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Medical Anthropology MSc

London, Bloomsbury

Join a cohort of clinicians, anthropologists and social scientists exploring themes across disease, health and medicine on this dual pathway training in interpretive, critical, clinical and biosocial approaches to medical anthropology. With a grounding in both theoretical and applied aspects of the field, you’ll be equipped for a wide range of careers that engage with and impact pressing and profound real-world issues – across academia, clinical services, social services, government or NGOs.  

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2025/26)
£18,400
£9,200
Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)
£33,000
£16,500
Duration
1 calendar year
2 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2025
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 27 Jun 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 29 Aug 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 4

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

UCL’s Department of Anthropology is one of the few in the country that combines Evolutionary and Environmental Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Material Culture, Medical Anthropology and Public Anthropology to give students a truly broad-based anthropology degree.

Our approach to Medical Anthropology has always been similarly broad and open-minded, combining theoretical and applied work on topics as diverse as: cross-cultural clinical practice; global/public health; infectious, chronic and mental disease; traditional and complementary medical systems; ritual healing and sensory experience; climate change, the environment and health in the Anthropocene; reproductive health and gender; and space medicine.

As well as having a long-standing commitment to research and teaching in medical anthropology, we were the first in the country to introduce Biosocial Medical Anthropology at Postgraduate level – a growing sub-discipline that combines insights and approaches from medical/social anthropology; evolutionary/biological anthropology; and human ecology to explore the intimate entanglement between social and biological factors in human disease, health and medicine.

The programme offers two pathways, each tailored towards the particular needs of our students to ensure they get the most out of their studies. You will be asked to choose your pathway once you are enrolled. There will be plenty of time to ask questions before you decide your route.

The Medical Anthropology Pathway is for those who want exposure to ethnographic and qualitative methods used by Medical Anthropologists to understand the social, cultural, political, economic, material and affective underpinnings of health, illness, medicine and healing systems in different contexts such as clinical/hospital ethnography; sensory anthropology; and Participatory-Action-Research. Students will be encouraged to analyse the ways in which anthropological data are gathered through ethnographic methods and consider the relationship between theory, methods and ethnography in the works they are reading as well as gain practical skills in ethnographic reading and writing in the process.

The Biosocial Approaches Pathway combines insights and approaches from medical/social anthropology; evolutionary/biological anthropology; and human ecology to explore the intimate entanglement between social and biological factors in human disease, health and medicine.

Students will be introduced to a range of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods methods used by Biosocial Medical Anthropologists to understand the way the biological and social are defined, interact and impact health and wellbeing.

Students will be encouraged to consider the relationship between theory, methods and writing, gaining practical skills in ethnographic reading and writing in the process. • You will join a world-leading research community and benefit from research-embedded teaching.


You will study at the top university in London, and 4th in the world, for Anthropology (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024) and The Times and Sunday Times University of the Year 2024. 
 

Who this course is for

The MSc in Medical Anthropology appeals to a wide and diverse cohort. Students come from a range of backgrounds; while some have anthropological training, others do not. The degree provides in-depth anthropological training for those wishing to progress to a PhD and for those who want to employ anthropological techniques in their professional work. As well as students with different academic backgrounds, we recruit a mix of social scientists, health workers, and professional practitioners, finding that the interaction between these student groups helps create an exciting and vibrant cohort.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

You will receive advanced academic training on the expanding field of Medical Anthropology including Biosocial Medical Anthropology and their relationship to anthropology more broadly. You will be trained in the fundamentals of scientific inquiry, including independent research design and implementation; ethics and reflexivity; data collection (methods such as ethnographic observation, interviews and other qual/quant methods depending on your pathway), synthesis, and analysis and academic writing.

You will also develop demonstrable practical competencies transferable to any profession, including critical thinking and creative initiative, effective communication, including the ability to interpret and present complex data to diverse audiences, independent and team working, leadership and time and project management.

Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Medical Anthropology and Biosocial Medical Anthropology are rapidly expanding fields and graduates of our programme have gone on to develop exciting careers in academia, clinical services, social services, government, and non-governmental organisations.

Employability

All students will learn valuable skills which are transferrable to a variety of careers. These include the ability to fashion arguments and critically evaluate claims related to health and illness, interventions, human social behaviour and cultural diversity. You will develop skills in research and writing, taking advantage of the wealth of resources made available at a university ranked among the top 10 in the world (QS World University Rankings 2024).

Networking

In addition to attending weekly Medical Anthropology Research Seminars, delivered by invited experts, students will have the opportunity to develop their professional skills through engagement with the UCL’s Arena Centre. 

They may also choose to participate in training and workshops organised by the Collaborative Social Science Domain’s Early Career Researcher Network and be introduced to funding bodies supporting medical and biosocial research including the ESRC's Soc-B Doctoral Training Programme and the Parkes Foundation. 

Students may also attend departmental seminars on Anthropology; host and/or participate in a Reading and Research Groups (RRGs), and attend London's global non-fiction film festival and Open City Documentary Festival.

