Sustainability and cake

My sustainable development education role at the University means a lot to me. I've been working at it for over 3 years and, while it's not archaeology *my one true love*, the subject is worthy of the attention it is starting to get nationally. Plus, I'm constantly finding new and exciting ways to re-assess archaeology and anthropology by reflecting on broader issues of ESD (Education for Sustainable Development). So, you can imagine my surprise and glee when I got nominated and then shortlisted for a Sustainability Award, part of a larger annual Awards programme run by the Bristol Students' Union.
You can see all the categories and shortlisted people here:
https://www.bristolsu.org.uk/news/article/UBU/Bristol-SU-Awards-the-shortlist-is-announced/

This comes quick on the heals of the accreditation received institutionally as part of the NUS's "Responsible Futures" initiative, in which thirteen other universities participated. We were delighted to have all our hard work acknowledged. For us, this wasn't some tick-box exercise or agenda-laden league  table. It was more important as a means of showcasing the large-scale team effort and successes across the whole institution and the Students' Union, and also serves as a transparent benchmarking trial.
Read the Uni's press release on this student-led social responsibility and sustainability scheme:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2015/june/responsible-futures.html

There won't be a cake left in sight.

In other news, things are moving along nicely at Berkeley with all my engagement projects. Today brought a massive burst of joy onto site when legendary archaeologist and BAJR leader, David Connolly, gave us £100 to spend on cake to thank the community of Berkeley for their participation in the Town Museum project. We're just winding down on the project now, but the feedback we've received so far has been immensely positive. Critically for me, the students have seemed to love it too, learning and developing an arsenal of transferable skills.

Tomorrow's task - buy all the cake.

Berkeley 2015

Most of May has been taken over by prep for Berkeley and then getting back on site. It's the 11th year of excavations and the new batch of freshers are learning the ropes. I'm in my third season or leading engagement efforts that site alongside the digging. You can see an overview of my plans here:
https://publicarchaeology2015.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/june-2015-preview-berkeley-engagement-project/
The Public Archaeology 2015 project is pretty awesome, so I would encourage you to check it out - a new project is covered every month! I'll be posting more on Berkeley over the next few weeks.

Miniature castle in front of the real castle. Well meta. Xzibit would be proud.

The Town Museum project was my pet project for this year, and it has made quite the impact on the local community. Read more here - University of Bristol press release: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2015/may/town-museum-project.html

We even went on site on Bank Holiday monday to give free tours *commitment* 

We've been experimenting with 3D artefact and feature imaging, social media, pubic engagement and focusing on student transferable skills development.... busy busy!

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