anthropology phd sweden

Faculty of Social Sciences | Lund University

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The Division of Social Anthropology

Social Anthropology is part of The Department of Sociology in Lund.

The world is increasingly characterized by diversity, cultural encounters and changing identities. In order to deal with contemporary challenges, one must be innovative, and the tools of social anthropology make this possible. Anthropologists explore how people's thinking affects their communities and, conversely, how society and culture make people think and act the way they do. Social anthropology concerns the connection between culture and humans as individuals, humans as social beings and humans in a globalized world.

The Division of Social Anthropology at the Department of Sociology in Lund is currently a relatively small research environment characterised by diversity, curiosity and critical thinking.

Current research spans a broad field including refugee existence and integration, human rights, nationalism, social movements, policy, criminal and political violence, sex work, social stigmatisation as well as museology and visual anthropology.

Courses and programmes

Studying social anthropology will give you an understanding of the difference between people's intentions and their lived practice. You will gain important skills for working with investigations, development work and management in the public sector and non-profit organizations or within marketing, trade and industry. The programmes collaborate with organizations and authorities is an integral part of the training. You will be prepared for work in intercultural communications and will have multicultural competence both nationally and internationally.

We offer both courses and programmes in the field of social anthropology.

Search this list for social anthropology to find current courses and programmes.

What Jesse says about the Master's Programme in Social Anthropology

Social anthropologists question what seems obvious and explore how cultural norms make people think and act the way they do., master's programme in social anthropology.

For an updated list of staff for the division of social anthropology, please visit Lund University's main page:

http://www.lu.se/lucat/group/012013002

PhD programmes

When you apply for a phd programme in sweden, you’re actually applying for a job. yeah, you read that right. 👀.

“Do a master’s here – I’d say it’s a very good step to doing a PhD in Sweden. I did my master’s at Malmö University and now I’m doing a PhD at Lund University” – Sanjay, Malmö University. Photo: Oskar Omne

So that means – no tuition fees, no scholarships. But you’ll receive a monthly salary instead. Nice, eh? And that’s why available PhD positions are listed on a university’s job board.

How to apply for a PhD position? You’ll apply directly to the university.

Just so you know, there’s no centralised application process. And things like requirements and application dates? This kind of stuff is decided by each department. But we do know that you’ll need to have a master’s degree – in the same field of study – and a great level of English to apply for a PhD here. You might even need to be fluent in Swedish. But that’ll depend on the subject.

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+ - Useful info about research

• CORDIS ↗️ – EU Research and Information Service
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• Formas ↗️ – The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
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• Handbook for International Researchers ↗️ – Stockholm University’s handbook for international researchers

• 👩🏽‍🎓 Beyond the master's: a PhD?
• Find a research position at a Swedish university ↗️

30 Best universities for Anthropology in Sweden

Updated: February 29, 2024

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Below is a list of best universities in Sweden ranked based on their research performance in Anthropology. A graph of 972K citations received by 44.3K academic papers made by 30 universities in Sweden was used to calculate publications' ratings, which then were adjusted for release dates and added to final scores.

We don't distinguish between undergraduate and graduate programs nor do we adjust for current majors offered. You can find information about granted degrees on a university page but always double-check with the university website.

1. Lund University

For Anthropology

2. Karolinska Institute

3. Umea University

4. University of Gothenburg

5. Uppsala University

6. Stockholm University

7. Linkoping University

8. Chalmers University of Technology

9. Orebro University

10. KTH Royal Institute of Technology

11. Malmo University

12. Jonkoping University

13. Linnaeus University

14. Lulea University of Technology

15. Karlstad University

16. Halmstad University

17. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

18. Mid Sweden University

19. Boras University College

20. Stockholm School of Economics

21. Malardalen University

22. University College West

23. Sodertorn University College

24. University of Skovde

25. Ersta Skondal Bracke University College

26. kristianstad university college.

27. Dalarna University

28. Blekinge Institute of Technology

29. Sophiahemmet University College

30. Red Cross University College

The best cities to study Anthropology in Sweden based on the number of universities and their ranks are Lund , Stockholm , Umea , and Gothenburg .

Liberal Arts & Social Sciences subfields in Sweden

PhD Anthropology programs in Sweden

Human geography.

Stockholm University

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is the only global university performance table to judge research-intensive universities across all of their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Deadline information

Best universities with anthropology in sweden.