Teaching and learning

The teaching and learning on the MSc is divided between 1-2hr lectures, 2hr seminars/practicals, 1-2-1 supervision, and individual study.

The degree is assessed using a combination of formative and summative assessment. Formative assessments, such as presentations and short written exercises receive feedback from staff but marks do not count towards the degree. Summative assessments, such as essays and dissertation, are set throughout the year. Marks contribute to the degree and students receive feedback on their work.

You will learn in different ways that may include lectures, interactive seminars involving critical discussion, collaborative exercises including group presentations, practical laboratory work and directed and self-directed reading.

While researching and writing your dissertation, you will benefit from one-to-one academic supervision.

You will be assessed through a series of formative (exercises for which you will receive feedback but do not count toward the degree) and summative exercises (exercises for which you will receive feedback and do count toward the degree), that may include essays, practical tests, presentations, take-home exercises and your dissertation.

In terms one and two, full-time students can typically expect between 10 and 12 contact hours per teaching week through a mixture of lectures, seminars, workshops, crits and tutorials. In term three and the summer period, students will be completing their own dissertation research, keeping regular contact with their dissertation supervisors.

In addition, all university students are expected to practice self-directed learning: reading beyond the core materials or from selected reading lists, ensuring you do the necessary work to understand any areas or topics that you might be struggling with or are particularly interested in.

Modules

The MSc in Medical Anthropology is divided into seven components. Only the first five are taught components:

  1. Medical Anthropology (15-credit compulsory module in Term 1).
  2. Biosocial Anthropology, Health and Environment (15-credit compulsory module in Term 1).
  3. Introduction to Anthropological Research Methods (non-credit bearing compulsory module in Term 1).
  4. Research Methods in Medical Anthropology or Research Methods in Biosocial Medical Anthropology (15-credit compulsory module in Term 2, depending on which pathway students are on).
  5. Three 15-credit Optional modules (Total 45 credits).
  6. Dissertation (90 credits).
  7. Research Seminars (non-credit bearing compulsory seminar in Term 1 and 2).

The bulk of the teaching is done in these first two terms, with the work in Term 1 ensuring that students have a secure foundation in social theory and key concepts in medical and biosocial medical anthropology.

Option Modules

For students on the Medical Anthropology pathway, two modules should be taken from those offered by the Medical Anthropology section. For those on the Biosocial Approaches Pathway, two modules should be taken from those offered by the Evolutionary and Environmental Anthropology section. For their third optional module, students can take any module from those offered across the Department or appropriate options in other departments (with approval from the programme tutor and host department).
 

Students take their compulsory module and at least one optional module in the first year. In the second year they take their remaining optional module(s) and complete the dissertation.

Compulsory modules

Medical Anthropology







Optional modules






Anthropology of War

Migration and Health


Anthropology of Death









Anthropology of Capitalisms





Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Medical Anthropology.

Fieldwork

You will spend the summer term researching and writing your dissertation, for which you can choose to conduct ethnographic, archival and/or library-based, original research. Students can choose to undertake self-funded fieldwork-based projects in the UK or abroad.

The scope and nature of your dissertation is formulated in discussion with your appointed supervisor, and subject to departmental approval.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2025/26) £18,400 £9,200
Tuition fees (2025/26) £33,000 £16,500

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For Full-time and Part-time offer holders a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

Students can choose to conduct ethnographic, archival and/or library-based research for their final dissertation projects, with some students taking the opportunity to do fieldwork-based projects in the UK or abroad. This can entail additional costs, including travel, accommodation and living costs, which students must cover themselves.

There are a number of small to moderate grants available from funding organisations both within UCL and further afield. In recent years, our students have received fieldwork funding from the department’s Turing Scheme and Anna Sturm Law Travel Prize and the Parkes Foundation.

As this programme is based at the Bloomsbury campus, students choosing to take an optional module only available at the UCL East campus in Stratford will need to fund their own travel between campuses. Tickets from zone 2 to zone 1 costs £8.50 for students or a travel card zone 1-4 for £15.90.

In recent years our students have received fieldwork funding from the department’s Turing Scheme and the Anna Sturm Law Travel Prize.

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Aziz Foundation Scholarships in Social and Historical Sciences

Value: Full tuition fees (equivalent to 1yr full-time) (1 year)
Criteria Based on financial need
Eligibility: UK

UCL East London Scholarship

Deadline: 26 June 2025
Value: Tuition fees plus £16,000 stipend ()
Criteria Based on financial need
Eligibility: UK

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this programme of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When we assess your application, we would like to learn:

  • Why you want to study Medical Anthropology at graduate level.
  • Why you want to study Medical Anthropology at UCL.
  • How your personal, academic and professional skills and experience inform your interest in, and will enable you to succeed on, this MSc programme.
  • Where you would like to go professionally with your degree

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2025-2026

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Anthropology
Anthropology

anthro-masters@ucl.ac.uk

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