Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ArchSci2020 (Archaeology on the Edge: Northern Europe and the Circumpolar World)

Teaser

ArchSci2020 will provide structured state-of-the-art doctoral training to the next generation of archaeologists and biomolecular scientists forging a new generation of biomolecular archaeologists. Few other academic disciplines have been so transformed in the last decade as...

Summary

ArchSci2020 will provide structured state-of-the-art doctoral training to the next generation of archaeologists and biomolecular scientists forging a new generation of biomolecular archaeologists. Few other academic disciplines have been so transformed in the last decade as Archaeology. ArchSci2020 meet the need of a new generation of researchers. International, intersectoral and interdisciplinary training will equip its early-stage researchers (ESRs) with specific researchrelated and transferable skills, in order to provide enhanced career prospects across academia, industry and the third sector. The proposed ArchSci2020 network will bring together four leading research clusters each with complementary expertise to deliver an integrated, flexible training package that will provide a sound basis for academic independence and preparation for vocations in the archaeology, heritage and beyond. ArchSci2020 will combine (i) a common purpose, (ii) an unconditional commitment to the student experience, (iii) a pro-active stance towards international, inter-institutional research support and interdisciplinary study, (iv) a simple but effective management structure provided by a Management Team, Supervisory Committee and the Work Package leaders, (v) and an established academic infrastructure and reputation.

Work performed

The management Team has 1) overseen the recruitment of the ESR positions, 2) liaised with the Supervisory Board, 3) co-ordinated activities to ensure that cooperation and communication are as open and efficient as possible, 4) drawn up and implemented the Consortium Agreement, 5) covered employment status of the recruited researchers, IPR and the supervision arrangements, including qualifications of the supervisors 6) interfaced with the EU, taking responsibility for the administrative, legal, financial and accounting management, 7) acted as first level of arbitration in disputes (if any) among partners.

Work Package 2: Research
The Research Work Package is the means through which the 15 ESRs are following their educational journey. Built principally upon the research spent at both of the primary hosts and from secondments, and ultimately resulting in the submission of 15 PhD theses.

Work Package 3: Skills and training
The purpose of WP3 is to oversee all aspects of delivery of the training programme and to Monitor progress against targets. As part of the regular 6 monthly TAPS ESRs are encouraged to reflect on their previous six months of training and consider what additional training is required for the next 6 months.

Work Package 4 Impact (communication and dissemination)
The website was created ahead of the start of the contract and was used as a means of oversee the recruitment of the ESR position and communicating the ideas and opportunities afforded to ArchSci2020 to prospective students. All students have been given the opportunity to create their own personal home pages (for life) and whilst all have now created these, non are yet publicly accessible.

Final results

We have given the students space in which to take the initiative themselves and to communicate their research with wider communities. As an example Xenia Weber ESR6 has developed a series of ‘Walrus Research Days’ bringing together all of the major biologists and geneticists interested in the genetics of walrus populations in the Atlantic. Originally intended to ensure that there was no overlap between potentially competing projects, the’ Walrus Research Day’ has proved extremely successful and the team is now planning a research volume, bringing together all the different strands of research into the history of the exploitation of Walrus populations over the past 3 millennia.

Using Chromebooks and the @palaeome.org account Archsci2020 can access a sophisticated range of online tools to help bridge distances within the network. For example they have used video conferencing to arrange discussions and to help run supervisory meetings and shared documents to record activities. They have used the shared bibliographic (Paperpile) and writing tools (GDocs) to co-author research articles with members of ArchSci2020 staff. (e.g. Kendall, C., Eriksen, A. M. H., Kontopoulos, I., Collins, M. J., & Turner-Walker, G. (2017). Diagenesis of archaeological bone and tooth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.11.041.

Website & more info

More info: https://sites.google.com/palaeome.org/archsci2020/.