Postgraduate community

The Department of Archaeology has a vibrant community of postgraduate students from across the world.

Two PhD students researching on laptop
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The postgraduate community is particularly strong here; we all work together and get involved. This community is one of the reasons I stayed here for my PhD.

Sam Garwood

PhD student


At the University of Sheffield, you will find a diverse and internationally acclaimed team of archaeology research academics and students. We are dedicated to ensuring that everyone studying archaeology in Sheffield feels included as valued members of our international academic community.

Our postgraduate students are encouraged, with the support of internationally acclaimed staff as supervisors and mentors, to learn together, work together, and socialise together. No matter what your walk of life or what your research interests are, there’s space in our department to accommodate your academic and personal pursuits.


Postgraduates and the wider community

A young boy is fascinated by a collection of animal bones at an exhibition.

Outside of the department, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with a variety of student-led groups and activities including:

  • PGR Faculty Forums, which involve organising and attending events and meetings of interest to the doctoral community, including booking external speakers.
  • Sheffield's Postgraduate Society, run by postgraduates, for postgraduates.
  • The Archaeology Society, run by archaeology students through the Students’ Union.
  • Students’ Union clubs, sports, societies, volunteering and much more

As a department, we run a range of community engagement projects to make archaeology more accessible to the local community. Discover our external engagement projects here.


I chose Sheffield due to its reputation for world-leading research, especially in the archaeology department. I feel that the university offers the support I require to develop my research skills and ensure a successful career in academia. Furthermore, the friendly reputation of both the city and the university were major factors I took into consideration while making my choice.

Tamsyn Fraser

PhD student


The Department of Archaeology

The Ella Armitage building provides state of the art research facilities and specialist equipment in addition to internationally important collections including archaeobotany, zooarchaeology and human osteology material. 

We encourage all research students to participate in the many seminar series and conferences organised by the department. You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in the student-organised lunchtime lecture series, which provides a forum for students to air and discuss their own ideas, and to hear talks from invited speakers drawn from our departmental staff and other universities. The vibrancy of Sheffield's archaeological research culture is manifest in the online journal, 'Assemblage', initiated, edited and run by our research students.


The research environment of the University of Sheffield is very motivating and dynamic. All the staff are highly qualified and very supportive. For this reason I applied for a PhD here, and now I am glad to be part of the research community of this university.

Veronica Testolini

PhD student

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