Ethnobotany is the study of the interrelationship between people and plants, historically and cross-culturally. Explore the role of plants in human culture and practices, how humans have used and modified plants, and how they represent them in their systems of knowledge.
Our biocultural approach to Ethnobotany will allow you discover the relationship between the biology of plants and the culture of humans that think about them and use them.
Our programme, with links to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, Botanical Gardens Conservation International, The Eden Project and The Medway School of Pharmacy is the first of its kind in the world and the only graduate course in Europe.
Venture into a combination of anthropological studies of human-environment interaction and sociocultural knowledge of plants in different parts of the world with ecology, conservation science, biodiversity management and climate change science. Medicinal plant use and ethnopharmacology, plant conservation and sustainable management practices, taxonomy, and economic botany are other areas you can explore.
A first or second class honours degree in anthropology, botany, biology, environmental studies, environmental science, geography or similar.
All applicants are considered on an individual basis and additional qualifications, professional qualifications and relevant experience may also be taken into account when considering applications.
Please see our International Student website for entry requirements by country and other relevant information. Due to visa restrictions, students who require a student visa to study cannot study part-time unless undertaking a distance or blended-learning programme with no on-campus provision.
The University requires all non-native speakers of English to reach a minimum standard of proficiency in written and spoken English before beginning a postgraduate degree. Certain subjects require a higher level.
For detailed information see our English language requirements web pages.
Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of pre-sessional courses in English for Academic Purposes through Kent International Pathways.
Please note that modules are subject to change. Please contact the School for more detailed information on availability.
SACO7000 Research Methods for Social Sciences - 20 credits - Autumn term
SACO7020 Ethnobiological Knowledge Systems - 20 credits - Autumn term
SACO7021 Botanical Foundations of Ethnobotany - 20 credits - Autumn term
SACO7022 Environmental Anthropology - 20 credits - Spring term
SACO7023 Holism, Health and Healing - 20 credits - Spring term
SACO9990 Research Dissertation - 60 credits - Summer term
In addition to the above modules, students must select the remaining 20 Spring Term Credits from a list of optional modules that will be provided by the School.
Duration: One year full-time, two years part-time
The MSc is an intensive 12-month programme. You take eight coursework modules over the first six months and then undertake a project and write a dissertation in the second six months.
Additionally, it is also possible to take a module from the list available for our MA programmes in Anthropology and from our MSc in Conservation Biology as options. The modules available may include foundations of natural science for conservation, social science perspectives on conservation, population and evolutionary biology, nature tourism, principles and practice of ecotourism, integrated species conservation and management, trade, economics, regulation and the environment, conservation and community development, and managing protected areas.
The course will be supplemented with practical work, field visits to local sites of ethnobotanical interest (Blean Woodlands, national fruit collection at Brogdale, Canterbury Cathedral Library, phytomedical suppliers and practitioners), and through guest speakers involved in research in various parts of the world.
Students undertake intensive coursework between September and the end of March each academic year. Towards the end of this period, they develop a concept for a project and write a proposal, as part of their assessed work. The second six months of the programme consists entirely of project and dissertation work under the direction of an appropriate supervisor.
Students may select projects that are library, museum or lab-based, but many wish to undertake fieldwork (usually of six weeks duration) and we try to facilitate this. Some students come to the programme with developed ideas about their projects, others may choose topics that relate to current work at Kew or Kent or linked institutions, such as RBG Kew, BGCI or Medway School of Pharmacy.
Assessment is by written reports, class tests, oral presentations and the dissertation.
This programme aims to:
You will gain knowledge and understanding of:
You develop intellectual skills in:
You gain subject-specific skills in:
You will gain the following transferable skills:
The School has a lively postgraduate community drawn together not only by shared resources such as postgraduate rooms, computer facilities (with a dedicated IT officer) and laboratories, but also by student-led events, societies, staff/postgraduate seminars, weekly research student seminars and a number of special lectures.
The School houses well-equipped research laboratories for genetics, ecology, visual anthropology, virtual paleoanthropology, Animal Postcranial Evolution, biological anthropology, anthropological computing, botany, osteology and ethnobiology. The state-of-the-art visual anthropology laboratory is stocked with digital editing programmes and other facilities for digital video and photographic work. The biological anthropology laboratory is equipped for osteoarchaeological and forensic work. It curates the Powell-Cotton collection of human remains, together with Anglo-Saxon skeletons from Bishopstone, East Sussex. The ethnobiology laboratory provides equipment and specimens for teaching ethnobiological research skills, and serves as a transit station for receiving, examining and redirecting field material. It also houses the Kent Ethnobotanical Herbarium, a collection of plant-based material culture from Southeast Asia, and a small reference and teaching collection of herbarium and spirit specimens (1,000 items) arising from recent research projects.
