This year is FAME’s 50th anniversary and at the FAME Forum the attendees were presented with a letter from the first CEO and Honorary Life President of FAME, Adrian Tindall. You can find that letter below:
Author: Doug Rocks-Macqueen
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Change of suppliers for FAME CEO and Deputy CEO
From January 2025, both FAME’s CEO and Deputy CEO have separately moved
to work for new employers, and the contracts to deliver those services in both cases have transferred over to those new employers. Formerly, both Kenneth Aitchison (FAME’s CEO) and Doug Rocks-Macqueen (FAME’s Deputy CEO) worked for Landward Research Ltd (not a FAME member), and FAME had two contracts with that company for those services. The contract to provide FAME with a CEO has transferred to Headland Archaeology Ltd (a FAME member), where Kenneth is International Business Development Manager. The Deputy CEO contract has been transferred to Open Past, a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, where Doug is Executive Director. Any risks of potential conflicts of interest that might arise from having a FAME member employ the CEO are mitigated by our CEO separating himself from FAME’s decision-making process on any matters that would have a disproportionate positive or negative impacts on Headland or on any other FAME member or members. -
Call for Submissions for Celebrating Archaeology in Scotland 2025
Scotland’s Archaeology Strategy has opened a call for submissions for Celebrating Archaeology in Scotland 2025. It seeks to showcase the value Archaeology brings to Scotland and report on the delivery of Scotland’s Archaeology Strategy’s key aims. This year will be the eighth issue and like previous years will be fully digital, available for free online and in an accessible format.
They are eager to showcase the sector’s work in bringing to light the broad range of stories represented in Scottish Archaeology. They want to ensure they recognise the physical, mental, social benefits archaeology can have to individuals and communities, as well how an informed view of our past can help build a positive view of the present and future so the 2025 theme is wellbeing in Scottish Archaeology, and would would particularly welcome content around this topic.
They would welcome any news or stories you may have as well as information for upcoming initiatives and events from the wider archaeological community.
They have room for submissions of no more than around 300 words at the most, but we would also welcome short pieces of news or notices around 50 words in length. Submissions should have at least two high-res images to illustrate the story, and more if possible. For guidelines on your submission, including image captions, copyright, and our editing process, please refer to their notes for contributors page.
Please send your submissions to ArchaeologyStrategy@hes.scot no later than the 25th of July. They hope to launch the magazine online in late October.
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FAME Forum and AGM 2025
The Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Archaeological Managers and Employers Ltd will take place at Merchant Taylors’ Hall, Aldwark, York YO1 7BX, commencing at 6.00pm on Thursday 26th June 2025.
Preceding the AGM, there will be two Health and Safety workshops organised by the Chair of the FAME Health and Safety Group. These will also take place in Merchant Taylors’ Hall, starting at 3.00pm and continuing until 5.00pm, and all delegates are welcome to attend.
Workshop one: Using the FAME Carbon Calculator for Commercial Archaeology
Workshop two: “Ouch I’m new here” – mitigating the risks to new starters.Following the AGM, refreshments will be served, and then an informal social event will take place. The AGM and drinks are sponsored by FAME member, Magnitude Surveys.
On the following day, Friday 27th June, the FAME Forum will be held at Merchant Taylors’ Hall, Aldwark, York YO1 7BX, with a series of presentations of matters relevant to archaeological business practice for discussion.
10:00 Welcome, Tim Malim, Chair of the Board of FAME Directors
10:10 Trowels and Cressida: a love story set in a period of conflict, Peter Hinton,
Independent
10:35 Offsite Biodiversity Net Gain and the Historic Environment; Challenges and
Opportunities, Nick Overton, Project Officer, Oxford Archaeology
11:00 Meet FAME members – Humber Field Archaeology, Peter Connelly, Manager,
Humber Field Archaeology
11:10 Teas & Coffees
11:30 The Association’s Role in Industry, Amanda Stratton, CEO ACRA
11:55 Contract Risk, Tariq Mian, Head of Heritage – Archaeology & Heritage Insurance
Division, Towergate Insurance
12:20 Meet FAME members – Colchester Archaeological Trust, Adam Wightman, Director
of Archaeology, Colchester Archaeological Trust
12:30 Lunch
13:30 FAME@50 – Leading Health and Safety in Archaeology, Luke Brannlund Safety,
Health and Environment Manager, Cotswold Archaeology & Chair, FAME Health &
Safety Group
14:00 Historic England and Commercial Archaeology: reflections on current and
future priorities, Barney Sloane, National Specialist Services Director, Historic
England
14:25 State of the Archaeological Market 2024, Kenneth Aitchison, CEO FAME
14:50 Meet FAME members – Dee Archaeological Services Dan Garner, Director, Dee
Archaeological Services
15:00 Teas & Coffees
15:30 FAME at Fifty: how mature is archaeological business? Tim Malim, Chair, FAME
Board & Director, Hampton Heritage Design & Consultancy Ltd
15:55 closeAll members and partners can claim up to two free tickets to the Forum and AGM. To help support the next generation of managers and employers, FAME offers one additional free ticket to members who bring an early/mid-career member of staff to the Forum and AGM (3 in total).
Book your tickets here: https://famearchaeology.co.uk/civicrm/event/info/?reset=1&id=4
Towergate Insurance is a 2025 FAME Forum Sponsor
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Heat Stress Indices for Safe Archaeological Work
With global warming leading to increased extreme weather events and warmer average temperatures, FAME members have been considering using heat stress indices to help manage heat risks for their staff. This paper has been created to summarise the research in this area.
Key takeaways
- indices can provide indicators of unsafe working conditions, but should not be relied on solely to determine health and safety actions;
- indices can give average indications of heat stress risks, but are not accurate at an individual level;
- indices are best used with other tools and methods.
The FAME Health and Safety Working Group creates our Health and Safety Guides to provide detailed practical advice to our members and for the archaeological sector. You can download the guide below. They rarely change but occasional updates do occur and it is best to check this page for the most recent version.
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Development-led archaeology Health and Safety statistics 2023-24
This is FAME’s 7th Health and Safety Injury Survey; the first was for the 2009-10 financial year, and since 2018-19, we have undertaken these surveys annually. This report covers the financial year 2023-24, and only covers archaeologists working in the UK. Some key findings:
- Archaeology has lower RIDDOR accident rates than the construction industry.
- Ill health causes the most work absences
- Near misses – are under-reported in the sector.
Why does FAME publish H&S statistics?
A goal of FAME’s Health & Safety strategy is to assemble industry injury and accident data to assist with the development of preventative measures and improved ways of working.
The full report:
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Shape the future of the Heritage Science Data Service
The Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) was launched in October 2024, when UKRI Arts and Humanities Council (AHRC) unveiled 31 projects to create a distributed infrastructure of heritage science collections and equipment to grow the UK heritage economy and protect cultural heritage for future generations. One of those projects is the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS), which provides core digital research services. The National Heritage Science Forum (NHSF) is undertaking a User Needs consultation on behalf of HSDS.
If you create or use heritage science data as an employee, volunteer or student, you are encouraged to complete this survey. Your feedback will help shape and build the HSDS. The survey asks about your familiarity with heritage science and seeks your input on the development of the HSDS. It provides an opportunity to share how this platform could support your work or interests and will help us understand your expectations for new digital services.
The survey should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete and you can respond as either an organisation or an individual. A PDF version of the survey questions is provided to support those collecting views from colleagues to inform an organisational response.
The survey will remain open until the 31st May 2025.
Access the survey here: surveymonkey.com/r/NHSF_UserSurvey1
The User Needs consultation is being delivered by Dr Sam Paul and Dr Manda Forster, on behalf of NHSF. If you have any questions about the survey or consultation, please contact via email using: hello@tacit-heritage.co.uk
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Archaeology and Tick-borne Diseases – a FAME Guide
The FAME Health and Safety Working Group creates our Health and Safety Guides to provide detailed practical advice to our members and for the archaeological sector. This guide focuses on Tick-borne Diseases and how to best protect yourself and your fellow archaeologists.
“Thanks very much for this excellent guidance. This is highly relevant to us working in the highlands and something we have been aware of for many years. It’s really good to have some clear advice for archaeologists specifically. I have had to alert several contractors, working in the highlands for the first time, about ticks, so I will throw this at them in the future.”
– FAME member, Highland Archaeology Services LtdYou can download the guide below. They rarely change but occasional updates do occur and it is best to check this page for the most recent version.
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Digging deeper for net zero
FAME members are working on methods and processes to cut their carbon use, to help tackle climate change. To support our members we are in the process of creating a Carbon Calculator for the archaeology sector, read more here and watch here. We are also sign-posting resources to our members – one of which may be of interest: the EIA Community Debate: Digging deeper for net zero. The Institution of Environmental Sciences, in collaboration with CIfA, are running this free online event. The discussion is intended for anyone interested in thinking through the wider carbon footprint of projects, including EIA professionals, planners and those working in archaeology and heritage assessment. They will be discussing changing thinking around the ‘whole-life’ of projects, from the beginning of design through to downstream effects (following the Finch case) and long-term digital data storage and digital tools.
Book a spot here: https://www.the-ies.org/events/eia-community-debate-digging
Tuesday, 1 April 2025 – 12:30pm to 1:30pm, online
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Development-led archaeology Health and Safety statistics 2022-23
A goal of FAME’s Health & Safety strategy is to assemble industry injury and accident data to assist with the development of preventative measures and improved ways of working. This is FAME’s sixth Health and Safety Injury Survey; the first was for the 2009-10 financial year, and since 2018-19 we have undertaken these surveys annually. This report covers the financial year 2022-23, and only covers archaeologists working in the UK. Some key findings:
- Archaeology has lower RIDDOR accident rates than the construction industry.
- £8.1 million is lost each year in development-led archaeology to ill health, injury and stress.
- Near misses – are under-reported in the sector.
The full report: