President’s letter to UK members of the EAA

Dear UK members of the EAA,

it is the feeling of the EAA Board and my own conviction, that I should send a message to you all in this very unique moment, the day after the enactment of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.

Even if we accept that this is the outcome of a democratic process, many of us recognise this step as one that will have dramatic implications for the European Union as an institution and the more ambitious idea of Europe as a community of nations and its role in the World.

And it is also true that most of us look back on the date of January 31 2020 with deep sadness. No doubt the future books of history and sociology will speak about this day and its effects for many years to come. This day will result in long term effects and significant transformation within Europe and also Europe’s relationship with the UK in ways that we cannot predict now. These effects will occasion a growth in the desire of nations for secure national policies and national identities in an age when co-operative global forms of governance are more needed than ever.

No matter what happens now and will happen after tomorrow. This message from EAA, your membership association, is to emphasis the enormous importance of you, our British members, to the EAA – in the past, present and hopefully the future. The singular contribution of our British members to the development and life of EAA, and the significance of British Archaeology globally to World archaeological practice, theory and heritage are acknowledged. Therefore, as President and with the support of the EAA Board, I want to call on you all to work towards a continuing core role within the EAA in the future. And let me add three further considerations about this with the best will of fostering and facilitating this commitment.

As archaeologists we are prepared to learn from what has happened in order to understand what occurs in the future. We have the capacity to learn lessons that will inform and help us in the future.

It is a moment to remember that EAA is about Europe but not just European Union. Somehow, Brexit will help us to foster the pan-European and wider profile of the Association. After all, your country leaves the EU but you do not lose your identity as Europeans. Right now, the 40.1% of our membership belongs to countries out of the EU. This gives a strong sense to our Association. So, just because your country is leaving the EU, you as our members are not leaving the European ‘room’ or leaving EAA. Our concern within EAA now is to continue our relationships as before and build on those. I shall emphasize the need to create collaboration in spite of national chauvinisms.

The theme of the Annual Meeting in Budapest this year is “Networking!”. We will stress the importance of networking at individual and institutional intellectual and collegial levels in order to respond to the divisive nature of much of present day European and global national politics. We must reinforce our links with our members and colleagues across Europe and the world beyond boundaries, frontiers and differences.

This is what EAA has always been about; Archaeology transcends borders and nations and our task as archaeologists is to reflect about the past and the future past that we are contributing to.

Churchill´s words in the parliamentary tribute that he paid Neville Chamberlain come to mind: “History, with its flickering lamp, stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and to kindle with pale gleams the passions of former days”.

Then he came to the key question: “What is the worth of all this?”

So I would ask: what is worth that we as archaeologists are creating and narrating our audiences? Are we really telling a story that helps our societies to avoid the simplistic views that foster nationalism and political narcissism?

Whatever happens, including Brexit and associated dramas, there are ways that we can determine how we can improve and be relevant to a changing world. And there are many ways EAA can help. Our promise is to use our collective intellectual capital for the welfare of our members and the society we serve.

Felipe Criado-Boado
EAA President

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Calendar for EAA members October 2019 - April 2020

  • 3 February - Final list of sessions and session organisers for the 26th EAA Annual Meeting in Budapest, Hungary, available at www.e-a-a.org/eaa2020
  • 3 February - Call for volunteers for the 26th EAA Annual Meeting
  • 13 February - Deadline for paper / poster submissions
  • 26-28 February - EAA Executive Board meeting, Prague
  • 2 March - Deadline for volunteer application of the 26th EAA Annual Meeting
  • 12 March - Deadline for session organisers to evaluate papers / posters
  • 24 March - Announcement of contributions acceptance / rejection to presenters at www.e-a-a.org/eaa2020
  • 24 March - Application for travel grants opens
  • 31 March - Deadline for early bird membership fee payment
  • 31 March - Deadline for nominations by members to the EAA election
  • 6 April - Deadline for early bird Annual Meeting registration fee payment
  • 14 April - EAA Nomination Committee meeting
  • 15 April - Deadline for travel grants application
  • 15 April - Deadline for submissions to TEA spring issue (to be published in late April)
  • 20 April - Announcement of successful grant applications
  • 22 April - Annual Meeting registration and membership payment deadline for presenters
  • 22 April - 26th EAA Annual Meeting cancellations possible with 30 EUR cancellation fee
  • 13 May - Preliminary version of 26th EAA Annual Meeting scientific programme announced
  • 31 May - Deadline for booking accommodation and excursions, deadline for refund of excursions
  • 31 May - Deadline for booking a stand at European Archaeology Fair

