Anthropology looks at human differences in its study of the ‘other’ and at human commonalities in its more recent focus on the ‘suffering’. In...

Reporting from Zimbabwe: a visit to Harare’s biggest township

In the township of Mbare, anthropology student Rowan Jones finds a complex picture of poverty and propaganda - plus a baffling level of support for...

Shooting in the field: capturing life as it’s lived

A student photography competition showcases some of the stunning visuals that result from modern Social Anthropology research

Fostering understanding between the Islamic world and the West

Frankie Martin, MPhil student in the Department of Social Anthropology will speak tonight at the showing of a documentary Journey into America: The...

A border without frontiers

As India sets about constructing a metal curtain along the full length of its border with Bangladesh, Cambridge anthropology graduate Delwar Hussain...

Protestantism, prawns and politics in Scotland and Northern Ireland

With church attendance dwindling, it’s easy to ignore the pockets of radical Protestantism that continue to flourish in many small communities...

Rainforest remedy could spell end of dental pain

An ancient Incan toothache remedy – for centuries handed down among an indigenous people in the rainforests of Peru – could be on the cusp of...

No such thing as a free lunch?

The process of giving and receiving (and being in debt) is an inescapable part of human experience. From sub-prime lending and student loans to organ...

A strange way to share food

Close scrutiny of the ancient remains of our ancestors’ meals gives us some sense of the development and rationale behind our strange food-sharing...

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PhD in Sociology

The PhD in Sociology offers a world-class programme of research study in sociology supervised by experts in their respective fields. The Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge is ranked first for Sociology in the  Guardian's Best Universities league table  and first for Sociology in the  Complete University Guide League Table 2024 . And the  QS World University rankings  list our departments as 2nd out of over 500 Sociology Departments across the world in 2023.

In the first year you are encouraged to take research methods courses offered by the Department and the  Social Science Research Methods Programme (SSRMP)  to build the methodological grounding of your individual research projects. 

The Department also offers a programme of seminars covering transferable skills such as academic writing, presentation skills and in-depth information about how to progress the PhD and the academic career. PhD students are supported by their supervisor and a faculty adviser.

Watch our open day video

The Programme

The course aims to provide all students with the skills they need to be professional researchers and academics. There is an organised programme of courses for first-year PhD students, which has three major components:

• Basic academic and research skills, designed to provide the essential tools of academic work
• The core training programme, which covers issues of social science research in general
• Issues of research specific to particular disciplines or areas of interest, and research design, including the integration of methodological, theoretical and substantive issues

The standard period for PhDs is 3-4 years full-time or 5-7 years part-time.    Click here for further information about part-time PhD studies .

Meet our Candidates

What you can do with your phd.

Students who complete graduate programmes in Sociology have the opportunity to develop the analytical and writing skills to help them succeed in academia but also in careers such as health and social care, marketing and public relations, politics, and education, amongst others.

Postgraduate Prospectus

The PG prospectus details all the courses on offer at Cambridge, as well as introducing the different Colleges and describing the admissions process.

The Department of Sociology University of Cambridge Free School Lane Cambridge CB2 3RQ

Tel: 01223 (3)34520

Contact: [email protected]

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MRes in Social Anthropology

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This ESRC recognised course provides intensive research training in social anthropology, social science research methods more generally, and the opportunity to complete a research dissertation under academic guidance.  It is ordinarily expected that MRes students will progress directly to registration for the PhD course and fieldwork, subject to excellent results in their MRes. However, the MRes can also serve as a free-standing project if a student wishes to pursue advanced study and to acquire additional research skills without proceeding to the PhD programme.

It is expected that applicants for the Social Anthropology MRes will have a first-class Honours degree or strong High Pass in a Master's degree in Social Anthropology.

The MRes 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.

The course is a one-year period of rigorous training in research issues and methods that leads to the production of an independently-researched 15,000 word dissertation and a substantial fieldwork proposal.  The taught portion of the MRes programme is the same as the nine-month PhD pre-fieldwork training programme: students take the same courses in ethnographic methods and social theory, and receive the same close interaction with their supervisor, a senior member of department staff. There is also training in quantitative social science methods.

The course offers critical discussion of students' research projects and provides training in:

• how fieldwork contributes to social scientific knowledge;
• how to isolate the theoretical questions that inform particular pieces of ethnography; and
• how to identify the kinds of empirical evidence necessary to address those questions.

Students work with a main Supervisor and a Faculty Advisor, who acts as a source of supplementary advice. Students will normally continue with this Supervisor if they continue to their PhD.

Additional information for those continuing to the PhD

Students continuing to the PhD will then normally undertake 12–18 months of ethnographic fieldwork subject to the successful completion of a 7,000–word fieldwork proposal and fieldwork clearance interview with the PhD committee.  Students would usually leave for field research at the start of their first term of the PhD (October/November).

