Scholarships, Studentships, Bursaries and Awards

There are many different forms of support available for graduate students at the School of Archaeology. Some of these are administered by the University, others by Colleges and some by the School itself.

See the funding page for funding opportunities for prospective students

See the funding page for additional opportunities for current students

Graduate Scholarship in Archaeology at St Cross College

The School of Archaeology, jointly with St Cross College, offers a scholarship for students who will be studying for a Dphil in Archaeology at Oxford University in the academic year 2012-13.

The Studentship is open to all students taking the DPhil in Archaeology (beginning in Michaelmas 2012) at St Cross.

The St Cross Graduate Studentship has a value of the College Fee plus £7000 per annum for the duration of study, tenable for between one and three years coterminous with college fee liability, on condition of successfully completing Transfer of Status. College accommodation is also guaranteed for the first year.

The Graduate Studentship is awarded purely on the basis of academic merit and is tenable at St Cross College only.

Applicants entering into DPhil status in 2012-2013 should apply for a place in the School of Archaeology using the University’s standard application form and must list St. Cross College as their first choice. The application deadline is 9 March 2012 (the third gathered field). Everyone who applies for the DPhil in Archaeology and lists St Cross as their first choice of college (and who applies in the first four gathered fields) will be considered automatically.

Wolfson Graduate Studentship in Archaeology

Wolfson College, in conjunction with the School of Archaeology, offers the following scholarship for students who will be studying for a DPhil in Archaeology at the University of Oxford in the academic year 2012 – 2013.

The studentship is open to all students taking the DPhil in Archaeology (beginning in Michaelmas 2012) at Wolfson College.

The Wolfson Graduate Studentship has a value of the College fee plus £7,000 per annum for the duration of study, tenable for between one and three years coterminous with college fee liability, on condition of successfully completing Transfer of Status.

The Graduate Studentship is awarded purely on the basis of academic merit and is tenable at Wolfson College only.

Applicants entering into DPhil status in 2012-2013 should apply for a place in the School of Archaeology using the University’s standard application form and must list Wolfson College as their first choice. The application deadline is 9th March 2012 (the third gathered field). Everyone who applies for the DPhil in Archaeology and lists Wolfson as their first choice of college by the deadline will be considered automatically.

Applications are invited for three DPhil studentships funded by a research project grant from the European Research Council. The project title is Landscapes and Identities: the case of the English Landscape 1500 BC – AD 1086

This five-year project will look at the long-term history of the English landscape from 1500 BC to AD 1086 combining evidence on landscape features, such as track-ways, fields and settlements, together with the distribution of metalwork. The project aims to understand a crucial period of English landscape history from the start of the settled agricultural landscape to the Medieval world. The project will combine a mass of digital data from English Heritage’s National Mapping project, local Historic Environment Records and the Grey Literature with that on artefacts held in the Portable Antiquity Scheme and other artefact databases, such as the Celtic Coin Index. Not only will we analyse a mass of data on a scale not attempted previously, but we will also develop a theoretical framework for analyzing landscape and artefactual change over the long-term as it pertains to issues of identity, community and ontology. Working from the Bronze Age to the early Medieval period reveals great evidence of change, but also surprising continuity in terms of land divisions and forms of settlement. The project is led by Professor Chris Gosden and involves a number of researchers - Dr. Zena Kamash, Dr. Anwen Cooper, Dr. Letty Ten Harkel and Dr. Chris Green, with administrative support provided by Dr. Laura Morley. The students will work as part of this team.

The studentships will start in October 2012. All three students will have full funding for three years. The topics in which the studentships will be offered include:

The first studentship will look at the preparation and serving of food over time, as understood from changing pottery assemblages from the Bronze Age to Anglo-Saxon periods in selected regions. Landscapes produce plants and animals that are turned into food and pottery helps indicate the patterns of consumption of food and drink. The doctoral research will be unusual in terms of pottery analysis which usually focuses on period-specific assemblages, whereas this work will take some selected regions, with relatively well understood pottery assemblages and compare and contrast these over time.

The second student will collate and combine isotopic data from human and animal bones which inform about diet and compare this with direct evidence from bones and seeds. This will be the first direct comparison of isotopic data with faunal and botanical remains. The student will focus primarily on existing isotopic data, but s/he may carry out some extra analysis where it is deemed necessary. It is hoped that a general survey of England from the Bronze Age to the early Medieval period might be possible given the amount of isotopic data that currently exists.

A third student will tackle questions concerning the quality and methodologies of developer-funded work which vary across the country, as do levels of analysis and reporting. The student will work closely with English Heritage and co-supervised by Chris Gosden and Professor T. Darvill of Bournemouth University. The results will provide a critical evaluation of the nature and structure of archaeological work currently carried out in England, with scope for recommendations for the future.

Applications are invited from students with good grounding in British archaeology of the relevant periods and skills appropriate to the topic for which an application is made.

Applicants intending to start their course in October 2012 should notify Professor Chris Gosden (chris.gosden@arch.ox.ac.uk) as soon as possible of their intention to apply, providing email and postal addresses.

Applications for the studentships should be made using the main University graduate application form. The application should be submitted no later than the general January graduate application deadline, 20^th January 2012. In exceptional circumstances, later applications will be considered. To access the application form and application guide please visit the online prospectus at www.ox.ac.uk/graduate/apply. On the application form, in the section headed ‘Departmental Studentship Applications’, you must indicate that you are applying for the ERC Landscape Studentships]

OXFORD CENTRE FOR ASIAN ARCHAEOLOGY, ART AND CULTURE DOCTORAL STUDENTSHIPS

The School of Archaeology invites applications for two studentships funded by a research project grant from the Leverhulme Trust. The project title is China and Inner Asia (c.1000-200BC): Interactions that changed China.

The successful applicants will join the project to work on the period 750-200 BC, investigating the ways in which the central Chinese states exploited technologies, materials and decorative styles introduced from the steppe regions and further west. These innovations appear to have stimulated strong, and often very local, responses from the Chinese states. The doctoral students will be invited to explore the ways in which these responses developed in specific regions. The project is led by Professor Jessica Rawson in the School of Archaeology and also involves a research assistant, Dr Peter Hommel, working on the steppe areas north and west of present-day China.

The studentships will start in October 2012. Both students will have full funding for three years and with the possibility of some funding if a fourth year is required. The topics in which the studentships will be offered include:

A study of the impact of new technologies and materials introduced to the area of present-day Hubei and Anhui provinces from further north in the period 700-200 BC. This project may consider a variety of different media, including bronze, gold and lacquer.
The roles of standardisation in casting practices and of competition between different areas in the development of the material culture in the central Chinese states, 700-200 BC. The studentship may include work in the Research Laboratory of the School of Archaeology.
A study of the role of interaction with the borders in the use of iron and gold in the central Chinese states in the period 700-200 BC. Work on specific sites in Gansu province or in the south-west, in Yunnan province, may form part of this project.