UCL Anthropology

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UCL is one of the world's top universities and our department is the highest ranked broad-based department in the UK.

UCL Anthropology studies humanity in all its aspects: from our evolution as a species, to our relationship with the material world, and our vast variety of social practices and cultural forms. UCL Anthropology studies humanity in all its aspects - from our evolution as a species to our relationship with the material world and our vast variety of social behaviours. Our research expertise covers over 60 countries and the whole human story from our earliest origins to today's digital age. With over 30 academic staff, 400 students and 16 different courses on offer, UCL is a great place to learn the art and science of studying people.

20/10/2026

What if AI could help bring your family's untold stories to life?

From a grandmother's wedding day to a childhood home that no longer exists, UCL Anthropology students have been using generative AI to visualise precious family memories.

Through Our Memory Book, students interviewed relatives, explored their family histories and transformed personal recollections into imaginative visual stories.

The project culminated in an exhibition at UCL Anthropology, celebrating memory, identity and the connections that bring generations together.

A powerful reminder that technology can help us reconnect with the past - but it's the human stories that matter most.

🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/4zMIxzy

19/10/2026

Check out the research seminars taking place at UCL Anthropology this week!

From working lives along a derelict railway and the hidden worlds of illicit plant trading to the power of nostalgia, the complexities of biological s*x and the challenges of healthcare in diverse communities, our research seminars bring together researchers from UCL and beyond.

Join us for this week’s seminars, 19 - 23 October:

MON 19 OCT | 5 - 6.30pm
‘Afterplace: The Work of Waiting Along the Dakar-Bamako Railway’
Charline Kopf, University of Oslo

TUE 20 OCT | 2 - 4pm
‘Desire and Extinction in the Illicit Succulent Trade’
Jared Margulies, UCL Geography

TUE 20 OCT | 6 - 7.30pm
‘S*x is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary’
Agustin Fuentes, Princeton University

WED 21 OCT | 11am - 1pm
‘Heritage steam and the past at the end of time: on restorative nostalgia as meaningful ambivalence’
Thomas Yarrow, Durham University

FRI 23 OCT | 2 - 3.30pm
‘Drawing on the anthropology of ethics to improve appraisal of health-seeking practices and adapting care pathways in superdiverse environments’
Santiago Ripoll, University of Suss*x
Caroline Ackley, Imperial College London

All are welcome!

Full details here: https://bit.ly/4hxNa8Q

14/10/2026

🦴 It’s the third week of term and yesterday our new Anthropology BSc students went on a field trip to the Natural History Museum London to get up close to some amazing bones, fossils & our hominid ancestors in order to learn more about both human and animal evolution.

Also: giant sloths 🦥 (image 1!)

Led by Dr Alecia Carter & Reuben Fakoya-Brooks
Post Graduate Teaching Assistant (PGTA) Anthropology (2026-2027): London based, and further afield, field trips are a really exciting part of the degrees we offer. Find out more via our Links in bio and our stories today.

All 📷 Lisa Daniel UCL Social & Historical Sciences

12/10/2026

Check out the research seminars taking place at UCL Anthropology this week!

From nuclear dreams and river love to conservation practice in West Africa, moral decision-making, green jobs and ethnographic interviewing, our research seminar programme brings together researchers from UCL and beyond.

Join us for this week’s seminars, 12 - 16 October:

MON 12 OCT | 5 - 6.30pm
‘Atomic Women: Nuclear Dreams and River Love’
Elana Resnick, University of California, Santa Barbara

TUE 13 OCT | 2 - 4pm
‘Conservation beyond science: lessons from practice in West Africa’
Dr Cristina Argudin, King’s College London

TUE 13 OCT | 3.30 - 5pm
‘On the Psychophysics of Morality: Moral choices obey Weber’s law’
Ansgar Endress, City St George’s

WED 14 OCT | 11am - 1pm
‘Valuing “Greenness”: Transitions to Jobs and Economic Opportunity’
Dr Rachel Wilde, Institute of Education, UCL

FRI 16 OCT | 2 - 3.30pm
‘What is an Ethnographic Interview: Thoughts at the intersection of anthropology and psychiatry.’
Bhrigupati Singh, SOAS, University of London and the Center for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA)

All are welcome!

Full details here: https://bit.ly/4hxNa8Q

09/10/2026

Join us at UCL for 'S*x is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary', a book talk and discussion with Professor Agustín Fuentes (Princeton University).