Bachelor Anthropology programs in Sweden

Master Anthropology programs in Sweden

Most Popular Anthropology programs in Sweden

PhD Anthropology programs in Sweden

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Unlock over 16 fully-funded PhD positions available in diverse fields at prestigious universities in Sweden and the Netherlands!

Are you looking for exciting PhD positions at esteemed universities in Sweden and the Netherlands?

Over 16 fully-funded multiple doctoral scholarships in diverse fields are available at various universities in Sweden and the Netherlands for the year 2024. These fellowships provide funding for doctoral researchers to conduct their research projects at universities, research institutions, and other organizations in these countries. These PhD positions are funded by prestigious sources including the MSCA doctoral program and other funding programs.

For detailed information on specific doctoral positions, please visit the provided links to explore corresponding PhD scholarships, which include specific requirements and application procedures.

PhD positions available in Swedish universities.

1. Computational condensed matter physics, Linköping University

2. Urban Freight Management, Chalmers University of Technology

3. eDNA environmental monitoring, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet

4. Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Luleå University of Technology

5. Medical Science - Regional differences in gestational duration, University of Gothenburg

6. Computational Sciences within the national Data-Driven Life Sciences program, Umeå universitet

7. Computational biology of infection, Lunds universitet

PhD positions available in Dutch/Netherlands universities.

8. Donders Centre of Neuroscience - Motor Disorder Rehabilitation, Radboud University

9. Human-aligned Video-AI, University of Amsterdam (UvA)

10. Multivariate Dependence Modelling and Statistical Machine Learning Algorithms for Patient Risk Profiling, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)

11. Computational Cognitive Neuroscience at the Predictive Brain Lab, Radboud University

12. Atmospheric Sciences - Unraveling the mesoscale organisation of shallow convective clouds for better climate projection, Wageningen University & Research

13. Dynamic On-Body and In-Body Compression Systems, University of Twente (UT)

14. Modelling Micropollutant Removal using Charge-Mosaic Nanofiltration Membranes, University of Twente (UT)

15. Economic Life Cycle Costing and Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Hydropower, University of Twente (UT)

16. Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Hydropower, University of Twente (UT)

Don't miss this exceptional opportunity to advance your research career!! Apply now!

• by Greg Watry
• May 14, 2024

An archaeologist is called upon to lead an excavation in a war-torn region that her home country is invading. A graduate student working as a crew chief grapples with worker safety issues in a hostile environment. A scholar considers the notion of safeguarding data when her work is plagiarized by colleagues. 

Such ethical scenarios are among the many that professional anthropologists and archaeologists deal with regularly. At the 89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, held in New Orleans last month, a team of UC Davis first-year graduate students won first place at the 19th Annual Ethics Bowl, a competition in which teams from different universities face off as they debate ethical dilemmas in the field. 

“Archaeology and anthropology have a storied past of not always following the ethics that we strive for today and even some fairly racist foundations,” said Teresa Steele, a professor of anthropology and the faculty mentor of the UC Davis-winning team. “As disciplines, we really need to own up to that history and move ourselves forward by having very open conversations about these issues.” 

The Society for American Archaeology Ethics Bowl is an avenue to do that while also providing burgeoning archaeologists the opportunity to consider these important questions and ideate ethical frameworks from the ground floor. 

“We got the chance to have some really nice discussions with the other teams as well as audience members interested in ethics,” said Madison McCartin, a team member and anthropology graduate student. “One of the judges even invited us to help organize a future ethics bowl at the World Archaeological Congress.”

Additional members from the UC Davis Ethics Bowl team include anthropology graduate students Erin Mooneyham, Morgan Hall, Daniel Goring and Nikki Wu.

Reckoning with the past

To prepare for the Ethics Bowl, the UC Davis team spent months learning about various topics, international laws and ethical frameworks, including policies around repatriation, international excavation, archaeology in warzones, interpersonal dynamics in the field and indigenous perspectives, among others.

“One thing I would love to commend, especially Erin for, is that — even though there wasn’t necessarily a structured team captain — she was absolutely our team captain,” McCartin said. “We were really impressed by her ability to help us prepare so adequately for a competition that she had never participated in before.”   

For Mooneyham, who specializes in zooarchaeology, her work and collaboration with the indigenous Alutiq communities of Kodiak Island, Alaska is a reminder of the checkered past of both anthropology and archaeology. 

“Some of the first archaeology on Kodiak Island was done by a Smithsonian anthropologist, Ales Hrdlicka, who is notorious and well-hated by everyone because he excavated almost exclusively to find human burials and was only interested in taking human remains from these indigenous communities and putting them in his museum.” 

