Durham University Anthropology

24/03/2026

"Everyone’s invoking context, but nobody’s agreeing."

Our Department's Dr Paolo Heywood explores - How to spot the use and abuse of the word ‘context’:

Everyone’s been in a debate when someone says: “You’re taking that out of context.” But what does it actually mean to understand something “in context”? Here Dr Paolo Heywood from our Department of Anthropology explores the use and abuse of the word 'context'.

17/03/2026

💭 Research that makes wider change happen 💭

Last November, the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre (led by our Professor Helen Ball) joined the Lullaby Trust and Sheffield Sling Library for an event at the Festival of Social Science! DISC shared their research into sling and baby-carrier use in the UK, funded by The Lullaby Trust and Teddy's Wish, as well as DISC's broader work.

Find out more in the video below!

🎥: Durham University Impact Acceleration team

Our ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) supported an event as part of the 2025 Festival of Social Science, bringing together the Durham Infancy and Sleep ...

09/03/2026

Are you a new parent desperate for some uninterrupted sleep and willing to try any products that might help your little one snooze for a bit longer? 👶💤

But can sleep nests, rocking devices and weighted sleeping bags do that and are they safe?

Our baby sleep expert, Professor Helen Ball, gives her verdict in this BBC Radio 4 episode of Sliced Bread.

🎧 https://brnw.ch/21x0pWE

Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre | Durham University Anthropology | Baby Sleep Info Source - Basis | The Lullaby Trust

02/03/2026

Can any nests or docks, gadgets or blinds, really help babies sleep better?

13/02/2026

💡 Progress to Postgrad 💡

📆 18 February 2026 2-4pm
📍Teaching and Learning Centre

Considering what to do next? Meet our Admissions Team and be considered for a provisional postgraduate offer on the day!

Join us to discuss:

💷 PG funding opportunities, including Alumni Scholarship
🔍 PG course options at Durham
🗺️ Your future career path

For more information and to book 👉 https://durhamuni.eventsair.com/2026-pg-progress-to-postgrad-winter/progress-to-postgrad/Site/Register

10/02/2026

Special collection out now: 'Flashes of Responsibility: Craft, Ethics, and Impact in Global Health Ethnography'

Available to read online: https://medanthro.net/critical-care/introduction-to-flashes-of-responsibility-craft-ethics-and-impact-in-global-health-ethnography/

This developed from the 2023 Writing Global Health Ethnography workshop, co-funded by the Durham University Global Engagement Fund (2023) and Dartmouth College, USA, a fellow member of the Matariki Network. Contributors include many of our Department's health anthropologists: staff members, postdocs, and PhD students.

Find out more in our news story: https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/anthropology/news/flashes-of-responsibility-special-collection-announcement/

Developed from the 2023 Writing Global Health Ethnography workshop, this online collection features many of our Department's health anthropologists.

04/02/2026

Applications open for our Postgraduate Taught Programmes!

Learn more about our MA in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from our Head of Department, Prof Yulia Egorova: https://youtu.be/kpqp7QPek5I?si=KU27DKNmj3AXBWgc

More information about our other postgraduate courses coming soon!

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

30/01/2026

Last week we saw the launch of the new 'EDI in application processes' toolkit!

The toolkit is intended to help people embed principles of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into all types of application processes, including funding, jobs or experience opportunities. It provides a step-by-step guide and resources to promote efficiency and reduce the administrative burden traditionally associated with EDI.

Toolkit link: https://editoolkit.webspace.durham.ac.uk/

Many thanks to the team behind it: Prof. Rachel Kendal (Anthropology), Lizzie Ranson (Research and Innovation Services [RIS]), Lorna Winship (formerly Anthropology, RIS) and Sarah Wright (formerly Anthropology, Psychology)

30/01/2026

We're delighted to share that our Department's Professor Rob Barton has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology!

Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) have achieved distinction in the fields of biological research, teaching, or the application of biology.

RSB Fellows benefit from increased professional recognition through exclusive postnominal letters (FRSB) and are given the opportunity to get more involved in the Society's activities. Applicants need to demonstrate a distinctive and notable contribution to the advancement of the biological sciences and must have a minimum of five years' influential experience throughout their career.

Learn more about Prof Rob Barton's research here: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/r-a-barton/

23/01/2026

Professor Nayanika Mookherjee has said of her article:

"In this essay I write on the danger of misinformation in South Asia in the run up to the Feb 2026 Bangladeshi elections and the codes of vulnerabilities which becomes preyed on. My research on birangonas (Survivors of wartime sexual violence of the Bangladesh war of 1971) instruct me to argue that anyone researching on the innumerable cases of blasphemy, killings, lynchings being carried out in South Asia are bound to come across how each of these events become a means to prey on existing codes of vulnerabilities, to ensure the weak remain weak and the powerful remain powerful. When this everyday infraction gets infused with social media, rumour and mobs the end is chilling and fatal."

Read more in the post linked below 👇

Professor Nayanika Mookherjee from our Anthropology Department explores how misinformation in Bangladesh exploits entrenched social and political vulnerabilities to sustain existing power hierarchies. Drawing on research on birangonas and contemporary cases of blasphemy accusations and mob violence,...