The Koç University Mustafa V. Koç Maritime Archaeology Research Center (KUDAR) is accepting MA and PhD applications for a new cohort of fully-funded students to begin in the Autumn of 2026. Accepted students will receive a tuition waiver, a monthly stipend, and will be eligible to apply for funds offered by KUDAR for research, conference participation, or similar activities.
KUDAR began in 2017 and has been conducting and supporting research projects in the field and in museums investigating the relationship between society and the sea in Türkiye and Italy, including several ongoing projects related to late antique and medieval shipwrecks and seafaring in the Byzantine Empire. Our current and former students are studying graffiti on Byzantine-era amphorae from the Camaltı Burnu shipwreck, analyzing ship graffiti in the Ayşe Kadın mosque, deciphering the maritime cultural landscape of the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro, modeling the distribution of imported Hellenistic-era amphorae in Pergamon, optimizing 3D additive printing workflows for museum conservation, and revising World Heritage Committee guidelines to inscribe more sites of maritime heritage. KUDAR is a member of the UNESCO UniTwin Network for Underwater Archaeology, and partners with the Universities of Copenhagen and Oldenburg in the Sustainable Ocean Management Programme, endorsed by the UN Decade for Ocean Science.
We welcome student applications that propose MA or PhD research topics related to our specialties and projects, or maritime archaeology more generally. For more information on the application procedures and Spring deadlines, please monitor this site for PhD guidelines, and this site for MA guidelines. Applicants may also contact Matthew Harpster (mharpster@ku.edu.tr) and Michael Jones (mjones@ku.edu.tr) for more information. Please see our webpage for more information about the Koç University Mustafa V. Koç Maritime Archaeology Research Center.
Underwater Archaeology and Maritime History jobs 