In 2022 CIfA carried out an internal assessment of the relevant areas of CIfA work against the Royal Academy of Engineering and Science Council’s Diversity and Inclusion Progression Framework for professional bodies. This framework aims to help professional bodies track and plan progress on EDI, by setting out eight areas for measuring EDI progress across a four-level maturity model.
The assessment identified that CIfA needs to do more to achieve visible diversity on the Board, Advisory Council and other committees and that external EDI advice should be sought on methods to address this.
Additional information
The archaeological sector is not as diverse as it should be, particularly in relation to the race or ethnicity of archaeologists, and disabled archaeologists. Profiling the Profession 2020 records that 97 percent of UK archaeologists classify themselves as white, and 11 percent of UK archaeologists identify as disabled. These percentages are replicated in the 2020 CIfA membership survey.
At present CIfA does not collect demographic data for committee members but it is believed that there is a much smaller percentage of Global Majority and disabled archaeologists represented on CIfA committees. This is something we would like to work to address.
CIfA committees are formed of CIfA members and generally restricted to accredited members (Member, Associate and Practitioner). Committee positions are voluntary. More recently, the majority of meetings are held online.
Nomination processes for committees vary. For the Board of Directors and Advisory Council, calls for nominations are aligned to the AGM calendar. This is a similar process for Special Interest and Area Group committees. Committees reporting to the Board are through open call to the membership with the Board appointing individuals following the submission of a nomination statement and CV.
External advice
CIfA would like to commission 2-3 days of advice from an EDI expert to review our processes for recruiting to committees and to make recommendations on where initial improvements could be made to encourage a wider demographic of CIfA member volunteers to get involved. We would require this expert to produce
- A summary report of their findings in an accessible format, for communication both to the CIfA Board, and to its members.
- A series of evidenced recommendations that can shape CIfA’s work to tackle issues around its Board and Committee diversity.
If you are interested in undertaking this work please could you provide a short outline proposal for programming the work along with an up-to-date CV or details of relevant experience, and costings (inclusive of VAT). This should be emailed to alex.llewellyn@archaeologists.net. Deadline for submissions is 1 April 2024.