On return to Cambridge, students devote the remainder of their research time to writing their PhD thesis in close consultation with their Supervisor.

Upon return from the field, writing-up students are also expected to attend the following seminars during term-time:

• The PhD Writing-Up Seminar
• The Senior Research Seminar
• Anthropology Beyond the Academy
• Anthropological Lives

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students should have:

developed a deeper general knowledge of the comparative, theoretical and epistemological issues underlying contemporary social anthropological research and, where relevant to proposed doctoral research, developed a deeper knowledge of a specific geographical and/or topical area of anthropology and of the critical debates within it;

developed a knowledge of a range of current methods, methodologies and research findings and a conceptual understanding that enables their proper deployment and evaluation; and

where relevant, advanced own plans for field research and undertaken field preparation with reference to both the overall aims of the course and the specific social, ethical and other practical matters relating to their chosen field.

Continuation from the MRes to the PhD is normally subject to achieving a High Pass (a mark of at least 70) in the MRes. Students wishing to continue to the PhD must submit a formal application for continuation during their MRes year., which must be accepted by the PhD Committee.

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

11 months full-time, study mode : research, master of research, department of social anthropology, course - related enquiries, application - related enquiries, course on department website, dates and deadlines:, michaelmas 2024.

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

Funding Deadlines

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

Similar Courses

• Social Anthropology PhD
• Basic and Translational Neuroscience MPhil
• Mathematics (Theoretical Physics) MASt
• Data Intensive Science MPhil
• Network of Life (Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme) PhD

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Paleoanthropology

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Reconstructing post-marital residence with strontium isotopes in the Later Stone Age in northern Malawi

Advances in understanding of female skeletal reproductive biology and physiology can contribute to more realistic reconstructions of post-marital residence (PMR) patterns with strontium isotopes of tooth enamel. Clinical research on lead isotopes shows that in teeth formed prior to weaning, up to half the lead is derived...

Testing Uniformitarianism to destruction: Reflections on experimental archaeology

This event is in person but livestreamed free here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIkd-GuqDMpHdSEt5XRFSz5zH6iKXfuB86L Abstract The Doctrine of Uniformity – the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations also operated in the past – is typically associated...

Dr Carmen Martín-Ramos

Postdoctoral Research Associate, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

NG’IPALAJEM: The evolutionary landscape of modern human origins in Africa

Our understanding of the origins of our species, Homo sapiens, has undergone a major shift. New fossils, dates and genomic studies have consolidated our African origin. Yet, they also indicate a deeper past, involving multiple events. These events stretch to nearly three quarters of a million years ago (Ma), and take the problem of modern human origins into an entirely different climatic and ecological context.

Exploring locomotor and biomechanical diversity in the hominin fossil record based on long bone external morphology

Our knowledge of human evolution is limited by several factors. One is tightly linked to the nature of the fossil record, as bones of our extinct human relatives and other primate species rarely appear in archaeological and paleontological sites, and when they do, they very commonly appear in an isolated fashion and/or are highly fragmented. These factors more severely affect studies of limb bones, which have been vaguely analysed or even ignored in certain cases.

Dr Julia Aramendi

Newton International Fellow, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

Dr Juliën Kavish Lubeek

Research Associate, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

Dr Miriam Saqqa Carazo

Margarita Salas Postdoctoral Fellow, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

Dr Christos Alexandros Plastiras

Edwin de Jager

PhD student in Biological Anthropology

Postal Address: Department of Archaeology Downing Street CB2 3DZ Cambridge

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PhD in History

The PhD is taught by individual supervision .

There are lots of opportunities on offer: you can gain instruction in specialist disciplines, such as palaeography, languages, and computing; you can undertake training in professional skills appropriate for historians; you will be able to attend research seminars and workshops, and lots more. There is also now training available in transferable skills, such as communication, self-awareness and team-building. Although you will be focusing on your own research for most of your time, we want to help you to become a well-rounded and successful PhD candidate.

• 3-4 years full-time
• 5-7 years part-time

If you are interested in part-time study, please visit our Part-Time PhD in History page for more information.

At a glance

Students will research and write a doctoral thesis of up to 80,000 words, representing   an original contribution to knowledge.

They will be supported throughout   the course by a Supervisor, an experienced Cambridge academic who will provide   one-to-one   advice and feedback. At the same time, the student will take part in Cambridge's vibrant research community,   attending seminars, postgraduate workshops and a broad spectrum of skills training.

Students are formally assessed twice. At the end of their third term, they submit a Progress Essay (up to 10,000) words and meet formally   with their Supervisor and Advisor (another academic who provides additional guidance). This meeting determines whether the student has made sufficient progress to complete their thesis on schedule.