According to  The Washington Post , Hrdlicka’s excavations on Kodiak Island “amounted to industrial-scale pillaging.” With a small team, he “disinterred the remains of about 1,000 people.” 

While the majority of Hrdlicka’s work on Kodiak Island occurred during the 1930s, the community and today’s scholars are still reckoning with those actions from nearly 100 years ago. These echoes inform how Mooneyham and her colleagues conduct their research. 

“We don’t want to just abide by legal codes and do what’s mandated by law, we want to think ethically,” Mooneyham said. “Communities have had anthropologists and archaeologists come in, sit with them, write about them, take their resources, eat their food and then just leave and never see them again. We don’t want to be those people.” 

“We have to think about, how are we serving this community?” she added. “What do they want? What do they need? And how can our research serve that community in some way?” 

The debate stage

About six weeks before the Ethics Bowl, all participating teams were sent 10 hypothetical cases to review. During the competition, cases were selected at random and then debated by competing teams. 

“We exhaustively dissected the arguments and selected the best way to present our stances,” McCartin said. “We also practiced answering questions on the fly and developing counter questions for the opposing team. A final aspect of preparation was to conduct a practice ethics bowl with our department and get some external feedback.”

Steele is hopeful that the practice ethics bowl, which was held in a colloquium setting, will create a space for open dialogue about ethical frameworks within the Department of Anthropology. 

“These wider discussions are really important for professional development, for progressing the culture of the discipline, to make all of this really at the forefront and something we should all be thinking about and incorporating.” 

Thanks to their performance at the event, the UC Davis team was invited to help organize a future ethics bowl at the World Archaeological Congress, an international annual event that acts as a forum for all things related to the past. Additionally, McCartin and Mooneyham will co-chair a session related to ethics in zooarchaeology for the Society for American Archaeology next year in Denver.

“Within our team, we can all say that our appreciation for the nuance of archaeological ethics has increased ten-fold and is something we intend to pursue in the future,” McCartin said.   

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Congratulations to Rachel Taylor, a spring 2024 graduate with a Ph.D. in Archaeology!

It is always bittersweet to say goodbye to graduates as they begin the next chapter of their lives so we're taking some time to highlight the incredible Illinois Anthropology undergraduate and graduate students that graduated this spring 2024.

Read below to learn about Rachel Taylor, a newly minted Ph.D. in Archaeology, her work, favorite classes, and what she has planned next ✨

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 Nicholas Puente Awarded a Ralph Stone Graduate Fellowship

Nicholas Puente awarded a Ralph Stone Graduate Fellowship from the  National Speleological Society.  The funds will support a feasability study to test whether speleothems, a term for cave formations, found in Postclassic period Maya architecture can be sourced to their cave of origin using chemical analyses.

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PhD Programme in Environmental Social Science

The PhD Programme in Environmental Social Science provides a platform for interrogating how we understand and investigate the relationships between society and the environment. The PhD programme aims to educate researchers in undertaking the complex issues created by today's global challenges, and to contribute to the research field through a doctoral dissertation.

The PhD programme

The interdisciplinary Phd Programme in Environmental Social Science meets the growing demand for researchers, policy makers and experts that can work across research fields and develop new theoretical and methodological tools to study the dynamics between society and the environment. The PhD programme approaches different social and natural systems from a social sciences perspective and includes relevant insights from the natural and biological sciences. The aim of the doctoral programme is to educate researchers in undertaking the complex issues created by today's global challenges.

The PhD programme comprises 240 credits in total. Of the total credits, the dissertation comprises 180 credits, and the course work comprises 60 credits. 

The PhD programme is governed by the Higher Education Ordinance, The University’s and the Faculty’s rules and regulations for third-cycle studies, and the General Syllabus.

More extensive information about the PhD programme can be found in the General Syllabus.

Specific entry requirements 

In order to be eligible for the PhD Programme in Environmental Social Science, you must, in addition to the general entry requirements, fulfill the specific entry requirements.

You must have completed a degree at second cycle level in a social and behavioural science discipline including 30 credits at either first- or second-cycle that have an environment focus and a thesis in the second-cycle with an environment focus, or the equivalent degree/knowledge obtained within or outside Sweden.

Doctoral employment

If you are accepted for doctoral education, you will be employed as doctoral students at the department. As a doctoral student, your employment typically lasts four years. Up to 20 percent of the doctoral studies can consist of departmental service, and the doctoral position is then extended by the corresponding time. This means that the total period of employment will be a maximum of five years. Exceptions apply to sick leave, parental leave and union trust assignments.

Salaries for doctoral students are made according to local agreements at the University of Gothenburg and are negotiated by trade union representatives.

Doctoral positions are funded through faculty grants, external research grants or funding from other employers. When financing from another employer, a special agreement is required, that regulates the relationship between the University of Gothenburg/the department, the doctoral student and the employer. The type of financing that is relevant for the position always appears in the position announcement. Please note that student loans or private means are not accepted.

Doctoral students at the University of Gothenburg are government employees and are thus covered by a number of benefits and insurance.

Supervision

Supervisors are assigned in consultation between the doctoral student, and the Director of PhD Studies. Each doctoral student is assigned a main supervisor and an assistant supervisor. Prospective doctoral students do not need to obtain supervisors before applying for a PhD programme.

The dissertation

The dissertation can be written in the form of a compilation, which means several articles and/or papers preceded by an introductory chapter so-called Kappa, or as a monograph, i.e. a coherent book.

Doctoral students are expected to present their work at a number of occasions during the PhD programme. At the beginning of the second year at the programme, the doctoral student presents a detailed project proposal, the dissertation PM, for the entire department, and receives questions and feedback from commentators. When approximately half of the programme is completed, the doctoral student presents parts of the dissertation at a so-called mid-term seminar.

When about six months remain to work on a dissertation, the doctoral student presents the entire dissertation script on a mock dissertation, and receives comments from an external opponent and an third reader.

Finally, the doctoral student defends their dissertation in a public defense, where the student discusses the dissertation with an opponent, and a grading committee decides whether the dissertation is approved.

Future careers

A doctorate in Environmental Social Science can lead to a research career within or outside the academia, to teaching at various levels within the university, or to a career as an environmental analysts in the public sector, in international organizations, in civil society organizations or as environmental managers in companies.

Programme courses

The first two years of your doctoral studies comprise a number of mandatory and elective courses on third cycle level.

More information, rules and laws

• Doctoral Studies at the University of Gothenburg
• The Higher Education Ordinance
• The Swedish Higher Education Act

Master's Programme in Social Anthropology

• 120 credits cr.
• Gå till denna sida på svenska webben

The Department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University is a world-leading research institution that provides a global and comparative perspective on the diversity of social and cultural forms of the contemporary world.

The master’s programme reflects the Department’s commitment to understanding people, ideas, and objects in situ, and how they travel across political and cultural borders, challenging, reinforcing or redrawing them in the process.

The program offers a range of courses that reflects the Department’s research interests. It is also possible, by agreement, to choose courses from other departments to tailor an individual specialization.

The first year of the programme provides students with an in-depth understanding of current anthropology and its historical roots. Both general and specialized courses give students support in creating a theoretical and thematical frame for the upcoming thesis work. Teaching is set at the department itself and focuses on continual production of text and seminar discussions apart from ordinary lectures.

The second year is of a more practical orientation where students develop their individual research projects. The first semester includes a methods course alongside an individual tutorial as well as 10 weeks dedicated to fieldwork in Sweden or abroad. The second semester is dedicated to writing the master’s thesis. 

The group of students in the master’s programme is normally around 20-25 students from Sweden and abroad with a background in anthropology or similar academic subjects.

If you are not a citizen of Sweden or another EU/EES country or have a residence permit in Sweden or another EU/EES country please make sure to apply to the master’s programme in the first round of admissions with a deadline in mid-January in order to get a residence permit in time for the start of the autumn semester.

Programme overview

Autumn term

Course 1   History and Philosophy of Anthropological Theory 15 hp (SAM225)

Course 2   Key Themes in Contemporary Anthropology 15 hp (SAM226)

Spring term

Course 1   Transnational Migration 7,5 hp (SAM210)

Course 2   Digital Anthropology 7,5 hp (SAM215)

Course 3  Political Matters 7,5 hp (SAM250)

Course 4   Environmental Anthropology 7,5 hp (SAM223)

Course 1 and 2 (half-time courses 7.5 hp each):

    Individual Tutorial (SAM214)    Social Antropological Method (SAM203)

Course 3 Anthropological Fieldwork 15 hp (SAM219)

Master Thesis 30 hp (SAM212)

Stockholm University Department of Social Anthropology 10691  STOCKHOLM Phone +46 8-162000

Visiting address: Universitetsvägen 10B, floor 6

Director of studies, [email protected]

Study counsellor, [email protected]

Student office, [email protected]

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