2050: an archaeological odyssey. A vision of the future of our profession from the New Generation
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2015-08-12

Natalie Ward & Ben Jervis, CIfA New Generation group

At the launch of the CIfA we were asked to present a short vision of what we thought chartership might mean for the future of the historic environment profession. We presented a vision of a respected, diverse and highly skilled profession operating for the public benefit and within a society which values the historic environment and acknowledges its value. In this contribution we will look in more depth at this vision of the future, particularly to explore how CIfA might use the benefits of chartership to best effect in achieving our, admittedly idealised, vision of the future. We argue that chartership is not an end in itself, but rather provides an opportunity to open new dialogues with other professionals in which we can advocate the social and economic value of the historic environment, to shift the perception of it from being a problem to be solved, to being an opportunity to be embraced. We will also explore how CIfA might best utilise its position to develop an increasingly highly skilled and diverse workforce within the sector, particularly demonstrating progress being made by the New Generation SIG in laying the foundations for the programmes and mechanisms that might facilitate the achievement of this goal.