Postgraduate Programmes and Research Degrees

Why undertake an Anthropology MSc at Brunel?

Brunel is a pioneer and leader in postgraduate teaching and research. Over twenty years ago we established Europe’s first masters in medical anthropology, led by two founders of the field, Ronnie Frankenberg and Cecil Helman (author of the anthropology textbook most widely used by health professionals worldwide). Since then, Brunel has launched the world’s first masters in the anthropology of childhood and the only masters in psychological and psychiatric anthropology outside the USA. Our graduates have gone on to set up similar programmes in Europe and Africa.

Brunel’s anthropology community is diverse and international. Many of the 50 postgraduates we recruit annually are taking time out for career development; others go on to do PhD research. People working in the health, social or psychological professions, or in development, charity or educational sectors derive enormous intellectual stimulus and a competitive professional advantage from these degrees. As a Brunel postgraduate, you will belong to one of the largest concentrations of researchers in medical anthropology in Europe. We are also expanding our cohorts and research base in the newer anthropology degrees; in 2012, we will launch a unique Masters in the Anthropology of International Development.

We currently offer five Master's level courses in Anthropology:

Anthropology of Childhood, Youth and Education MSc

This MSc was the first degree of its kind in the world when it was established and is still unique in its thorough-going anthropological perspective on what it is to be a child or to be young. Its key organising principle is that understanding children requires the study of how their relations with others - ...
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Anthropology of International Development and Humanitarian Assistance MSc

The course will appeal to graduates from a variety of backgrounds, including: anthropology, sociology, economics, politics, geography, law and development studies. It will provide the necessary training to enable students to seek employment with NGOs (such as Oxfam and Save the Children Fund), international agencies (such as the World Health Organisation and the World Food ...
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Medical Anthropology MSc

Why do some biomedical interventions seeking to control infectious and non-infectious diseases work, and others fail? How do ideas about ‘the body’ and ‘person’ influence the experience of health, illness and healing among different groups and societies? How and why is it appropriate to combine insights emerging from clinical and epidemiological research with ethnographic understandings ...
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Psychological and Psychiatric Anthropology MSc

Do our categories of behaviour – normal and abnormal – translate across cultures? Why do ethnic minorities have different experiences of mental health? Is there a ‘human nature’ underneath all the cultural differences? Anyone interested in psychological processes, feeling and expression, memory and trauma, culture and personality, will have asked themselves questions of this kind. However, they ...
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Social Anthropology MRes

This MRes is a taught postgraduate degree that provides high quality training in anthropology and anthropological research. The degree is of particular relevance for those who wish to use such training as a foundation for PhD study or who are keen to enhance their careers through the acquisition of advanced knowledge and research skills. Accordingly, ...
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What does a Masters entail?

All our degrees (whether full- or part-time) combine intensive coursework, training in research methods, and up to two months’ fieldwork leading to a dissertation. In all cases, the dissertation research project provides valuable experience and in many cases, it leads to job contacts; it often forms a bridge to a future career or time out for career development.

Here are some recent projects:

• Psychological suffering on the borders of Myanmar/Thailand
• Malaria prevention in Laos
• NGOs and youth activism in Trinidad
• Neo-shamanism in Germany
• Outcast London: attitudes and perspectives among hard-to-reach TB patients
• Volunteer tourism and its impact on children in Nepal
• Rap music and politics in Equatorial Guinea
• Ayahuasca use among Westerners in the Amazon
• Religious education in London’s secondary schools
• Mental health in Ghana
• The Tibetan diaspora in India
• Life on a forensic psychiatric ward in Britain
• Gender and sexuality in a hammam in Cairo
• Youth and unemployment in Bari, Italy
• Cultural factors and the experience of dementia in the UK
• Management of diabetes in Cambodia
• Trachoma and medical pluralism in Ethiopia
• The prevention of neglected tropical diseases in East Africa