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Photo of audrey butt colson - copyright Pitt Rivers Museum

Dr Audrey Butt Colson 1926 - 2026

05 November 2026
The School is saddened to hear of the death of a valued member of our community.
A view from an abandoned room over a water of aged cranes at sunset

Emptiness has moved in next door

03 November 2026
New publication from a 5 year project shows how states in the former socialist world are emptying places by withdrawing statecraft and asserting sovereignty, with lessons for Europe as a whole.
Alpa Shah giving the Eilert Sundt Lecture 2026

Alpa Shah confronts a time of ecological crisis in international lecture and article

30 October 2026
Professor Shah delivers the The Eilert Sundt Lecture 2026, now published in American Anthropologist.
view showing the torso of a person in medieval dress at a table with wooden cups

Why do magic and ritual survive for centuries?

30 October 2026
New study suggests feeling left out may be part of the answer
An ancient olive tree burning at dusk

Investigating “the worst phytosanitary epidemic in the world”

19 October 2026
Dr Claudio Sopranzetti gains funding for his project Living through the Aftermath: Olive Tree Epidemic, Agrarian Knowledge, and the Politics of Environmental Repair in Southern Italy
a view of the exhibition

On Paradise: Between Hope and Memory

06 October 2026
New exhibition curated by Professor Paul Basu
JC Niala and Johanna Zetterström-Sharp at a table with glasses of milk

Why milk is never just milk: the hidden politics of an everyday drink

18 September 2026
Alum JC Niala features in new BBC Ideas Film
a chimpanzee carries the mummified remains of an infant chimpanzee through the forst

Why do some chimpanzee mothers carry their dead infants for months?

16 September 2026
a group of monkeys groom a dog sheltering under a jeep

Monkey friendships with other animals offer clues to the evolutionary origins of pet-keeping

31 July 2026
Cover of marked showing a room set up for exams

From Thesis to Book

29 July 2026
Noëlle Rohde winner of the Professor David Parkin Prize for the use of ethnographic methods.

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Media highlights

article
The Inimitable Legacy Of Jaipal Singh Munda
Alpa Shah
Outlook India | 22 Jan 2026
article
'It's not a nice world to bring children into': Births fall to the lowest level in 50
Article with comment from Dr Paula Shepard
BBC | 27 May 2026
article
Scientists finally decode why most humans are right-handed

Article based on research published by  Dr Thomas A. Püschel, Rachel M. Hurwitz at Oxford's School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, with Professor Chris Venditti at the University of Reading,

The Independent | 19 May 2026

article
COMPAS Blog - Beyond safety and necessity: Understanding Syria's mass return

By Muhammed Zeyn

COMPAS Blog | 22 May 2026