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Upcoming Events

2020

2021

2022

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EAA Officers’ Actions

In the period from the 2019 Annual Meeting in Bern until publication of this newsletter, monthly meetings of the Officers and Secretariat were conducted via Skype. Among the topics discussed:

  • formalizing the roles and responsibilities of EAA Executive Board members in line with the continuing development of the EAA Strategic Plan. Descriptions for the roles of ExB ordinary members, EAA President and EAA Secretary were drafted – final versions have been accepted, distributed to the nomination committee, and made available to the membership through the website (https://www.e-a-a.org/2020nominations);
  • drafting a call for an EAA Social Media Editor to improve EAA social media communication, in line with the EAA Strategic Plan;
  • 2020 Statutes Amendments;
  • updates on Budapest 2020 Annual Meeting;
  • possible formation of a Task Force to revise the EAA Code of Ethics;
  • and more!

Skype meetings were also held between the EAA President and the Oscar Montelius Foundation (OMF).

Developments in these and other issue will be reported to the membership at the Budapest 2020 Annual Members Business Meeting, on the website, and in the pages of TEA.

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2019 EAA survey results

The EAA undertook two surveys in 2019: the survey among members focusing on EAA Annual Meetings but also the general satisfaction with EAA service, and another among EAA Executive Board members that evaluated the 25th EAA Annual Meeting in Bern. Please find the executive summary of each survey's results below; you can also download the full report in pdf.

2019 EAA members' survey results

Demographic profile of EAA members

The average age of respondents (#1; 44 years old) neatly corresponds with the 2018 membership report based on data from EAA membership database. Approx. 70% of EAA members are less than 50 years old. EAA membership is balanced gender-wise (#2). Residence of respondents (#3) is conditioned by the current Annual Meeting location, but the traditional strong representation of United Kingdom, Germany and the USA prevails.

Education

41% of respondents received their last academic title in the last five years (2014 – 2019), and a total of 64% of respondents received their last academic title in the last ten years (2009 – 2019) (#4). Most respondents‘ (37,2%) highest academic degree obtained (#5) is PhD., followed by Master degree (27,8%), which correlates with the high ratio of recently received last academic title and the fact that the majority of respondents (over 60%) are involved in academic work or are students (#6).

EAA membership

Full members comprise 67% of respondents, while students constitute 17,2% (#7). More than two thirds (65%) of respondents will renew their membership in 2020 (#20). Most respondents (78%) confirm to have filled in their EAA member’s profile on the web (#8), but some declare lacking the time to complete their profile or find it irrelevant (EAA is not a professional organisation).

Only a very small part of respondents (52) have served the EAA in any board / committee / community position (#9), which is confirmed by the overview of current and past EAA positions (communities not included) listing only 142 names (this is less than 1% of the total of 15478 names on the EAA database). However, nearly 10% of respondents (42 potential candidates) are willing to consider a position on the Executive board, and further 19% (or 80 individuals) would consider a position in another EAA board or committee (#10). Altogether 40% of respondents declared interest in being involved in EAA communities. About a third of the respondents are not interested in serving the EAA actively, mainly due to lack of time and other commitments, while others perceive the EAA as too bureaucratic and non-transparent (#11).

Very few respondents (6,6%) would be willing to make a small financial donation to the EAA while more than half (52,9%) will not commit to a donation (#19).

