Research Postgraduate Fees & Funding
Tuition fees
Tuition fees for research degrees (MA by Research, MPhil, PhD) are set by the University. Information regarding the fees for both Home/EU and Overseas students can be found through the following link. The Archaeology department charges fees at the lower (classroom-based) rate. In addition, there is advice about determing your fee status for international students, and a useful guide about living costs and your complete student budget.
UK and EU students wanting to study with us are eligible to apply for a Doctoral Loan to cover fees and living costs up to a total of £25000. Please get in touch asap to discuss with the Director of Postgrad Research (Steve Ashby) or your potential supervisor. Find out more.
Departmental funding
Current funding opportunities
The department often holds funded PhD studentships tied to particular projects or research or training networks. These opportunities will appear here as they become available:
Galapagos Marine Plastics - How Archaeology can Help Save the Archipelago (and the Planet)?
This PhD in applied contemporary archaeology will: i) conduct archaeological investigation of plastic items recovered from Galapagos beaches (Ecuador) and ii) develop a methodology to include citizen scientists in this ongoing research. Since 2017, SCHOFIELD has been working closely with DONNELLY for project partner Galapagos Conservation Trust to find solutions to the problem of marine plastic pollution. As part of this ongoing multidisciplinary programme, the project will make an important and distinctive contribution to research and provide outstanding career development opportunities for the successful applicant.
The development of Anthropocene biodiversity
A PhD studentship is available to investigate the impacts of humanity on biodiversity change. You will use a combination of biological and archaeological information to identify losses and gains of species diversity over time, and hence to provide insights into future impacts of human development on biodiversity. You will be based in the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity (LCAB) at the University of York, supervised by leading experts (Chris Thomas and Nicky Milner) in biodiversity change, Holocene archaeology and environmental change.
White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities - 2020 WRoCAH Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) Studentships. Application deadline Wednesday 29 January 2020.
The Natural History Museum, Department of Earth Sciences and BioArCh, University of York - Magdalenian People: Inferring Human Behaviour at the End of the Last Ice Age from Molecular and Isotopic Analyses of Skeletal Remains. Application deadline Friday 11 October 2019.
University funding
- Home/EU students: The White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH) is a Doctoral Training Partnership of the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. It is responsible for the distribution of AHRC-funded doctoral studentships for these universities and for the coordination of a doctoral training programme. WRoCAH is able to offer over 50 AHRC studentships per year to candidates with a place for doctoral study at the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield or York.
Applicants for an AHRC studentship must already have applied for a PhD programme at one of Leeds, Sheffield or York. Please take a note of the 9-digit application number you receive from York; you will need this to progress your WRoCAH application. If you have applied to York, but don't know your number, please contact your potential supervisor, departmental manager (Claire McNamara), or Director of PG Research (Steve Ashby); we will be able to advise. Please do not leave your WRoCAH application till the last minute! The WRoCAH studentship application form and details of how to apply are available from the WRoCAH website:
The closing deadline for WRoCAH applications is Wednesday, 23 January, 2019 5pm GMT
- Overseas students: The University offers a variety of full and partial scholarships for international students who pay fees at the overseas rate. Students must have applied for a place on a PhD at York by 31 January 2019. When applying students should add the “UoY Research Scholarship” tag at the point of formal application when asked how they intend to finance their studies.
External awards
Outside of the department and the university, there are other ways to fund your postgraduate study, although they tend to be limited. The university has a guide listing other funding sources and sites which aggregate scholarship opportunities (although note that these will cover both MA and PhD funding.)
For international students, we recommend that you research funding streams within your home country, as well as those within the UK.
- Wenner-Grenn Foundation - provides grants to support anthropological scholarship for research students regardless of nationality
- Commonwealth Scholarship Commission - scholarships for candidates from developed Commonwealth countries in 2018/19, provided by the UK Department for Education (DfE). Applications to be submitted direct to the CSC online system. Applications for this award are now closed.
- Postgraduate Studentships