At the end of their research project, students submit their completed thesis and take part in an oral ('viva voce') examination on its contents. The two examiners will be leading academics in the   field.  

Students can expect to receive:  

• Regular oral feedback from their supervisor, as well as termly online feedback reports;
• Oral feedback from peers during postgraduate workshops and seminars;
• Access to regular training sessions and relevant undergraduate lectures to develop key skills;
• Support for fieldwork research;
• Opportunities to teach and supervise undergraduate students in their field of research.

If you have any questions, drop us a line on  [email protected]

What are we looking for?

We see the primary purpose of the PhD being the preparation and presentation of a substantial piece of original research. From the very beginning of the PhD course, the student focuses on the writing of the doctoral dissertation. History is a broad subject which covers many areas, and we are always very excited to see the sheer range of research proposals submitted. When looking at this, we consider:

• Whether it represents a significant contribution to learning through the discovery of new knowledge, the connection of previously unrelated facts, the development of a new theory or the revision of older views;
• Whether it takes due account of previously published work on the subject and you are therefore well-read;
• Whether the thesis is clearly and concisely written, without exceeding the maximum limit of 80,000 words (excluding footnotes and bibliography).

If a research proposal is likely to take significantly longer than three years to complete, we don’t tend to accept it. However, if your topic seems feasible within the time-frame then we will be very interested!

Are there any course requirements?

Please also see the ‘ Requirements ’ tab in the prospectus on Graduate Admissions page:

For full-time PhD candidates, we require that you pursue supervised research in residence in Cambridge for nine consecutive terms (three calendar years). ‘In residence’ means living within a distance of 10 miles from the centre of Cambridge.

The dissertation must be submitted by the end of the twelfth term, earlier if possible.

In terms of applicant requirements, you can see our language and academic requirements on the link provided above. Otherwise, we encourage people from all backgrounds to apply – we are a multicultural university and in your life as a PhD candidate, you will meet people from all over the world! The PhD is intellectually demanding so consider whether you have the self-motivation to pursue research at a high level of scholarship, and whether you have the enthusiasm to keep going when the going gets tough. You will not be alone in your studies, though – there are plenty of people here to help, including supervisors, administrators, college tutors, as well as many others.

PhD students are expected to begin their studies at the start of the term they choose to enter, usually October, January, or April. You will be in residence continuously throughout the year, apart from short breaks for research.

As the full-time PhD requires full-time study, we ask that students do not take any outside employment (even part-time employment).

How is the PhD examined?

Once you have submitted a full dissertation, it is examined by two examiners. These examiners are appointed by the Degree Committee after consultation with your supervisor. You will then have a viva voce – an oral examination – on the dissertation and the general field of your knowledge into which your dissertation falls. The University of Cambridge does not offer any qualifying grades or credits, so you will be awarded a pass or a fail – we hope it’s the former!

The below outlines, for full-time candidates, the registration and submission dates:

Minimum number of terms of research needed before submitting

• Qualification: PhD
• Term (1 being your first term): 9

Minimum number of terms of research which need to be in Cambridge (in order to qualify for the PhD)

• Term (1 being your first term): 3

End of term by which your draft dissertation must be submitted to your supervisor

• Term (1 being your first term): 10

Absolute final submission deadline

• Term (1 being your first term): 12

Maximum number of terms for which an exemption or allowance will be made following a one-year course

For full-time PhD students their first year is a probationary year, at the end of which they undertake something called the RAE. This is the Registration Assessment Exercise, which is held between the student, the supervisor, and an Advisor (we appoint them for you). You submit work and then have a meeting to discuss what you have submitted, in order to check that you are on track and help you continue to frame your research.  This exercise should take place in the third term of study. Once registered by the Faculty Degree Committee, you are a registered PhD student; up until this point, you are a NOTAF, which means ‘not at first registered’.

The piece of work you submit for the RAE is likely to be surveying your field of research, summarising progress so far, proposing a research strategy and timetable, and indicating the original contribution to knowledge that is intended.

Although it might sound like a scary process, this is your chance to shine and show off how much work you have done during your first year and how your research is coming along! It’s also a chance to discuss any problems, issues, or worries you may have with your research in a formal setting, though you will have ample opportunity to do this with your supervisor before the third term RAE.

Often, you will be starting the PhD course with a background of suitable research training which you undertook before admission, e.g. your Masters or MPhil degree. While you are at Cambridge, you can broaden this as much as you wish with the number of different opportunities available.

You may find it useful to consult our current Postgraduate Training pages

There are also plenty of other options within the University, for example other Departments and Faculties, as well as University-wide seminars, workshops, and conferences held throughout the year. There is a fantastic Language Centre as well as a specialist training system .This is before we’ve even started on what may be offered through your particular college!

