Partner Meeting 4 / 12 and 13 December 2013
0900 – 1700
Auditorium of the Instituto de Estudios
Gallegos Padre Sarmiento
in C/San Roque 2
15704 Santiago de Compostela
Meeting called by: / Gavin MacGregor (YAT) / Facilitator: / Kenneth Aitchison (YAT)
Type of meeting: / Mid-project – Data Analysis and Reporting focus
Attendees: / David Jennings, York Archaeological Trust for Excavation & Research Ltd UK
Gavin MacGregor, York Archaeological Trust for Excavation & Research Ltd UK [Chair]
Anna Stewart, York Archaeological Trust for Excavation & Research Ltd UK
Kenneth Aitchison, Landward Research Ltd and York Archaeological Trust for Excavation & Research Ltd UK
John Walker, University of York
Ray Karl, Internationales Österreichisches Archäologie Forum AT
Katharina Moeller, Österreichisches Archäologie Forum AT
Vera Ameels, Agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed BE
Elena Prokopiou, Department of Antiquities CY
Michaela Macalova, Institute of Archaeology Acad of Science Czech Rep Prague CZ
Jan Frolik, Institute of Archaeology Acad of Science Czech Rep Prague CZ
Martin Benz, Universität Bonn, Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Archäologie DE
Tobias Wachter, Universität Bonn, Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Archäologie DE
Evangelos Kyriakides, Initiative for Heritage Consultancy ELEva Parga-Dans, Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit) ES
Felipe Criado-Boado, Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit) ES
Kerri Cleary, Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland IE
Elisa Cella, Confederazione Italiana Archeologi IT
Andris Sne, Latvijas Universitate LV
Tine Schenk, Norwegian associations of researchers NO
Arek Marciniak, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu PL
Katheriin Liibert, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu PL
Cidalia Duarte, Associação Profissional de Arqueólogos PT
Corina Bors, Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a României RO
Irena Lazar, Univerza na Primorskem, Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče SI
Eduard Krekovic, Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Philosophy SK
Sylvie Kvetinova, European Association of Archaeologists CZ
Monique van den Dries, European Association of Archaeologists CZ
Andrew Lawler, Cultural Heritage Without Borders BiH
Heleen van London, University of Amsterdam NL
Nathalie Vossen, Nederlandse Veriningen van Archeologen, NL
DISCO 2014 /
Partner Meeting 4 / 12 and 13 December 2013
0900 – 1700
Auditorium of the Instituto de Estudios
Gallegos Padre Sarmiento
in C/San Roque 2
15704 Santiago de Compostela
Agenda
- Welcomes
- Personal Introductions & apologies for absence
The Chairman thanked Eva Parga-Dans and Incipit colleagues for organising the Conference.
Apologies were presented from Niamh McCullagh,Ingrid Ulst
The Chairman informed the meeting of a possibility of another Partner from Denmark joining the meeting later.
- Partnership and Roles
Partners deliver National reports.
KA informed those present that the partnership is now made up of 22 partner organisations from 20 European countries.
YAT has a special role as Project Co-ordinator and doesn’t directly do the research.
19 others partners do research into the archaeological workforce and issues in their own country.
Netherlands is different as the University of Amsterdam does not receive funding from the European Commission having joined after project began and are funded by national sources.
EAA one other partner not doing direct research but performing avalorisation role promoting results.
9.55am - Maria (FAFF) arrived and introduced herself and organisation
(KA) Welcomed Maria and recapped that now there are 23 partners from 21 European countries and briefly explained roles of partners and how funding was established. FAFF will, like the University of Amsterdam, not receive EC funding via YAT, but will be wholly self-funding.
(GM) Explained slight change to the Agenda - Re Friday which was to include workshops to discuss any issues.
- Progress Reports
National reports need to be prepared in draft form by next partner meeting in Bucharest. This will be necessary in order to allow preparation of the transnational report in order to be able to valorisefull and final results at EAA in September.
