Entry requirements

In order to be considered for direct admission to the MPhil/PhD programme, you must have gained at least an upper second class honours degree in social anthropology from a British university, or have completed an MA or MSc in social anthropology at a British university to a high standard. If you do not have these qualifications, you will be asked to register for one of our MSc programmes first.

Months of entry

October

Course content

The Department of Anthropology has a strong international reputation and a long and distinguished history of leadership in the discipline. It is characterised by a dynamic research culture and by a strong commitment to teaching and to promoting an inclusive intellectual environment. We engage in innovative research in the unfolding contemporary world while maintaining core anthropological traditions: long-term empirical research, commitment to a broad comparative enquiry on the nature of human sociality and human nature, and a constructive but critical engagement with social theory. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, LSE's Anthropology Department obtained the highest proportion of 4* rated submissions (the highest ranking) in the UK.

The Department maintains international links and leading scholars in the discipline often come to LSE as academic visitors. These links bring a special quality to the Department's research culture, and are of great educational and professional benefit to students.

The first year of our graduate research programme focuses on fieldwork preparation and training in research methodologies. Students 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, Kinship or Religion. 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. Students are normally upgraded from MPhil to PhD registration if their proposals have been approved, and if they have achieved the required marks on their methodology coursework. They are then allowed to proceed to fieldwork.

Department specialisms

There is a broad range of contemporary themes built around long term participant observation fieldwork in many different countries, especially in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America and the Pacific.