Your supervisor is an excellent resource to use in terms of asking what is available and if there is anything which would suit you. They will be happy to help.

We actively encourage all of our full-time students to complete their PhDs within three years.

In order to help you stay on track, we ask that every full-time candidate undergo an assessment exercise in the Lent Term of their third year of research. You submit a one- to two-page synopsis of your dissertation together with a timetable for completion. You then have a formal discussion with your supervisor, and sometimes the Advisor.

The major government grant-giving bodies expect all our full-time students to complete within a maximum of four years. Therefore, in order to secure future funding for its students, the Degree Committee monitors its submissions rates closely. This is why we place emphasis on your research proposal being something feasible for completion in three years, and also why we have the first and third year assessments in order to help you as much as we can.

The fourth year isn’t guaranteed, so do try to plan your topic within a three-year time span. By that time, we hope you’ll be eager to get started on your career after the training you will have received at Cambridge!

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• SAN2: The foundations of social life
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• 2018 Entries overview
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• Patricia Garcia
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• Peter Lockwood
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• 2017 Entries overview
• Alexander Taylor
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• Priscilla Garcia
• Helen Jambunathan
• Katie Macvarish
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• 2016 Entries overview
• Anthony Howarth
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• 2014 Entries overview
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• An anthropological study of the early detection of cancer
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• The Digital Himalaya Project
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• REPRESENT: Community Engagement Roadmap to Improve Participant Representation in Cancer Research Early Detection
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• Elusive Risks: Engaging with hard-to-reach and non-interested publics in the community
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• Dr Barbira-Freedman and Medical Knowledge in Amazonian Peru
• Dr Barbira-Freedman and Learning the Art of Amazonian Gentle Parenting
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• Barclays Bank and African Agency: a Historical Ethnography
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• Entangled Lines: Railways, Resource Booms, and Transnational Politics in Mongolia
• Oral History of Twentieth Century Mongolia
• 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
• Yastan’ (Ethnicity) and National Unity in Mongolia
• The Ethics of Behavioural Economics
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• Refiguring Conservation in/for ‘the Anthropocene’: the Global Lives of the Orangutan (GLO)
• Resource frontiers: managing water on a trans-border Asian river
• Shared Risk - ACED
• Becoming Shamans to be Healed
• Blowing in the Wind: Renewable energy and Ethnic Minorities in Chinese Inner Mongolia
• Climate Histories Research Group: Communicating Cultural Knowledge of Environmental Change
• Communicating cultural knowledge of environmental change in collaboration with schools, local communities and NGOs
• CRIC - Cultural Heritage and the Reconstruction of Identitites after Conflict 2008-2012
• Environmental Knowledge in Alaska and Mexico
• Gambling across the Pacific: the Fluttering Tide
• Gathering and communicating climate knowledge, with particular reference to generating impact at local and national levels
• Himalayan connections: melting glaciers, sacred landscapes and mobile technologies in a Changing Climate
• HimalConnect: Network and Knowledge-Sharing Workshops in Nepal and Bhutan
• Mongolia's Natural Resource Strategy
• Mongolian Cosmopolitical Heritage: Tracing Divergent Healing Practices Across the Mongolian-Chinese Border
• Pathways Project
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• The Roots of Success
• Tradition and Modernity in Tibet and the Himalayas
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• The Work of Art in Contemporary Japan: Inner and outer worlds of creativity
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• Imaging Minority Culture: Photography, Digital Sharing, and Cultural Survival in Northeast China
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• TiBET— Tibetan Book Evolution and Technology
• Transforming Technologies and Buddhist Book Culture: the Introduction of Printing and Digital Text Reproduction in Buddhist Societies
• Morality, Subjectivity, and Emotion overview
• Threshold Media: disclosure, disavowal, and the performance of belief in Pakistan
• Situating Free Speech: European Parrhesia in Comparative perspective
• Study of the International Venture Capital (VC) Industry
• The Ethics of Care: Intellectual Disability in the UK
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• “After Us, Who Will Care for Them?”: Intellectual Disability in South India
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• Prospective Students
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• Work with us

Cambridge is home to a large and diverse family of anthropologists. In addition to the University and College Teaching Officers who work in the Department of Social Anthropology, and the anthropological staff at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology , there are a number of Departmental Researchers as well as  Emeritus and Affiliated Anthropologists  attached either to the Department, to colleges, or to other research units in Cambridge. We also have a large and diverse cohort of Research Students .

The professional service staff are based in the Social Anthropology office on Free School Lane.

Full size map of Social Anthropology.  

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

Contact: [email protected]

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