PhD Studentship in the Landscape Archaeology of East African Montane Systems

We invite applications for a 3-year funded PhD studentship starting in October 2027 under the co-supervision of Professor Paul Lane and Dr Stefania Merlo, as part of the AFRI-CAN project. This PhD studentship is funded by ERC Synergy grant No. 101224449.

The AFRI-CAN project (– Lead PI Professor Rob Marchant, University of York) explores the interlinked interactions of human systems and mountain ecosystems understood as mountain socioecological systems by combining state-of-the-art modelling, interdisciplinary insights and valuation assessments to co-produce pathways for sustainable mountain futures. Focussed on six contrasting East African mountain settings, the AFRI-CAN project aims to investigate how communities interact with nature, how ecosystems evolve, and which pathways could support sustainable and resilient mountain futures.

We are looking for a highly motivated applicant to join the project and contribute to Work Package 1. The selected applicant will be co-supervised by Professor Paul Lane and Dr Stefania Merlo with additional input from other members of the Department and McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, and external researchers that are part of the AFRI-CAN project, in particular Dr Daryl Stump, at the University of York.

The successful applicant’s research will focus on developing detailed historical land-use and land cover map of landscape change across the mountain study sites over the past 6,000 years through the integration of archaeobotanical, faunal and material culture data and historical maps with a particular focus on forestry and forest management. The doctoral student will play a central role in collating and assessing existing historical and archaeological records from the MAEASaM (Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments) project and other data sets (e.g. the Pandora repositories), as well as conducting supplementary targeted archaeological fieldwork relating to land use activities across the target study sites and synthesising detailed archaeobotanical, faunal and material culture data relevant to the sites. This will include analysing historical maps, aerial photographs and remote sensing and integrated historical data across the study sites to develop finer-resolution maps of land-use and landcover for the past 150 years.

Applicants must meet the requirement for a PhD in Archaeology (see details here: https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/directory/aaarpdarc), have (or expect to obtain by July 2027) an MA, MSc or MPhil degree in a relevant discipline and possess the following additional skills:

• Expertise in landscape archaeology, historical geography or landscape history preferably in an African context (Essential)
• Familiarity or experience in the using databases and geospatial analysis and mapping (Essential)
• Experience with using historical maps and remote sensing imagery to identify archaeological sites (Essential) and create Land Use Land Cover maps (Desirable)
• Experience with synthesising archaeological and historical datasets (Desirable)
• Experience in conducting archaeological field surveys (Desirable), ideally in an African setting

For further details and how to apply please click the 'Apply' button above.

For further information and informal enquiries, please contact via email either Professor Paul Lane (pjl29@cam.ac.uk) and/or Dr Stefania Merlo (sm399@cam.ac.uk)

Deadline: 6th January 2027

The studentship will provide a stipend covering maintenance and fee costs (home fees)