Partners were asked to report on their progress
UK – research, data and [draft] national report done and can be found on the project website.
LV – Latvia behind schedule, response level not high, making personal contacts. Responses coming from young people.
NL – finished data collection, in data analysis, presented prelim results to national conference, provoked additional data collection. Response from close to 50% of institutions and up to 35% from individuals. Will write report in January, hope to finish in February. Similar situation as in UK – negative effect on fieldwork linked to construction, decrease of 10%. Private sector wages down, higher in public sector (also where workforce is older and more male); more women than men in younger cohorts. Must be careful not to provoke overemotional reactions. Very lucky because of TV item, and then questions in parliament. Minister of Culture didn’t have good data and referred directly to this research. Research is being linked to renewal of quality system and downward spiral of prices.
EAA –not collecting data – held meeting in Plzen – reaching other members via website – progress good and on schedule.
AT – progress on schedule, analysis next month – overall about 10% response rate. Figures collected, not yet done detailed analysis – will do in next month, will then write report. Overall response rate is just about 10% because contacted 300 organisations (inc. local museums); last time only contacted 30. Response rate around 30% across all sectors, inc. national heritage agency, museums, private contractors, universities; overall a little bit less good than last time. One major difference – previously about 35 orgs in Austrian arch, now about 70 – market change and there were few contractors, now many more small private contractors. Total number of archaeologists has actually gone up. Total number up by 10-15%, unexpected. Average salary has come down. Age and gender spread – older archaeologists are more male and still more male archs than female.
BE (Flanders) – still in data collection, problem getting figures from private companies, one mailing, low response, second mailing only getting four more. Now have 20% of the contractors – small companies, bigger companies complain of not having time, too complicated. Survey coming from public body, not everyone is comfortable with extra work at time of rewriting legislation. Some very negative responses. But as public body have access to all figures about those that are working at public level. Now everyone is a “heritage researcher”, not an “archaeologist”. Vera knows who is an archaeologist and who isn’t. Now colleague will call directly to gather info, and will google to see what is available online. Also checking all vacancies
PL – Different situation – not part of previous project, difficult to compare with 5-6 years ago. Poland is a big country, at least 1500 archaeologists. Makes everything complicated. Modifying questionnaire to be more appropriate for Poland – team of four, Katheriin is coordinating. Staff specialising in different sectors. Deployed diverse methodology for data collection. Contacting newly established association of private Polish archaeologists – so through them able to collect data on private companies – then looking at online resources and social media. Also made some phone calls, official and private. Managed to collect everything from public sector some unit nonresponse. 30-40 up to 80% from public, not that representative from private sector yet. Building up reliability. Finalising data collection. Using multiple sources – could stop now, still can and will gather last pieces. Sure to have results in January and can start work on report. Getting general distribution of archaeologists across public sector. 1% not from Poland. Qualifications rarely from foreign institutions. Nearly all permanent full-time. Some portfolio working – two employments simultaneously. Higher proportion of higher qualifications in higher education – but even more so in Polish Academy of Sciences.
Regional distribution – concentration around major cities. Different from actual population distribution.
100% of field staff salaries between 244-488 € per month. Types of contract need to be explained. Different ranges for “archaeologists”, “technicians”, “researchers”. But can calculate for all subsectors. Important that national reports compare with objective data – eg minimum and average national salaries in each country.
DE - collecting data, sent questionnaire postally and electronically to nearly 2000 people / institutions, now tidying data and collecting supplementary info from online sources. Start analysis in January. 1093 sent to local heritage management often don’t have archaeologists – but also very low response. 751 to other addresses (100 more than last time). About 10% responses. Nearly reached the number of archaeologists as last time – 36% response rate then. Different research team, difficulty in comparing methodologies with DISCO 1. 1/3 of responses analysed – expect to have data on 1100 archaeologists. Changing situation. Old, male archaeologists; new entrants are more likely female. 43 archaeologists coming in from Austria – don’t have exact results from other European countries. 3/8 are part time. Majority of posts are permanent. Query about grabungstechniker as well. So – numbers from last time may not have been reliable. Now asking about workers on archaeological tasks. Likely to end up with similar numbers.
IT - Online questionnaire – wanted to avoid double counting. Rapid and immediate survey approach. Don’t have a number for total number of archaeologists in work – can look back to data gathered by Ministry in Sept 2008 – 5600 people with PhD or postgrad masters. A lot of people abandoned this as a job since then. Low response rate to other interim surveys – one looking at students as well, long survey envelope. Lack of control on other data collection exercises.
Adapted on line questionnaire, few minutes to fill in – problem with comparing data as not on last project – problems with doing it with the Ministry waiting for their answer – using social media invited 4800 people and have 10% response rate – started preliminary analysis 72% women archaeologists. Requested wait until end of January to pull together full report.
Low response rate for companies – data collection is still going on. Working with ministry of cultural heritage. Slow response time. Using emailing methods and social media – approached 4800 people, got a 10% response rate. Second phase now underway with email and phone calls – might collect from a different population group. Already made preliminary analysis. 72% of archaeologists are women. Most work is fieldwork. Does not match national statistics – a real sign. Most are not married – cultural change. Not having children! “Freelancers” are 84% female – who consider it a full-time job. Possibly breaking employment laws – actually employees.
Comparing with the past – changes about employers. Now companies are no longer the main employers – instead universities and ministries are more important. Will be good to compare with national stats – a lot of archaeological companies closed down. Crisis has affected the labour market. Regional distribution – most work where the biggest cities are = universities. Emotional answers as well – getting feelings. Questionnaire forces people to face the truth! Questionnaire of depression! Archaeologists are professional complainers! Salaries are under national average – more than 70% are doing another job. Facing a lot of changes. There will be a lot of protests. Will use protests to promote Disco. Asking about the way things are asked – trying to adapt to get best answers.
There is not an official list of archaeological companies. Old data sources go out of date as companies shut down.
[Similar problems in Spain – freelance difficult to get, asking companies primarily – will share information and questionnaire with Italy. Ask about questions in salary bands.]
[reminder to include national unemployment rates]
NO – closed data collection in August. Now just started data analysis. Presented prelim data at Norwegian Archaeology meeting – 220 archaeologists. Getting good feedback from employers. Now this is being valued – better than previous. Estimate of about 750 archaeologists, 85% with an MA. Only one job category. Response rate is very high and shows how valorisation is working. 85% response rate from companies, 45% from individuals (who are on the barricades). All in all – very good level of responses. 62% women. More men in permanent jobs (generational shift). Still a significant wage gap – if archaeology becomes a female occupation, then wages will not rise as fast. Average age 37, median age 35. 89% Norwegian. Very few part-time posts. 62% are temporarily employed. Asking about how many temporary contracts issued and how many years this equates to – 138 years made up of 819 contracts, so 5.9 contracts per year of employment. Wages – temporarily employed archaeologists at 70% of national average; permanent are at Masters level.
[average salaries might not be representative – differences in public and private sectors. Transnational report needs to identify the details of whether salary figures are just maths or reality.]
CY – data collection is complete. About 30 questionnaires, about 25 responses. Questionnaire in two parts – organisation in general, part two the post profile. Questionnaires by post or by email, with personal contact by phone or face-to-face in most cases. Easy because of small professional population – benefit of personal contacts. Analysis now being carried out. About 500 people are making their living from archaeology – 100 archaeologists, 400 supporting staff. Some part-timers; archaeological sector has grown, but 2012 figures do not reflect reality of 2013. Some institutions have converted contracts into part-time contracts. Work more than 30 months full time get benefits of a permanent employee, employer changes contracts. Main employer is Department of Antiquities. Majority of workforce are women. People who are not archaeologists eg working in museum, but not with degrees in archaeology. “Archaeologist“ was a protected title, not now.
Sovereign debt crisis - need to explain that things have changed since data collection in 2012.
** Action – KA to write invitation for Elena to come to Istanbul to Minister of Foreign Affairs **
SI – public presentation of results from previous project to archaeological society of Slovenia in March, sent questionnaire in June, follow up in September/October. About 30% answers from institutions, 35% from individuals. Some institutions will give more answers. Previous survey was at the peak of the boom because of motorway research, lot of private companies, their position became worse and worse from 2009 onwards. These private companies want to participate in the research. Negative answers from “safer” public institutions. Reaction was very different. Basic answers – permanent employment (60%) and on contract (40%) very similar levels. Feminised archaeology in Slovenia. Peak age about 40. Younger people are not coming in at as high numbers as before. Skills questions. 94% are Slovenian. Most do fieldwork. 20% in research. 25% in cultural heritage protection. Salaries – average education is a degree, salaries average €1500 / month. Includes things like payment for getting to work. Extra payments for results of work. This has decreased. Now only 6% getting this stimulation. Normally working 42h / week, often working over contracted hours. 48% of posts are state funded, 37% are project funded. Ask about experience of unemployment – 46% have been unemployment on average for 16 months. Also employed in other fields (portfolio careers). Questions about working abroad – 45% they were working abroad – eg for private companies in Croatia or further away for short-term work. 63% are prepared to work abroad, ask about language skills. English, German, Italian, Serbo-Croatian. Well placed to find work abroad.
Lot of fieldwork (35%), protective heritage also. Instability and low salaries are recognised as the key negative factors. Asked about whether archaeologists have children – 54% of archaeologists do have children. Some respondents ask if we should be asking specific questions about women in archaeology.
**Action – IL to possibly write Archaeologies article on women in archaeology**
IE – behind schedule on questionnaire going out, researcher now appointed, advisory panel (public and private sectors) advising on questionnaire, digital questionnaire, only been active for a month, open until Sunday, may extend. Cast the net quite wide – to just over 760 email addresses, covering universities, institutions (inc. 600 individuals). Organisation and individual questionnaires.
Checking to avoid double counting. Anonymity was important – concern about IAI directors also being commercial company directors. Restricting data to only Kerri and Niamh (researcher). Specifically asked where based and where they worked. Taking an all-Ireland approach, helping to judge movement between countries. 200 individuals and 31 companies – no universities yet. Press UCD! Good metadata about start and complete rate on questionnaire. Questionnaire should close before Christmas. A few case studies. Tracking how the employment landscape has changed. Bit of valorisation – including Facebook page. Which also obtained email addresses for the survey – helped to track those that have left archaeology or Ireland.
**Action – KA to separate and share Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland [special report] data**
PT – previous board resigned in July, void until November. New board has people from range of backgrounds. Everything was erased (not by Francisco Faure) think they will be able to renovate and restart. All work has to be managed through central government permission, need to have Masters and specific CV and then all work has to go to National Archive of Archaeology – so all working archaeologists contacts are available. Want to ask for help from Italy, Ireland, Spain = hope to have something to present by March. Valorisation – first meeting of archaeologists in March – 18th anniversary of APA. Also negotiated with only annual journal – to publish all of the results at a national level. About a third of private companies have shut down. People freelancing and moving. Day wages. People are moving to Brazil, or to Germany.
**Action – KA to copy UK questionnaire to Portugal**
SK - 65 questionnaires sent in June, response from 70%, adding to this through websites and other research. Big state institutions have responded. Slovak Institute of Sciences employs over 1/3 of archaeologists, and has responded. Still waiting for some small companies or small regional museums. Number of archaeologists has actually risen – increasing numbers of private companies (from 3 to 8-10). Less “other” people – technicians, conservators etc. Problems getting salary data. Can use 2/3 of questionnaire salary data. Hope to finish analysing data in January, write the report in February. Translate in March – April will have written report. Minister of Education and Science was an archaeologist – good for valorisation launch! Also Minister of Culture.