FAQs about volunteering for committee work

These Frequently Asked Questions focus on volunteering for committee work and the numbers below correspond to the answers in the questions below.

Please select a dropdown section to find out more.

What are the different committees I can volunteer for?

  1. Board of Directors – the decision makers for CIfA and its work
  2. Advisory Council – advise staff and the Board about CIfA’s work
  3. Registered Organisations committee (RCO) – make decisions about the registration of organisations from reports provided by panels (voluntary members) who carry out the inspections and consider the direction and development of scheme
  4. Validation committee (VC) – make decisions about individual accreditation and consider the development of application advice
  5. Area and Special Interest Groups (SIG) – work on important issues within their specialism or area and advise CIfA

If you have any further questions or queries about getting involved with committees please email us at admin@archaeologists.net and we will be happy to help.

  1. to 4. All accredited members (PCIfA, ACIfA or MCIfA)
  1. Chair, Secretary, Treasurer must be accredited members. Ordinary committee members can be accredited and non-accredited members (Student, Affiliate)

  1. Currently on Zoom, six times per year
  2. Currently on Zoom, six times per year
  3. Currently on Zoom, four times per year and panels in various places throughout the year (in-person and digital)
  4. Currently on Zoom. eight times per year and panels twice a year (digital) 
  5. Mainly on Zoom/Teams, at least four times per year including the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Various locations depending on where committee members are based for in-person meetings.

Please note that we understand members have other commitments as volunteers and we do not expect them to attend all the meetings or be available all the time. We can work around you.

  1. & 2. Look out for the call for nominations prior to the CIfA AGM in October and complete a nomination form with a nominator and two seconders OR if you are already on an Area Group or SIG committee offer to be the Group Representative for Advisory Council
  2. Email Kerry (Kerry.wiggins [at] archaeologists.net) to register your interest. Invited to observe a meeting and complete a roles, responsibilities and conflict of interest form involving a short biography about your experience and what you can bring to the committee and submit an up to date CPD log, which is sent to the Board to agree.
  3. Email Lianne (lianne.birney [at] archaeologists.net) to register your interest. Invited to observe a meeting nd complete a roles, responsibilities and conflict of interest form involving a short biography about your experience and why you want to join the committee and submit an up to date CPD log, which is sent to the Board to agree.
  4. Look out for the call for nominations prior to the group AGMs throughout the year and complete a nomination form, with a nominator and one seconders. You can also find cooptions listed on the JIST bulletin.

Reasons members have given include:

  • Networking
  • Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours
  • Influencing policy and practice
  • Contributing to your profession and your Institute
  • Reasonable travel expenses are paid for

More details can be found here.

Some previous experience may be necessary, and we have outlined this below. You will need to provide a nomination form – See How do I join a committee above. 

1&2. The Board and Advisory Council require relevant experience. We provide basic training for those joining the Board and Advisory Council

3&4. For the RCO and VC committees there is a learn as you go element supported by the other committee members and staff

3. You must be accredited (PCIfA, ACIfA or MCIfA) and be able to distinguish good practice and areas for improvement within an organisation

4. You must be accredited (PCIfA, ACIfA or MCIfA) and able to distinguish good practice within reports and other examples of work and be familiar with the application process

5. For Area groups and SIGs you do not need any experience, but a familiarity with group committees would be useful. We have a Groups Toolkit to help support new committee members alongside the existing committee members and staff. There can also be opportunities to shadow committee members to learn about what is involved.