EAA service to members

The EAA should further develop (#12): 1) membership benefits (e.g. jobs service and funding opportunities, upcoming events overview, discounts offer), 2) smaller thematic conferences, and 3) EAA communities. Features that are still relevant to develop include: 4) membership service (i.e. web functions for membership renewal, registration for Annual Meeting, communication with members, etc.), 5) EAA Annual Meetings, 6) Active presence in European political arena and 7) publications incl. new titles. Other external / new activities of the EAA (Networking & active cooperation with organisations with similar goals, presence in social media, existing and new prizes and awards, on-line courses and training) are marked as unimportant by respondents.

Technically, the EAA should simplify (#17 and #18) 1) members’ engagement with EAA communities and provide more structured info about the communities, 2) Annual Meeting registration and 3) membership renewal.

Communication with EAA members

Members receive EAA information mostly through the web and mass emails (together 80%; #13), but would welcome the web to be more structured and detailed and the emails more frequent and more specific (#14). Large part of respondents (42%) declare not following any EAA social media (#15), and those who do are mainly on Facebook (44%) and Twitter (20%).

Members seem to be prepared for EJA on-line only publication (#16).

EAA Annual Meetings

The late August – early September dates suit 68,6% of respondents (#21). While over a half of the respondents have their Annual Meeting attendance paid by their institution or project / grant, still a large number (44,1%) claim to cover their attendance costs from their own personal funds (#26).

The three most relevant Annual Meeting aspects are: 1) Networking with members, 2) Academic content of sessions, 3) Possibility to present own research (#22). Publication of presentations ranked as 4th most desirable Annual Meeting feature, in the form of e-proceedings or publication of presentations in a repository (#23) - altogether 88,6% of respondents would consider uploading their Annual Meeting presentation full text in the EAA repository (#24). Filmed sessions do not seem to constitute a convenient form of presentation publication to large part of respondents.

The European Archaeology Fair (#25) provides 44% of respondents with insight into new publications and equipment, while others use it primarily for networking (25%). Respondents would welcome additional services (#28) such as childcare (50%) and tourist service stand (36%); but require also assistance for the elderly and disabled. The mobile app facility was generally well received (#29), but users identified a number of points to be improved (#30).

Respondents are almost equally split between allowing, not allowing or being undecided about remote presentations (#27), but comments warn against technical issues with potential remote presentations, and a recommendation for dedicated small number of remote sessions appeared.

download full 2019 EAA members' survey report in pdf (pages 1 to 9)
download full 2019 EAA members' survey report in pdf (pages 10 to 18)

2019 EAA Executive Board survey results

The respondents to the evaluation survey made the following recommendations:

  • Mobile app features to be improved: offline content, full text search, data transfer to private calendar (#1).
  • Increase the nominal cost of the Programme Book (#2).
  • Only allow remote presentations in cases of last minute inability (due to illness or other serious reasons) to attend in person (#3).
  • Recommend train travel to AMs and aim to produce less waste (#4).
  • Refine selection criteria for session filming so that less but relevant sessions are filmed (#5).
  • Day passes at AMs – to be further discussed (#6).
  • EAF venue selection is important and should be taken into account when approving AM venues (#8).
  • EAA stand more visual, interactive (e.g. with communities), and offer more promotion materials (#9).
  • A number of topics should be turned into AM sessions but mechanism how to do this remains unclear (#12).
  • There should be less keynote lectures (1 per day) and more top-edge / thought provoking (#13).
  • ExB must oversee / ensure gender balance in all aspects of the AM (#14).
  • The President’s Working Lunch should be less formal (#15).
  • EAA should ensure that there is programme for public during the AM (#21).
  • In order to increase election participation, EAA should encourage big communities to name candidates to NC and campaign for them, and send more and more variable (e.g. video-messages) reminders (#22).
  • The colour identification of ExB and other board and committee members will be preserved at future AMs (#25).
  • The buttons “Here to serve you” will not be preserved at future AMs (#26).
  • The ExB evaluation will be repeated after future AMs, adding field for notes at each page (#30).
download full 2019 EAA Executive Board survey report in pdf

 

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EAA elections 2020

The 2020 election will feature an unprecedented number of opportunities to serve the EAA in an official capacity. The EAA Nomination Committee would like to invite you to consider nominating yourself or a colleague for one of the open positions.

