PhD Archaeology

Our PhD Archaeology programme will see you undertake substantial original research leading to a thesis that constitutes a genuine contribution to archaeological knowledge. You can undertake your PhD as either a full-time or part-time programme.

Archaeology students often undertake some form of fieldwork as part of their PhD, such as small-scale excavation, survey, rock art recording, and working with museum collections and archives.

You could also carry out qualitative social research in the realm of heritage studies (eg conducting qualitative interviews or participant observation).

Archaeology research at Manchester is characterised by a number of themes, which give a distinctive flavour to our research and teaching. These include the study of:

history, theory and practice of Archaeology;
the archaeology of cultural identity;
landscape, monuments and architecture;
technology and society;
death and the body
archaeological heritage and the contemporary significance of the past.
Our doctoral students participate in a thriving disciplinary research culture, with regular research seminars and an archaeology postgraduate forum run by archaeology PhD students.

Many of our students undertake some undergraduate teaching following appropriate training.

Find out more about what it's like to be an Archaeology PhD student at Manchester and see what our current PhD students are working on.