Teaching, research degree programmes, and Egyptologists at Oxford

For information on teaching programmes, please do not email your queries to the Griffith Institute, but use links and email contacts on this page.

The permanent teaching staff are John Baines, Professor of Egyptology, Mark Smith, Professor of Egyptology, and Elizabeth Frood, University Lecturer in Egyptology. Liam McNamara, Curator of the Egyptian collection in the Ashmolean Museum , offers guidance with the collection. Robert Simpson is Faculty Tutor in Egyptology. Other members of the faculty and visitors also contribute to teaching. The University has great strength in the study of Graeco-Roman Egypt from Classical sources, in addition to the primarily Egyptian sources covered by those just mentioned.

In addition to those mentioned, a number of other Egyptologists are present in the University. Chloë Ragazzoli holds the Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellowship at University College (from January 2011). Gareth Roberts is Coordinating Editor of the Online Egyptological Bibliography. Joan and Keith Padgham are Research Associates of the Online Egyptological Bibliography. Michael Dee is Post-doctoral Research Assistant on the Leverhulme Formation of the Egyptian State Project in the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art. Alice Stevenson is Researcher in World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Rachel Mairs is Junior Research Fellow at Merton College. Yvonne Harpur, who directs the Oxford Expedition to Egypt, is Adjunct Fellow of Linacre College. Judith McKenzie, whose research is on art and architecture of Graeco-Roman Egypt and the Near East, and Arietta Papaconstantinou and Gesa Schenke, who work on Coptic, are Associate Members of the Sub-faculty of Near and Middle Eastern Studies. Francisco Bosch Puche is in Oxford from 2010 to 2012 as a post-doctoral fellow of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Helen Whitehouse, former Curator of the Ashmolean Museum Egyptian collection, is a Member of of the Sub-faculty of Near and Middle Eastern Studies. All these people contribute to the environment for research and teaching, which is further enhanced by a variety of academic visitors. The Griffith Institute, with Jaromir Malek as Editor of the Topographical Bibliography and Keeper of the Archive, is at the core of the academic environment for Egyptology in Oxford. The Online Egyptological Bibliography is also a project of the Griffith Institute.

The teaching programme in Egyptology is part of the provision of the Faculty of Oriental Studies. The faculty offers (see website for details): a BA in Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies (EANES), with a wide range of combinations, that requires either the study of two languages of the ancient Near East or a major language (Egyptian or Akkadian) with Archaeology and Anthropology (see faculty information materials on the website and handbooks); a one-year MSt (Masters' level) course intended as an introduction to research for those who already have a BA or equivalent in Egyptology (the MSt in Oriental Studies); a two-year MPhil course for graduate students moving over to Egyptology or for those who wish to specialize in one of a number of areas (see handbooks, downloadable as supporting documents from the relevant subsections of the website ); and MLitt and DPhil research degrees (masters and doctoral levels), for those who are writing a dissertation after completing coursework and acquiring necessary skills in Egyptology. Courses are updated frequently. There is a regular research seminar in ancient Near East and Egyptology.

It is possible for suitably qualified students to register directly for a research degree. In that case they are categorized as "probationer research students" for the first year of their study. "Egyptology" here covers dynastic, Graeco-Roman, and Christian Egypt. The BA focuses principally on the dynastic period, but options include the Graeco-Roman period, while Coptic (Egyptian of the Christian period) is a regularly offered second language. The MPhil, which is very flexible, is designed to enable students to specialize in almost any period or area of Egyptology. Ancient Egyptian language is at the core of provision, while at all levels most other aspects of the subject are actively supported and encouraged.

In addition to the combination of the BA in EANES with Archaeology and Anthropology, it is possible to include a special subject and/or dissertation on ancient Egypt within the Archaeology and Anthropology BA The BA in Classics and Oriental Studies offers several ways of combining Egyptology with Classics. Courses in Egyptian art and architecture are also available as options within the BAs in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History and in History of Art. Some research degrees on ancient Egypt are supervised in other faculties, for example in Scientific Archaeology and Biological Anthropology.

For further information, send email to Bob Mahoney , or ordinary mail to him at Oriental Institute, Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 2LE, United Kingdom.

John Baines

(Revised 29 October 2010)

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