The chart shows the current composition of the EAA Executive Board and Nomination Committee – positions that will become vacant for the election in 2020 are highlighted in bold italics and include the Incoming President, Secretary, two Ordinary Executive Board Members, and a Nomination Committee Early Career Professional Member. Completed nominations must be received at the EAA Secretariat before 31 March 2020 in order to be considered in the nomination process.

Position  Name Term of office                   
     
 EAA Executive Board                                                   
 President  Felipe Criado Boado 2015-2021
 Incoming President    
 Secretary  Margaret Gowen Larsen     
2019-2020
 Treasurer  Esa Mikkola 2019-2022
 Board Member  Sophie Hüglin 2014-2020
 Board Member  Manuel Fernández-Götz 2015-2021
 Board Member  Maria Mina 2019-2022
 Board Member  Hrvoje Potrebica 2016-2022
 Board Member  Alessandro Vanzetti 2014-2020
 Board Member  Agne Zilinskaite 2018-2021
     
 EAA Nomination Committee    
 Committee Member  Bettina Arnold 2016-2020
 Committee Member  Maria Pia Guermandi 2018-2022
 Committee Member  Gitte Hansen 2019-2023
 Committee Member  John Robb 2017-2021

Election of Incoming President, Secretary and Ordinary Executive Board Members

Candidates for the post of Incoming President, Treasurer and Ordinary Executive Board Member must be supported by 10 full individual current Members of the EAA. Complete nominations received will be forwarded for consideration to the Nomination Committee which will then produce the list of candidates to be included in the ballot. The ballot papers will be sent to all full Members before 29 July 2020. You may then vote for your preferred candidates by post, fax, e-mail or on-line; alternatively, you may vote by paper ballot at the Annual Meeting in Budapest. Elected candidates’ term of office will be 2020 – 2023.

Executive Board Members shall supervise, control, and direct the affairs of the Association, its communities, publications, etc. (Statutes Art. VI.1). In their responsibility to develop and improve the Association, Ordinary Executive Board Member shall, among other duties,

  • take part in drawing up the EAA Long-Term Plan and work in accordance with the current Long-Term Plan
  • assume responsibility for an assigned area of EAA activities
  • attend Executive Board meetings (normally February/March and August/September; travel costs can be reimbursed)
  • promote the EAA in any relationship with other organisations
  • assist Scientific Committees of the Annual Meetings.

Election of Early Career Professional Nomination Committee Member

Following the 2019 Statutes amendment, Nomination Committee Members shall serve for periods of four years, one retiring in rotation each year. One position on the Nomination Committee, open for election in 2020, shall be reserved for an early career professional.To qualify for the Early Career Professional Nomination Committee position, the nominee should be a recent PhD or MA/MS (within five years of the date of submission of the Nomination materials) or other early career professional (hired within five years of submission of the Nomination materials).

Candidates running for a position on the Nomination Committee must be supported by 5 full individual current Members of the EAA. Nominations received will obviously not be forwarded to the current Nomination Committee but will be directly included in the ballot. The ballot papers will be circulated to all full Members before 29 July 2020. The new Nomination Committee Member will then be elected through the normal election process as above, i.e. in a vote by post, fax, e-mail or on-line or at the Annual Meeting in Budapest, and serve the 2020 - 2024 term of office.

The EAA Nomination Committee is responsible for nominating candidate(s) for vacant positions on the Executive Board, and ensuring a broad geographical representation with respect to age, institutional affiliation and gender (Statutes Art. VII). Nomination Committee Members are expected to look for suitable candidates for election throughout the year and to communicate with fellow Committee members. Nomination Committee Members should have several years of experience as member of the Association and a good overview of their geographical area. Nomination Committee Members must be able to devote time to their task at certain times of the year, including a half-day meeting normally held in spring/early summer.

