Reading and Research Groups

UCL Anthropology's cross-disciplinary reading and research groups foster collaboration and idea exchange between students of all levels across the department.

All the way from undergraduate, Masters’, PhD and through to postdoctoral research, our students form a vital part of the intellectual life of UCL Anthropology. In addition to their relationship to individual dissertation supervisors and other teachers and research mentors, and as well as attending one or more of the Department’s five weekly research seminars, students conducting research at any level are encouraged to participate in regular Reading and Research Groups (RRGs). Bringing students and staff together to exchange ideas on themes of mutual interest, our RRGs draw their membership from all parts of the Department, as well as welcoming participants from other UCL Departments and other London Colleges. 

Conceived as open spaces for the exchange of ideas in groupings that cut across divides between Biological Anthropology, Material Culture Studies and Social Anthropology, the RRGs are designed also to enliven the collective intellectual life of the Department and the wider College by organising regular public events, such as workshops, conferences and debates. They are also intended as fora for the development of scholarly publications, as well as applications for the funding of collaborative research projects. 

Below are listed the RRGs that will be running in the Department this year. Further groups may emerge during the year, as students and staff develop common interests in particular fields and directions in interaction with each other. If you wish to set up your own RRG (which you are more than welcome to do), please contact Martin Holbraad, who is responsible for their co-ordination.

To join one or more RRGs you need to logon to the Departmental ‘Moodle’ system and enrol in the corresponding Moodle module. Either search for the individual title in which you are interested, or search ‘ANTH RRG’ to view all of the options available. The same enrolment key, ‘RRG’, is needed to complete enrolment in each of the modules.

Current List of Groups
  • Anthropology of Friendship
  • The Bench
  • Divergent Anthropologies
  • Doing (Primate-y) Research Group
  • Ethnographic Insights Lab (EI-Lab)
  • Human Evolutionary Ecology Group (HEEG)
  • Human Ecology Research Group (HERG)
  • Multisensoriality
  • Palaeoanthropology and Comparative Anatomy Reading Group (PACA)
  • QUEERANTHRO Pick ’n’ Mix RRG: Facilitated by the QueerAnth Network
  • The Political Arts of Religion
  • Primate Behaviour and Ecology Reading Group
  • Space Economies: Thinking through Astro-Values of Cosmic Fragments
  • The Politics of Grief and Mourning in Social Movements
  • Urban Ecologies

     

For more information read our Reading and Research Group booklet:

UCL Anthropology Reading and Research Groups | February 2026