Social Anthropology PhD

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

We have developed a distinctive body of research and teaching which systematically links everyday life to key challenges that we face in the contemporary world. This manifests itself in exciting new work on topics including:

• political violence, law, and peace
• migration and displacement
• arts, media and cultural heritage
• global, public, mental health, diagnostics, and wellbeing
• infrastructures, innovations, and social justice
• environment, resources, and sustainability
• kinship
• gender, generations, and inheritance
• sexual and reproductive politics
• religion and public life
• creative, multimodal, more-than-human, and collaborative ethnographies

Our research is global in scope. We have established a reputation for work in Europe, and are a major centre for the anthropological study of South Asia. Our specialist interests span other parts of the world, including:

• Africa
• East and Southeast Asia
• the Middle East
• Latin America
• North America

Applied research includes policy-related work on:

• asylum-seekers
• NGOs
• healthcare
• sustainable development
• cultural heritage *participatory rights

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

We welcome interdisciplinary research. We are home to the Edinburgh Centre for Medical Anthropology (EdCMA), and have numerous collaborations with colleagues in Law; Geography; History; Classics, and Archaeology; and 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, and the Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS).

These entry requirements are for the 2025/26 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2026/27 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2025.

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 which 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 73 with at least 59 in each component. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
• Oxford ELLT: 8 overall with at least 6 in each component.

Unless you are a national of a majority English speaking country, your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start of the month in which the programme you are applying to study begins. If you are using an IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL, Trinity ISE, or Oxford ELLT test, it must be no more than two years old on the first of the month in which the programme begins, regardless of your nationality. (Revised 14 January 2025 to include Oxford ELLT.)

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.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements