Landward Research Ltd / Environmental & Human Resources Consultancy

Landward Research Ltd

Landward Research Ltd is an environmental and human resources consultancy which works with employers, individuals and heritage agencies to design and manage projects that deliver social, environmental and economic benefits. We particularly seek to address areas where the market fails to provide opportunities for conservation or training in the cultural heritage, historic environment and creative industries sectors, supporting professionals, students and the wider public.

The company does this by undertaking socio-economic research and identifying ways that individuals and employers can become more skilled, knowledgeable and capable, allowing them to improve the quality of their work and involvement within these sectors. 

We are a social enterprise, a business with a commitment to social and environmental responsibility. Any profits are reinvested in the company or donated to or invested in social and environmental causes. No profits are distributed to shareholders or other investors.

State of the Archaeological Market, April 2012

Landward Research Ltd has continued to undertake work on behalf of the Institute for Archaeologists and the Federation of Archaeological Managers and Employers looking at employment levels and business confidence in commercial applied archaeology.

 

State of the Archaeological Market: April 2012 - Executive Summary

Commercial, applied archaeology has grown modestly in the six months to April 2012, with the
total number of people in employment in the applied sector rising by 2.0% over this period. This
follows growth in the previous six months, meaning that the total number of people working in
archaeology (in all sectors) increased by 4.1% in 2011‐12.

Overall business confidence, while still low, is improving.

Levels of staff turnover are low, and are lower than reported in the previous six months (to October
2011). Employing organisations consider that people who have left that employer have typically
remained in archaeology.

Most organisations that reported on changes in salaries consider that their salary bill has risen by
inflation (or very occasionally by more than inflation) in the six months to April 2012.

Significant numbers of archaeological businesses have subsidiary offices located elsewhere in the
United Kingdom.

Profitability is low and turnover may have decreased in 2011‐12 when compared with 2010‐11. The
majority of revenue in applied archaeology comes from undertaking field investigation and postfieldwork
analysis.

Business confidence, as measured through anticipation of growth in staff numbers, market
deterioration and the failure of businesses in the sector remains negative (although more businesses
expect to grow in terms of staff numbers in the next six months than expect to become smaller).
Significantly, the aggregate reported views under each of these criteria were more positive than six
months previously.

The most commonly reported area of skills losses is in fieldwork skills, which has been the case since
this series of reports began to collect data in 2009. Notably, more organisations are investing in
training in all skills areas than are reporting that they are losing skills, including artefact and ecofact
conservation which is a set of skills that are normally bought in.

As was reported in October 2011, a minority of respondents had previously supported an employee
getting an NVQ, although the majority say that they would consider supporting someone in the
future.

 

Download the Full Report

Presentation at Osaka Museum of History

Kenneth Aitchison, the Executive Director of Landward Research Ltd, was honoured to be invited to visit Osaka and to make a public presentation at the Osaka Museum of History to the Kansai Meeting of the Society of Archaeological Studies on the topic of Professional Practice in United Kingdom Archaeology.

 

 

 

 

Download PowerPoint presentation (text in English and Japanese, 18.0Mb).

This included discussion of the structural and professional differences beween archaeological practice in the UK and Japan, and continued into the discussion of the proposed Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe project - and how this could be part of a Discovering the Archaeologists of the World, looking at archaeological practice comparatively in many countries of the world. 

Breaking New Ground in Salon

The publication by Landward Research Ltd of Breaking New Ground: how archaeology works has been covered in Salon, the Society of Antiquaries of London Online Newsletter (issue 280, 16 July 2012).

 

E-books by Fellows: Breaking New Ground: how archaeology works

Two e-books have come Salon’s way in recent days. E-books are not the cue for a Wallace and Grommit joke but rather they are works published for Kindle and other electronic devices as distinct from books that are published conventionally but also made available digitally, usually as a PDF version of the printed book (and often costing just as much).

The advantage of a Kindle book, says Fellow Kenneth Aitchison, author of Breaking New Ground: how archaeology works (ISBN 9780957245204; Landward Research), is that the book can be published very quickly and made available at a very reasonable price of £2.87. You can also incorporate such value-added enhancements as hotlinks to relevant web material or sources. You can read the first chapter for free and you don't need a Kindle device to read it because Amazon has built free apps that allow Kindle documents to be read on a PC, Mac, iPod Touch, iPhone, Android phones or Android tablets.

The book itself, says Kenneth, ‘is a contemporary history of professional archaeology in the UK since 1990 and up to the very end of 2010, so it looks at the long boom years of growth of opportunities, and then at how archaeology has coped since the onset of the economic changes in 2008. It features case studies of important sites and organisations, together with an introductory historical account of how we got from Pitt-Rivers to PPG16’.

The book asks where the demand for professional archaeological work comes from, who employs archaeologists, who are their clients, and why those clients want archaeological work done. It examines the ways in which the answers to these questions have changed from the earliest days of archaeological work, through the era of rescue archaeology and then by examining how and why archaeology became the commercial, applied part of the sustainable development process that it is today.

Kenneth says his aim is for this to be ‘the successor to Fellow Philip Rahtz’s Rescue Archaeology, which told the contemporary history of archaeological practice in the 1970s, and to Barri Jones’s Past Imperfect, covering the 1970s and 1980s, bringing the story up to date through the 1990s and beyond.’

 

 

delivering e-learning with CoursePark

Landward Research Ltd is delighted to be working with CoursePark, a cloud-based learning management solution, to provide e-learning courses in heritage management.

We have just entered the testing phase of materials that have been produced through our work with colleagues across Europe on the Vocational Training System in Archaeological Heritage Based Upon E-Learning Resources project.

Eight testers, based in the UK, France, Belgium, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are looking at the first set of e-learning materials that we have opened up through CoursePark in a learning network called "Issues on Contemporary Archaeological Heritage Management".

The courses have been put together by professionals from across Europe, and will include varied case studies in covering:

• problematic heritage
• cultural biography of landscape
• commercial archaeology
• public archaeology
• sustainable development

Once the testing phase is completed, we will be reporting on this at the European Association of Archaeologists' Annual Meeting in Helsinki, and will be making more courses available later in the year.

21st century archaeologists: Teaching, Training and Professional Development

Landward Research in the Sheffield Star

Landward Research's executive Director Dr Kenneth Aitchison was featured in the Sheffield Star newspaper yesterday with details of the his eBook, which was published recently - A link to the online article is available here - Kenneth Aitchison of Landward Research Ltd in the Sheffield Star

"Breaking New Ground: how archaeology works" was published to great acclaim earlier this month and with sales going well it was good to see further publicity for not just the eBook but also Landward Research and archaeology in general.

Dr Aitchison commented “ I has long been a personal goal of mine to have a work published so that others can share in my passion for Archaeology. The book has been well received and I am delighted to have contributed to the archaeological heritage of Sheffield and South Yorkshire.”

 

Anna Badcock, of ArcHeritage, an archaeological practice based in Sheffield, praised the book saying: “It’s good to see a book that thoroughly looks at how professional archaeology is organised.”

 

ENDS - Copies of this Press Release are available on request - please contact enquiries@landward.eu

Archaeology students can help their peers study abroad

Archaeology students to rate their experience of foreign exchange

The first international survey of European students of archaeology starts on the 4^th May 2012.  The survey is part of a project, “Studying Archaeology in Europe”, created specifically to encourage students to make more exchange visits across the European Union by helping them know more about studying abroad.  The online survey asks participants to give information about the contents of their archaeology courses, the professional archaeological skills they have learned, local study costs, their knowledge of exchange opportunities, and their own experiences of studying archaeology in another country, and their plans to work as archaeologists abroad.    Survey data, from students themselves, will provide the missing information students need in order to choose which countries and universities are good for foreign exchange visits.

“Studying Archaeology in Europe” is an international project supported by 16 archaeological organisations based in 13 countries across Europe.  The original idea for this project was suggested by students themselves who were keen to improve the opportunities for other students to study at universities in another country and, eventually, to be able to work as archaeologists across Europe. Most of these partner organisations of the project are student societies.   To complement data gathered through the online student survey, the Project has also been collecting background information on archaeology courses taught at individual universities across the European Union, and has commissioned some general information about the ways in which archaeology is taught across Europe.  “Studying Archaeology in Europe” will make all this data freely available via its website (www.studyingarchaeology.eu) from September 2012, and visitors to the site will be able to add to this data in future years.   “Studying Archaeology in Europe” will provide the first single source of information about exchange opportunities and practicalities for studying archaeology across Europe.

In addition to the provision of information, “Studying Archaeology in Europe” will also host an online, student-led, peer-support social network.  This network will help students make contacts in other European countries, decide where to study and support each other during their exchanges visits.

 

"This is a very timely initiative which will make it much easier for archaeology students to go abroad during their degree. As an Austrian archaeologist who moved to Wales for a career in archaeology, I cannot stress strongly enough how important mobility has become in today's archaeology labour market." Prof Raimund Karl. 

  

“Studying Archaeology in Europe” Project Partners

Alfa Archeologie Belgium

Associacion Madrilena de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores en Arqueologia Spain

ArCHéoStudis Switzerland

ArkéoTopia, une autre voie pour l’archéologie France

Dachverband Archäologischer Studierendenvertretungen Germany

Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology United Kingdom

Instituto de Ciencias del Patriminio Spain

Internationales Österreichisches Archäologie Forum Austria

Landward Research Ltd United Kingdom

Študentsko arheološko društvo Slovenia

The Archaeological Club of the Silesian University of Opava Czech Republic

The Gothenburg Archaeological student Association Sweden

Deutscher Archäologen-Verband Germany

Arbeitsgrupe Archäologie ais Beruf Germany

DALF Denmark

Fagutvalget for arkeologi Norway

 

For further information please contact:

Kenneth Aitchison

Tel: +44 (0)114-281 0904

Email: kenneth.aitchison@landward.eu

 

new publication - Breaking New Ground: how archaeology works

Landward Research have published Kenneth Aitchison's "Breaking New Ground: how archaeology works".

This book, available on Kindle, is a contemporary history of the last twenty years of professional archaeological practice in the United Kingdom, charting the progression of archaeology since the publication of PPG 16 and then the effects of the economic downturn since 2008. It also sets out a history of paid archaeology, from Pitt-Rivers' appointment as the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments in 1882 through to the rescue 'revolution' of the 1970s and beyond.

It is available for purchase here for £2.87.

Who works as a professional archaeologist, what do they do and who do they work for?

This is the first comprehensive review of applied archaeology as a profession in the UK in the twenty-first century, using case studies of organisations and particular archaeological projects to present a contemporary history of professional archaeology that looks at who employs archaeologists, who their clients are and why those clients want archaeological work done.

It examines where the demand for professional archaeological work comes from and how this demand is met, firstly looking at how this has changed from the earliest days of archaeological work, through the era of rescue archaeology and then by examining how and why archaeology became the commercial, applied part of the sustainable development process that it is today.

Archaeology had a long period of growth from 1990 to 2007, benefitting enormously and growing rapidly on the back of the UK’s construction boom. The book reviews how archaeology worked in that period – and the changes that followed the publication of PPG 16 – and then looks in detail at how the sector has been affected by economic changes since 2008 and which areas have gone into decline.

Profiling the Profession 2012-13

Landward Research Ltd are delighted to have been appointed by English Heritage to undertake Profiling the Profession 2012-13, a sectoral labour market intelligence project that will update and continue the three previous (1997-98, 2002-03 and 2007-08) studies of employment in archaeology.

Employment in UK archaeology, October 2011

Headlines from the State of the Archaeological Market October 2011 report:

The number of people employed in commercial, applied archaeology has increased slightly (by 0.4%) over the six months to October 2011.

Levels of staff turnover are relatively low, and employers believe that the majority of people who have lost jobs in archaeology in the last six months have remained within the sector.

Salaries have not risen in line with inflation in the six months to October 2011, and therefore have typically fallen in real terms.

Significant numbers of archaeological businesses have subsidiary offices located elsewhere in theUnited Kingdom.

Financially, companies are turning over slightly more revenue in 2010-11 than in 2009-10. Profitability is low.

Where available, information suggests that the majority of revenue is derivedfrom carrying out field investigation and post-fieldwork analysis.

Business confidence, as measured through reported future expectations, remains low.

A minority oforganisations expect to substantially expand their business in the next twelve months.

Skills losses are commonly reported in the areas of fieldwork and post-fieldwork analysis, but these are both areas where skills shortages are being addressed through organisations bringing in outside expertise and through investment in staff training. One area where there is a skills issue that is only being addressed through buying-in expertise is in conservation, where organisations are investing relatively little in training. Overall, respondents considered that post-fieldwork analysis and conservation were the two areas with the most significant sector-wide skills shortages.

A minority of respondents had previously supported an employee getting an NVQ, although themajority say that they would consider supporting someone in the future.

Read the full report here.