Programme Coordinator: Dr. A. Jamie Saris
Email: ajamie.saris@mu.ie OR anthropology.office@nuim.ie
Tel: 01 708 3983 OR 01 708 3984
The PhD is an advanced research degree that requires considerable initiative on the part of the student to engage in independent, original scholarship. The objective of the PhD programme is to provide students with professional training in academic research in Anthropology, and to produce scholars capable of contributing to international networks in the discipline in an original, ethical, and effective fashion. To this end, the programme provides students with the necessary research skills, along with any other specialist training, required for their particular project. Above all, the department aims to provide students with the opportunity to pursue effectively their own specific research interests, working independently under the mentorship of members of staff, who will provide detailed feedback and advice on the work.
Full information on the PhD programme including course structure and entry requirements
Anthropology PhD Programme Information and Requirements
Maynooth University PhD Regulations
Programme Coordinator: Dr. Jamie Saris
Email: ajamie.saris@mu.ie OR anthropology.office@nuim.ie
Tel: 01 708 3587 OR 01 708 3984
The MA in Anthropology is an advanced degree in socio-cultural anthropology in which students are given a sophisticated introduction to the theoretical underpinnings of the discipline, a block of modules that open up and explore the conceptual and methodological core of the discipline, and a series of specialized modules that show the range of socio-cultural anthropology today. Students are also required to write a thesis. The MA in Anthropology is primarily a scholarly degree that aims to equip students for later doctoral research or for work in roles that demand academic social-scientific knowledge or the particular skills of trained ethnographic researchers. The MA requires students to take 90 credits, 30 of which are dedicated to the thesis. That leaves 60 credits of combined compulsory and optional modules.
In the autumn and spring semesters, students complete an intensive course of compulsory modules (5 credits each), which will introduce them to key anthropological concepts and areas of research as well as ethnographic practices and anthropological theory. The graduate seminar in anthropology runs through both semesters and is designed as a space where students learn about the latest developments in anthropology and prepare their own MA research projects in discussion with visiting scholars and Anthropology Department academic staff. Students also have a choice of topical modules, on subjects such as language, development, digital anthropology, medicine, material culture, or society and design. Students develop a proposal for a research project during the taught year in consultation with a faculty advisor. In the summer, students register for a 30-credit Thesis module, and turn in a completed thesis on their project by early September.
As students progress through the year, they will also have the opportunity to specialize by choosing from optional modules in areas that represent scholarly strengths in the department. These differ from year to year but might include any of the following: Linguistic Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Digital Anthropology, Design and Anthropology of Development amongst others.
We expect that some students will wish to work through early ethnographic research questions and will require support as they begin their research journeys. Moreover, students will also wish to deepen their specialized areas of scholarly interest. The Ethnography Winter School has acquired an international reputation as one of the flagship modules offered by the department of anthropology. It takes students through high-level discussions, built to support their own research, in the company of international keynote speakers. All students shall be encouraged to take this module as an excellent way to further prepare them for their research projects.
The proposed structure of the MA in Anthropology places great emphasis on students’ own research. They will build foundations – theoretical and methodological – in semester 1, while also identifying areas of specialism. By the end of semester 1, students are expected to have identified a broad topic and a supervisor, and preliminary (mostly secondary) research is expected to take place in semester 2.
Students shall write a thesis carrying 30 ECTS in the period May to September. The thesis shall normally be expected to be 20,000 words in length and may be based on ethnographic research where feasible.
MA Thesis Guidelines
Those intending to take the Postgraduate Certificate in Anthropology are expected to take 40 credits in total. Except in circumstances where permission is given, students are expected to complete 30 credits of compulsory modules. The remaining 10 credits can be chosen from the suite of choices available each year.