Appointment of Editorial Board Members

A system of appointment rather than election was approved at the Annual Membership Business Meeting in Riva del Garda in 2009. Therefore, Members cannot put themselves forward for election to the Editorial Board, but can express their interest to work on this board to the EAA Secretariat, who will then communicate it to the Executive Board which is responsible for the appointment of new Editorial Board Members.

If you are interested in serving the EAA in any of the available positions or if you have any suggestions for candidates, please send the completed candidate form to the EAA Secretariat before 31 March 2020. The Nomination Committee would like to encourage you to become more involved in the EAA governance structure. These are challenging times for archaeology worldwide and we will need all the committed and talented people we can muster to step up and do their part if the profession is to thrive. Please contact us at NomCom@e-a-a.org with any questions.

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Application for Travel Grants for the Meeting in Budapest

https://www.e-a-a.org/eaa2020/grants

The EAA is grateful to Oscar Montelius Foundation (OMF) for their generous financial support to enable the EAA to award a number of grants to its members in order to assist with the costs incurred during their attendance of the 26th EAA Annual Meeting in Budapest. A minimum of 66 grants to the sum of € 300- are available for EAA members participating in person in the Annual Meeting.

Selection criteria

1. Only completed applications in English will be considered.
2. Only current EAA members are eligible to apply.
  • Priority will be given to applicants who are making an active contribution within the Annual Meeting programme. Priority will be given as follows: session organiser, presenter of a paper, (non) statutory committee member with a scheduled meeting, poster presenter.
  • A maximum of two grants can be received by session organisers in a single session.
  • A single paper can receive only one grant. In the case of a joint paper, it is possible to share a grant.
  • An applicant is only eligible to receive one grant, regardless of the number of sessions, papers or posters being given.
  • Priority will be given to those who have not received a grant from the EAA to attend the Annual Meeting in the last three years.
3. Priority will be given to EAA members resident in category B countries, as approved by the AMBM at the EAA Annual Meeting in Maastricht, 2017.
    The list of category A and B countries is based on the World Bank data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Countries approved to fall within the A category of membership include (in alphabetical order): Andorra, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR (China), Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macao SAR (China), Monaco, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Singapore, Sint-Maarten, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Vatican City. All other countries fall into the B category.
4. EAA members who are currently unemployed, regardless of their country of residence, are also encouraged to apply.

Application procedure

The application procedure will open on Tuesday 24th March 2020 12:00 CET
  • Applications must be submitted electronically (not via email) using the application module that will be published on the EAA 2020 website on the 24th March;
  • Applications will only be considered, and will only be possible, from EAA members who have already been accepted as session organiser, and/or who have had a contribution (paper or poster) accepted, or are (non) statutory committee member with a scheduled meeting;
  • Members will be informed about successful or rejected presentations on the 24th March 2020;
  • The Secretariat will inform all members when the application procedure is open.
Applications should be submitted before Wednesday 15th April 2020 24:00 CET
  • Applicants will receive an email from the Secretariat confirming receipt of the application within two working days.
Successful applicants will be informed on or before Monday 20th April 2020
  • The deadline for registration payment for presenters is Wednesday 22nd April 2020 24:00 CET and successful applicants must settle their registration fees prior to the deadline.

Application Form

  • Members will be asked to fill in their name and EAA membership ID.
  • Further relevant personal information, as well as session and contribution names and ID will then be generated automatically.
  • Applicants will be asked to submit a motivation (no more than 200 words) in support of their application. The motivation is important as this will be referred to during the selection procedure.
  • Applicant will be asked to declare that:
    • they are not in receipt of any other form of financial assistance to attend the Annual Meeting (financial support of any kind from employer or student bursary, for instance)
    • they have taken adequate and reasonable measures to ensure the costs of their attendance at the Annual Meeting are as economic as possible (travel and accommodation costs).

Selection procedure

  • The selection process will endeavour to be as fair and objective as possible. The selection of successful applicants will be carried out by the Chair of the OMF Trustees and the EAA Secretary.
  • Each application will be considered individually. Only completed applications made using the application form provided and submitted before the deadline, will be considered.
  • Applications will not be considered from EAA members who have been awarded grants in the past but have not attended the Annual Meeting, either without good reason, or without informing the EAA.
  • Successful applicants will be informed, by email, by the EAA Secretariat. Grant acceptance confirmation by return email will be required from successful applicants.

