The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research exists to further research by Cambridge archaeologists and their collaborators into all aspects of the human past, across time and space.

The Institute supports archaeological fieldwork, archaeological science, material culture studies and archaeological theory in an interdisciplinary framework. The Institute is committed to supporting new perspectives and ground-breaking research in archaeology. It sponsors research fellows, seminar series, workshops and international conferences. It produces the Cambridge Archaeological Journal and publishes peer-reviewed books of the highest quality across a range of subjects in the form of fieldwork monographs (McDonald Monographs) and thematic edited volumes (McDonald Conversations).

The Institute provides an intellectual base for archaeologists at the University of Cambridge:

• as a postdoctoral research institute within the Department of Archaeology. In this role the Institute independently supports archaeological fieldwork, other archaeological research, research fellows, visiting scholars, conferences and publications.
• as a research facilitator of the Department of Archaeology, supporting the work of Department staff, postdoctoral fellows and students.
• as an interdisciplinary centre for archaeology in Collegiate Cambridge, serving staff in a variety of divisions, faculties, museums and colleges.