Fully Funded PhD Programs in Biological Anthropology

Jul 30, 2024
Following her fully funded PhD in biological anthropology, a female anthropologist examines a human skull in a laboratory with a microscope on her right-hand side. She wears a lab coat, blue lab gloves, and safety glasses.
Washington University in St. Louis offers a fully funded PhD in Biological Anthropology with funding for 4-6 years and a focus on paleo-anthropology and human biology.

As part of our series How to Fully Fund Your PhD, here is a list of U.S. universities offering fully funded PhD programs in biological anthropology. Also known as physical anthropology, biological anthropology is a subfield of anthropology that has roots in the social sciences but also has strong interdisciplinary connections with the natural sciences, especially biology, psychology, ethology, and paleontology. Biological anthropologists study human beings from a biological perspective, including topics such as human evolution, osteology, primatology, growth and the lifecycle, health and wellbeing, forensics, bioculture, and many others. Biological anthropologists often find employment in academia, government, and NGOs.

“Full funding” is a financial aid package for full-time students that includes full tuition remission and an annual stipend or salary during the entire program, usually 3-6 years. To receive this funding, students will typically teach or complete a research project in their chosen subject. Considering fully funded programs is essential because not all universities grant funding to their doctoral students. By including smaller and lesser-known schools in your research, you optimize your chances of finding the perfect fully funded program for you.

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New York University Fully Funded PhD in Biological Anthropology

New York University, based in New York City, offers a fully funded PhD in Biological Anthropology. The research programs of the biological anthropologists in the department intersect with many major subdisciplinary specialties, including primate socioecology, comparative primate morphology, molecular anthropology, paleoanthropology, primate paleontology, and skeletal morphology. All students admitted into the PhD program are funded by the Henry Mitchell MacCracken Program for five years. Dissertation research is usually supported by non-NYU research funding.

University of South Carolina Fully Funded PhD in Anthropology

The University of South Carolina, based in Columbia, SC, offers a fully funded PhD in Anthropology. Students choose a sub-field of anthropology to specialize in, including Archaeology, Biological/Biocultural Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, and Linguistic Anthropology. Anthropology graduate students join small cohorts with guaranteed funding through assistantships to support their research. This selective program ensures students are matched with the faculty members that best fit their research goals. The program also helps students secure a career or post-graduate work.

University of Alabama Fully Funded PhD in Biocultural Medical Anthropology

The University of Alabama offers a fully funded PhD in Biocultural Medical Anthropology, the study of the influence of social relations and culture on psychological and biological dimensions of human wellbeing. For biocultural medical anthropology students, the skills learned during their research include interviewing, participant observation, research design, physical and physiological measurement techniques, as well as SPSS, Anthropac, and software for qualitative data analysis. Students entering the PhD program are guaranteed five years of funding. Most students in the program receive funding via Graduate Teaching Assistantships. These carry a 9-month stipend plus payment of tuition.

Washington University in St. Louis Fully Funded PhD in Biological Anthropology

Washington University in St. Louis offers a fully funded PhD in Biological Anthropology. Central areas of focus within this program include paleoanthropology, primatology, and human biology. Graduate students work primarily within one of these areas, with opportunities for interdisciplinary work. Graduate students engage in cutting-edge research, present their findings at international conferences, and benefit from collaborations with some of the leading figures in the discipline. Assuming continued high academic performance, students admitted to the program are generally funded with tuition remission and a living stipend for 4-6 years.

Yale University Fully Funded PhD in Biological Anthropology

Yale University, based in New Haven, Connecticut, offers a fully funded PhD in Biological Anthropology. Yale’s PhD program in Biological Anthropology offers graduate training in a wide array of subfields, including the evolution of humans and other primates; primate morphology, ecology, and behavior; human evolutionary biology and reproductive ecology; biocultural anthropology; global health; paleoarchaeology; and evolutionary genomics. PhD students at Yale are fully funded for a minimum of five years. Students receive a twelve-month stipend to cover living expenses and a fellowship covering the full tuition and student healthcare costs.

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