Projects

CIfA undertakes a range of funded projects, either unilaterally or in partnership with others, to support the delivery of our strategic plan objectives. You can find details of some of our recent projects below. For more information, or to discuss opportunities for collaboration, please contact kate.geary@archaeologists.net.

 

CIfA projects

Evaluating impact of solar farm developments on the historic environment: review of practice & guidance
2024
This project will undertake a review of current practice in relation to the evaluation of impact of solar farm developments on the historic environment, with a particular focus on archaeological remains. It will collate views from those... Read more
Developing the Pottery Standard Toolkit
2023 - ongoing
Work is now underway on transforming the published A Standard for Pottery Studies in Archaeology (Barclay et al 2016) into an online Toolkit to form part of the suite already available - see https://www.archaeologists.net/toolkits. The... Read more
Community Archaeology Toolkit
2022 - ongoing
The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) has received funding from Historic England for a project to develop guidance presented as a CIfA Toolkit to support the promotion and delivery of community archaeology. The project aims... Read more
Qualitative inequalities research for the archaeology sector
2022 - 2023
In 2022 CIfA received funding from Historic England to conduct qualitative research amongst the archaeological profession and student population studying archaeology. This research provides a further understanding of the issues... Read more
Re-designing workplace placements to increase accessibility: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Scottish Heritage
2021-2022
Between March 2021 and March 2022, the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Scottish Heritage (EDISH) Project delivered a collaborative programme of engagement with Scottish heritage organisations around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion... Read more
Standards and guidance in Northern Ireland
2021 - ongoing
The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) was commissioned in 2021 by the Department for Communities, Historic Environment Division (HED) to undertake a project focused on reviewing the applicability of Standard and guidance... Read more
CIfA Standards and guidance review
2020-ongoing
A thorough review of the CIfA Standards and guidance (content, design, format, usability, and accessibility) is now underway and a new look suite of documents will be launched as and when they are ready from 2023 onwards. This work is... Read more
Historic England
Evaluation Strategies Stage 1 – understanding current practice and encouraging sector engagement (EVALS1)
2020-2022
The first stage of the Evaluation strategies project (EVALS1) was undertaken in partnership with FAME and aimed to develop and implement strategic improvements in the practice of archaeological field evaluation in England by working... Read more
21st-century Challenges for Archaeology
2020 - ongoing
The 21st-century challenges for archaeology programme aims to improve archaeological practice in England. Led by Historic England and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists, the programme brings together colleagues from across the... Read more
Guidelines for the recording of archaeological materials
2020 - 2022
The aim of this project was to develop a Toolkit that provides information and resources for recording finds that will support and enhance the Toolkit for Specialist Reporting. The newly developed Toolkit provides... Read more
CIRIA Archaeology and development good practice guide revision
2020 - 2021
CIfA is working as a specialist consultant to provide expert input and quality assurance on a project to revise the 2008 CIRIA publication Archaeology and development - a good practice guide to managing risk and... Read more
Digital Archives in Archaeology
2019-ongoing
The question of how to handle digital archives has been a hot topic for archaeology for years and now forms the focus of the Digital Archives in Archaeology project. DigVentures were commissioned by Historic England to develop... Read more
Developing a Finds Reporting Standards Toolkit for grey literature
2019-2021
This project was funded by Historic England and was led by Louise Rayner (Archaeology South-East) with the support of the CIfA Finds Group committee and CIfA/HE colleagues. The project developed a Toolkit to improve standards in... Read more
Building capacity through innovation
2019-2021
Project background and context for the Innovation festival CIfA, in collaboration with the Association of Local Government Archaeologists (ALGAO), was commissioned by Historic England to undertake a project entitled Building capacity... Read more
Mapping the sector
2019-2021
Funded by Historic England and jointly run by CIfA and ALGAO, this project will map the archaeology sector, to better understanding its structure and needs in relation to the provision of specialist advice. It will identify further... Read more
Re-imagining Scottish Archaeology: structure, funding, and delivery workshop series and report
2019-2020
CIfA received a grant from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to organise three workshops on behalf of the Scottish Archaeology Strategy Committee (SSAC). These took place in November and December 2019 in Inverness, Edinburgh... Read more
Write Here! Write Now!
2018-ongoing
At the CIfA 2018 conference in Brighton a session entitled ‘Write here Write now (Drafting a CIfA report standard)’ took place. This was co-organised by Edmund Lee (HE) and Steward Bryant (Independent consultant). The session was... Read more
CIfA Client Guide cover
CIfA Client guide
2014-2015
This guide is aimed at anyone who needs to meet the requirements of legislation or  policy that relate to archaeology. It explains what you need to do and why you need a professional archaeologist to help you through the process.... Read more
CIfA logo
CIfA Stakeholder survey
2013-2014
CIfA carried out a survey to find out how CIfA and professional archaeologists are viewed by people those within our sector, and those in related professions and organisations – our ‘stakeholders’. This was the first of three surveys to be... Read more
Maritime Archives
Maritime Archives
2008-2009
This project aims to map maritime collection areas, review current maritime archives and review the need for future archive creation and management. The project was undertaken in three phases: Element One - Mapping Maritime Collection... Read more
National Vocational Qualification in Archaeological Practice
National Vocational Qualification in Archaeological Practice
2008-2009
In 2009, CIfA achieved their goal of establishing an Assessment Centre to offer archaeologists in the UK the NVQ in Archaeological Practice. Although CIfA is subsidising the set up of the centre, within 5 years the Centre will be self... Read more
Standards and guidance for Archaeological Resource Centres
Standards and guidance for Archaeological Resource Centres
2007-2008
This project produced a suite of guidelines for planning and running a successful archaeological resource centre within the UK. A supporting policy document was produced separately by English Heritage sets out in detail the urgent need... Read more
Archaeology and Construction Engineering Skills
Archaeology and Construction Engineering Skills
2007-2008
The project has partners from four European countries, the UK, Turkey, Poland and Norway. It will produce learning materials for engineers and archaeologists to use, with the aim of sharing knowledge between the professions. The project... Read more
HLF workplace Learning Bursaries
HLF workplace Learning Bursaries
2006-2018
Since 2006, the HLF has funded CIfA to run between 8 and 10 Heritage Lottery funded bursaries every year, designed to address identified archaeological skills gaps. The scheme is intended to provide a model to be taken up by... Read more
Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe
Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe
2006-2008
Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe is an international project, examining archaeological employment and barriers to international mobility within archaeology across twelve countries of the European Union. All national reports on... Read more
EH Professional Placements in Conservation
EH Professional Placements in Conservation 2009 (EPPIC)
2003-2009
EPPIC placements are an English Heritage and CIfA initiative. EPPIC placements are designed to provide work-based learning opportunities in specialisms related to the historic environment. Placements are provided and supervised by... Read more
National Occupational Standards for Archaeological Practice
National Occupational Standards for Archaeological Practice
2002-2005
On behalf of the Archaeology Training Forum, CIfA worked with Cultural Heritage National Training Organisation (CHNTO) to map a career structure for archaeology in the form of National Occupational Standards for Archaeological Practice... Read more