Drawing on evolutionary biology, anthropology and the latest scientific research, Fuentes challenges conventional understandings of biological s*x and explores the complex interplay between biology, culture and human diversity.

The discussion will be chaired by Sahra Gibbon, with contributions from Lucy Cooke, Ruth Mace and Alecia Carter.

📅 Tuesday 20 October 2026
🕕 18:00–19:30
🎟️ Free – booking essential

A fascinating opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion about s*x, biology and what it means to be human.

🔗 Register and find out more:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/events/2026/oct/s*x-spectrum-biological-limits-binary

*x

06/10/2026

| Starting up change

Meet UCL Anthropology alumna Victoria Ndoh, founder of Nodanni and creator of Vactraca - a customised necklace designed to help mothers keep track of their children’s vaccination records.

Victoria first had the idea for Vactraca in 2017, after seeing the challenges faced by refugees and displaced people while working with UNICEF.

In 2018, she studied on UCL Anthropology's Ethnographic Documentary Filmmaking MA. During her time here, she discovered UCL Innovation and Enterprise’s Hatchery incubator, whose support helped her set up Nodanni and launch Vactraca.

Victoria and her team went on to pilot Vactraca in South Sudan in partnership with UNICEF, reaching 2,000 vulnerable mothers.

Read more about Victoria’s journey from UCL Anthropology to developing Vactraca and her work to advance vaccine equity:

https://bit.ly/4dWIFnp

05/10/2026

Check out the research seminars taking place at UCL Anthropology this week!

From clinical trials in the Asia-Pacific and demographic change to Welsh language revival and participatory video, our research seminar programme brings together researchers from UCL and beyond.

Join us for this week’s seminars, 5–9 October:

MON 5 OCT | 5–6.30pm
'The Hospitable Audit: Clinical Trials and Bureaucratic Standardization in the Asia-Pacific'
Rachel Douglas-Jones, University of Copenhagen

TUE 6 OCT | 2–4pm
'Introductions and 2025–6 MSc student research presentations'
Livia Sapere, Charles Prince Assam & Pierre Schomburg

TUE 6 OCT | 3.30–5pm
'Families and the demographic transition'
Kenji Itao, Tohoku University

WED 7 OCT | 11am–1pm
'Speaking Welsh and Feeling Welsh: Nationalism, belonging and language revival in Wales’ capital city'
Dr Seren Thomas

FRI 9 OCT | 2–3.30pm
'Who holds the camera? Power, authorship and the shift from Video Ethnography to Participatory Video'
Veronika Reichenberger, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

All are welcome!

Full details here: https://bit.ly/4hxNa8Q

01/10/2026

What does the future hold for public service media in an era increasingly shaped by global technology platforms?

UCL Anthropology Professor Georgina Born OBE FBA recently convened an international conference bringing together leaders from public service media organisations, academia and policy to explore this question.

Held at the British Academy, 'Public Service Media in the Platform Era - Towards Public Digital Infrastructures' examined topics including AI and algorithms, social media and distribution, technological sovereignty, and international collaboration.

The two-day conference brought together representatives from public service media organisations around the world and explored how public institutions might collaborate to develop digital technologies and infrastructures centred on public purposes and values.

Read more: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/news/2026/sep/ucl-professor-organises-international-conference-future-public-service-media

30/09/2026

Congratulations to UCL Anthropology alumna Dr Myriam Lamrani, who has been co-awarded the 2026 Edie Turner First Book Prize in Ethnographic Writing.

Her first monograph, 'The Intimacy of Images: Saints, Death, and Devotion to La Santa Muerte in Oaxaca', draws on ethnographic research in Oaxaca, Mexico, using devotion to La Santa Muerte as a lens to explore relationships with saints, loved ones and other “special dead”.

Myriam completed her PhD at UCL Anthropology in 2018, supervised by Professor Martin Holbraad.

👏 Congratulations to Myriam on this recognition!

Read more: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/news/2026/sep/ucl-anthropology-alumna-myriam-lamrani-awarded-2026-edie-turner-first-book-prize

28/09/2026

Welcome to the UCL Social & Historical Sciences Anthropology Undergraduate Cohort of 2026! 🎉📚🎉📚🎉📚

We hope you have an amazing 3, 4 or more years with us 🏛️🎓

Address

14 Taviton Street
London
WC1H0BW

Website

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology

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