Anthropology at Kent has close links with the nearby Powell-Cotton Museum, which has one of the largest ethnographic collections in the British Isles and is particularly strong in sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian material. It also houses an extensive comparative collection of primate and other mammalian material. Human skeletal material is housed at the Kent Osteological Research and Analysis Centre within the School.
All students registered for a taught Master's programme are eligible to apply for a place on our Global Skills Award Programme. The programme is designed to broaden your understanding of global issues and current affairs as well as to develop personal skills which will enhance your employability.
Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books. Among others, they have recently contributed to: American Ethnologist; Current Anthropology; Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute; American Journal of Physical Anthropology; Proceedings of the Royal Society B; and Journal of Human Evolution.
Work in these areas is focused on the Centre for Biocultural Diversity. We conduct research on ethnobiological knowledge systems, ethnoecology, and other systems of environmental knowledge, as well as local responses to deforestation, biodiversity change, climate change, natural resource management, medical ethnobotany, the impacts of mobility and displacement, and the interface between conservation and development. The Centre has an Ethnobiology Lab and Ethnobotanical Garden, and extensive collaborative links, including with the Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew), Botanic Gardens Conservation International and the Eden Project.
Themes of research include epistemologies, cognition, temporalities, ethnicity, indigeneity, religion, exchange, conflict, social change, historical consciousness, heritage and geopolitics. We are at the forefront of contemporary debates in identity, social and economic crises, hybrid law, personhood, mobility, migration, landscape, labour, organisations, industry, cultural informatics, political ecology, ethnoecology, ethnobiology, ethnobotany and visual, environmental and medical anthropology.
Our research projects span the globe, including the UK and Europe, Central and Southeast Asia, North and Central America, South America, the Middle East and Pacific.
Current and recent work is linked to the informal economy, cosmopolitanism, corruption, workplace environments, the economic crisis, precarity, prosperity, ethics, value, morality, skill expertise, symbolic ecology, intercommunal relations, Islamic movements, indigenous urbanisation, human rights, diplomacy, and tourism.
The social anthropology research area is linked to the Centre for Ethnographic Research (CER) and Lowland South Americanist European Network..
Our research encompasses a broad range of topics within biological and evolutionary anthropology, including bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, archaeological science, human reproductive strategies, hominin evolution, primate behaviour and ecology, modern human variation, and cultural. We have three dedicated research laboratories, as well as a commercial osteology unit.
Our research takes us to many regions of the world (Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and United States). We collaborate with international research organisations, including the Instituto de Biología Subtropical (Argentina), German Primate Center, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and Budongo Conservation Field Station (Uganda). Members of staff provide a wide research network offering research opportunities in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America.
Our Skeletal Biology Research Centre is the only UK Centre focusing on analysis of biological hard tissues (bones and teeth). It brings together innovative research, novel methodologies and international collaborations, with expertise and resources from Physical Sciences and Biosciences at Kent, and the Powell-Cotton Museum. Research ranges from analyses of the most important human fossils, histological studies of teeth and bone, isotopic analyses and dietary reconstruction, virtual 3D analyses of the skeleton, and forensic identification that together ultimately aim to better understand humans and our evolutionary history.
The Living Primates Research Group fosters research into the behaviour and ecology of primates. It addresses questions concerning adaptation using living primates as model species, to provide a comparative framework for the understanding of human biology and behaviour, and investigate the biological and social dimensions of anthropogenic impacts on non-human primates (NHPs). Research ranges from functional morphology to behavioural ecology and physiology, cultural primatology, and the interplay of primate biology, ecology and conservation, including primate rehabilitation and reintroduction and human-NHP coexistence.
'My Msc in Ethnobotany was the most stimulating, fascinating and challenging year of my working life.' (Liz Gladin - Ethnobotany MSc)
Since 1998 we have trained more than 200 students through our MSc Programme. Almost a third of these have moved on to undertake research degrees in some area of ethnobotany (e.g. Kent, Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, Sussex, Vienna, Florida, Tulane, British Columbia, McGill), or have taken-up positions which utilize their training and knowledge, for example in NGOs such as the Global Diversity Foundation, at the Harvard Museum of Economic Botany, conservation education, at various Botanical Gardens around the world (e.g., Kew, Edinburgh, New York, Auckland, Beirut), at the United Nations Environment Programme, and in the pharmaceutical industry. Some have gone on to work in universities or start their own organizations and businesses.
As a School recognised for its excellence in research we are one of the partners in the South East Doctoral Training Centre, which is recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). This relationship ensures that successful completion of our courses is sufficient preparation for research in the various fields of social anthropology, ethnobiology and biodiversity management. Many of our students go on to do PhD research. Others use their Master’s qualification in employment ranging from research in government departments to teaching to consultancy work overseas.
The 2024/25 annual tuition fees for this course are:
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
For students continuing on this programme fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact information@kent.ac.uk.
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.*
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
Find out more about general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.
We have a range of subject-specific awards and scholarships for academic, sporting and musical achievement.
Next steps
Learn more about the application process or begin your application by clicking on a link below.
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