Grant payments

  • After completing on-site registration at the registration desk at the Annual Meeting venue, successful applicants must confirm acceptance of the grant, in person, at the EAA desk from Thursday 27th August noon up until Saturday 30th August 12:00 local time.
  • Applicants will need to provide proof of ID and registration for the Annual Meeting and will need to confirm bank transfer details.
  • Successful applicants must provide receipts (flight bookings including boarding passes, travel tickets, hotel bills, etc.) to cover the total amount of grant allocated in order to receive the grant. Submission of the receipts is exclusively by way of scanned copies emailed to helpdesk@e-a-a.org at any time before 10 September 2020.
  • Payments of grants cannot be made before or during the Annual Meeting, but will be made by bank transfer within 4 weeks after the Annual Meeting.
  • The OMF reserves the right to withdraw any grant that is not claimed, in person, at the Annual Meeting. Any monies from grants withdrawn in this way will be reallocated at future Annual Meetings.

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THE EUROPEAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE PRIZE 2020. CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The European Association of Archaeologists instituted the European Archaeological Heritage Prize in 1999. An independent Committee awards the Prize annually for an outstanding contribution to the generation of archaeological heritage knowledge and its dissemination, and to the protection, presentation and enhancement of the European archaeological heritage.

As of 2018, nominations for the Prize are received in either of two categories:

  • Individual category for an outstanding scholarly contribution or personal involvement,
  • Institutional category for local, regional, national or international initiatives, long- or short-term, which contribute to the preservation and presentation of European archaeological heritage beyond the normal duties of the institution.

The same nomination form is used for both categories, with a different emphasis in the evaluated criteria.

The major evaluation criteria – recommended to be addressed in the application form – are as follows:

1. Scholarly (academic contribution)
2. Societal (contribution to generation of community values based on heritage)
3. Heritage (achievements within heritage protection / management / conceptual development)
4. Political (political level impact to further the standing of archaeological heritage)

The Committee will discuss all serious proposals for the Prize. No self-nominations are accepted. Nominations may be made by any of the following:

  • Members of the Association (all membership categories)
  • Professors and heads of departments of archaeology at European universities and institutes
  • Directors of governmental heritage management organisations and agencies in European countries (members of the Council of Europe)
  • Non-governmental archaeological, heritage, and professional organisations in European countries.

The 2020 European Archaeological Heritage Prize will be awarded during the Opening Ceremony of the 26th EAA Annual Meeting in Budapest, Hungary, on 28 August 2020. The awarded candidate(s) are expected to attend the Ceremony in person and to give a very brief presentation of their work.

Heritage Prize form
(Microsoft Word Document)

Early Research Careers in Archaeology (ERCA) Task Force

by Maxime Brami, Stephanie Emra, Aldo Malagó, Bogdana Milić, Antoine Muller (ecataskforce@outlook.com)

In light of growing employment precarity for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in archaeology, the European Association of Archaeologists has formed the “Early Research Careers in Archaeology” (ERCA) Task Force. ECRs are defined here as pre-tenured researchers, including postgraduates, postdocs and non-salaried scientists who plan to stay in academia. The Task Force recognises researchers engaged in a research career as ‘professionals’ regardless of their status and educational level, in line with the core principles of the European Charter for Researchers.

Challenges encountered by ECRs typically include job insecurity, imposed mobility, as well as a lack of research freedom, independence and results ownership. Employment precarity is being exacerbated by a trend of casualisation and short fixed-term contracts in academia, as well as a culture of publish-or-perish even during periods of under- or un-employment. Pressures on ECRs working in archaeology are compounded by the fact that archaeology is a small, competitive field, with no standard ethical practices regarding, for instance, recognition of contribution to archaeological fieldwork and authorship. As a result of these worsening trends, ECRs feel increasingly under-represented and under-supported in archaeology. The European Association of Archaeologists wishes to address these troubling trends with the establishment of the ERCA Task Force.

