Annals: Departmental reports and staff listings
Oxford Brookes University
Department of Anthropology & Geography, School of Social Sciences and Law, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford, OX3 OBP
T: 01856 483750; F: 01865 483937
Department report
Staff
We were happy to welcome four new appointments this year. Dr Giuseppe Donati joined us as a research fellow contributing to the Nocturnal Primate Research Group as well as teaching on the MSc Primate Conservation. Dr Jeff Rose joined the department contributing his expertise in Prehistoric Archaeology and Human Evolution to both Anthropology and Physical Geography. Dr Vincent Nijman joined us as senior lecturer contributing his interests in Primatology and Conservation Biology to the MSc Primate Conservation. We have also been fortunate to secure funding from the Sasakawa Foundation that has allowed us to appoint Dr Peter Kirby, who will be joining us in July as lecturer in Anthropology of Japan. We were lucky again to have the support of several part-time lecturers including Corri Waitt, Bill Kelly and Amanda Webber.
Teaching
The main development this year has been the successful validation of a new BSc single honours programme in Anthropology. This programme combines social and biological anthropology in the first year, after which students may opt to continue with both or specialise in one of these two main strands. To build the programme, with help from colleagues in Geography, we have introduced some new options including new modules on various aspects of Human Evolution and Prehistoric Archaeology. Our undergraduate numbers on the combined honours programme have remained similar to previous years, with an intake of around 55. The MA Global Japan (Culture, Business, International Relations) received ESRC 1+3 training recognition but unfortunately failed to recruit to the levels now required by the University and has been closed. The major success this year was the award of the Queens Anniversary Prize in recognition of outstanding achievement and excellence to the MSc in Primate Conservation. This course continues to attract strong interest and several MSc students have now gone on to PhD research. We have managed to secure funding from various sources for the majority of our recent PhD students.
Research
Most of our research activities are brought together in three groupings: the Anthropology Centre for Conservation Environment and Development (ACCEnD) which incorporates the Nocturnal Primates Research Group, the Europe-Japan Research Centre (EJRC), and a new grouping ‘Human Origins and Palaeo Environments’ (HOPE). ACCEnD’s director Jeremy MacClancy organised a one-day conference examining ethical issues in research across Anthropology as a whole. The papers from the previous year’s conference Fieldwork: examining its practice among biological anthropologists and primatologists are about to be published. The ethics workshop will feed into a larger conference on this theme next year. The EJRC with financial support from the Japanese Embassy ran a very successful series with ten visiting speakers on the theme ‘Global Japan’. HOPE had a very successful year with numerous conference presentations and publications, as well as winning HEIF4 funding of around £100,000 for future development. As part of a new research initiative, Joy Hendry was awarded University funds used to invite participants to a conference planning meeting on the broad theme of ‘building bridges between Indigenous Studies and Anthropology’. Dr Mitchell Sedgwick was awarded funds for a semester’s sabbatical as well as a Japan Foundation grant for a research visit to Japan. Anna Nekaris was as in previous years successful in winning funds from various sources to support her research in Southeast Asia.
Full-time teaching staff
Simon K Bearder (PhD; Professor) Primatology, behavioural ecology, conservation
Giuseppe Donati (PhD; Research Fellow) Primatology, nocturnal primates
R Joy Hendry (DPhil; Professor) Anthropology of Japan, cultural display, indigenous transformations of display
Kate Hill (DPhil; Reader) Biological anthropology, conservation, human-wildlife conflict, Africa, ecology
Jeremy V MacClancy (DPhil; Professor) Social anthropology, nationalism, art and food, Europe, Melanesia
Christian McDonaugh (DPhil; Head of Department) Social anthropology, theory, South Asia, Nepal
Anna Nekaris (PhD; Reader) Physical anthropology, primatology, nocturnal primates, human evolution
Vincent Nijman (PhD; Senior Lecturer) Primatology, conservation biology, human-wildlife conflict
Adrian Parker (DPhil; Reader) Geoarchaeology, Arabian peninsula, arid environments
Nancy Priston (PhD; RCUK Academic Fellow) Biological anthropology, human-wildlife interaction; SE Asia
Jeffrey Rose (PhD; Lecturer) Biological anthropology, prehistoric archaeology, archaeology of Arabian peninsula
Mitchell Sedgwick (PhD; Senior Lecturer) Social anthropology, organisations, globalisation, Japan, Thailand, France
Simon Underdown (PhD; Senior Lecturer) Biological anthropology, palaeopathology, human evolution, Neanderthals
Helen Walkington (PhD; Principal Lecturer) Archaeology, micromorphology, conservation of heritage landscapes
Part-time teaching staff
William Kelly (PhD) Anthropology of Japan
Corri Waitt (PhD) Primatology
Amanda Webber (PhD) Human Ecology
Other staff
Mandy Archer (BA, MSc): Student Link Coordinator undergraduate programmes
Jon Wells: Senior technician, Anthropology & Geography Laboratory
Simon Underdown: Anthropology Filed Chair
Angie Wallbank: School Secretary
Special Resources and Facilities
School resource centre with documentary and visual materials. Research groupings: Europe-Japan Research Centre; Anthropology Centre for Conservation, Environment and Development; Nocturnal Primates Research Group; and Human origins and Palaeo Environments. Arrangements for Socrates and other exchange schemes.