The aim of this task force will be to work in close collaboration with the EAA Executive Board on the elaboration of a series of recommendations to improve early research careers in archaeology and address their consequences, including on mental health and life quality, with a view to provide support, level the playing field and make ECRs feel heard and empowered.

The activities of the task force will include:

  • Creating a dynamic, independent and participatory forum for ECRs.
  • Encouraging membership and participation of ECRs in the EAA to help create a representative discipline, reflecting the diversity of ECRs and the diversity of their research.
  • Surveying attitudes and needs of ECRs in Europe to identify typical research career paths, support and mentoring provided, and highlight areas where improvements can be made.
  • Tracking the European higher education job market to determine how many jobs are created, how many people are applying, and conditions attached to employment.
  • Examining the different experiences faced by ECRs of various identities (ethnic, cultural, gender, sexual etc.) with a view towards intersectionality and equality, to acknowledge and remediate any asymmetrical challenges faced by ECRs.
  • Devising a series of recommendations to improve early research careers in archaeology, based on survey results and existing guidelines, including the European Charter for Researchers.
  • Identifying practical solutions that can be implemented by the EAA, such as a mentoring initiative for ECRs, and the possibility for ECRs to register their skills with the EAA to help maintain a sense of direction in research and improve employability beyond national boundaries.
  • Creating an easily accessible database of knowledge and advice for ECRs and a network of support and mentoring.

Survey

To begin the consultation process, we have created an online and anonymous survey to hear from the ECR community and collect data about these issues. Questions concern your background, contract status, research activities and experiences in academia. Long-form responses are also possible at the end of the survey where you can share more in-depth experiences and suggest ways for the discipline to move forward. We encourage ECRs to complete the survey and distribute it amongst your networks.

Focussed Interviews

Focussed interviews and further consultations will follow this initial survey. We will be interviewing archaeologists who have recently obtained a permanent position in academia to discuss the challenges that they have faced as they transitioned to tenure and the improvements that they would make for ECRs. In the same vain, we will reach out to people who have abandoned academic archaeology, or archaeology altogether, to find out what motivated their decision, from personal circumstances to systemic issues. We will also be interviewing senior academics, with a view to create intergenerational solidarity and address long-term trends in academia.

Employment Statistics

A key challenge for the Task Force will be to gather statistics on the academic job market, to make more transparent the extent of congestion in the recruitment system in different European countries. We firstly are interested in how many PhDs are defended each year, how many jobs are created in the meantime, how many people apply for jobs, how many abandon a research career, and what sort of employment conditions are attached to jobs. We are also keenly interested in identifying systemic trends which can lead to the exclusion of women and minorities from academia, and the impact of long-term unemployment on people’s finances and mental well-being.

EAA 2020 Conference Session

To further hear from EAA members, the Task Force has also submitted a round table session to the EAA 2020 conference in Budapest, called The Precariat in Archaeology. This round table will explore the current challenges facing ECRs in archaeology. All members are invited to participate and share your experiences, opinions and potential solutions.

How to Get in Touch If you would like to contact us, please e-mail ecataskforce@outlook.com. You can feel confident that any matter you wish to disclose will be treated confidentially by our team and will not be relayed to other members of the EAA unless you request it. We will also be setting up an online presence with dedicated Facebook and Twitter pages, so you can follow the progress of our team.

 

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Community for the Archaeology of the Americas

by Thibault Saintenoy (thibault.saintenoy@incipit.csic.es) and Marcia Hattori (marcia.hattori@incipit.csic.es)

We are assessing the interest in creating a community for the archaeology of the Americas within the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), this including archaeologists from everywhere who do their research and activity on the Americas (in the broader sense: Latin America, the Caribbean and North America). We are writing to you in order to share our motivation and to receive your feedback and input about this initiative. If you are interested to participate, please find more information at the following link where you will also be able to manifest your interests and express your ideas and expectations: https://forms.gle/NjnKSzPDAXa5fH357

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