Admission requirements
Admission to the Research Master Archaeology programme.
Description
Archaeological Science is moving towards a big-data era, shifting research from the study of single objects to a much broader framework of time and space. This radically changing size and scale of data enables scholars to chart communication across much greater distances over millennia, but new challenges do emerge. How does this paradigm shift affect the research done by the students in this class?
This course is meant to assist students in transitioning to early career academics. As such we will focus on training skills that are needed for an academic career, including grant writing, presentation skills, and peer evaluation. We will build these skills through exploring major themes and questions in archaeological science, where specific topics can be chosen individually, but will be framed in the big schemes in archaeological science, such as human migration, palaeo-climate, technological innovation and invention, or management of resources.
Course set-up
Bi-weekly meetings with the instructor will be alternated with individual work on selecting a relevant topic and writing a grant proposal, after which this proposal is peer-reviewed within the group, and presented to the ‘evaluation committee’ consisting of the entire course group.
Class 1: New topics in Archaeological Science: introduction;
Class 2: New topics in Archaeological Science: research structures & financing;
Class 3: State-of-the-art, lacunae and research opportunities: define your subject;
Class 4: Your research proposal, your funding body: feedback on the writing process;
Class 5: The review and rebuttal process explained: how to do your peer review;
Class 6 Feedback on reviews and revisions: how to revise your project and write a rebuttal;
Class 7 Presentation of research proposals, mock interviews, ranking decision.
After class 3, the research subject is chosen and grant writing can start. A first draft is submitted by class 5. Peer reviews are done by class 6. Revisions are submitted by class 7, and presented there.
Course objectives
Students will learn to:
Independently search literature on a given theme, and critically assess its current state-of-the-art, identifying lacunae and research opportunities;
Participate in and chair a group discussion on that research theme, distilling new research avenues into the topic;
Prepare a research proposal following the format of a funding body such as the NWO PhD in the Humanities grant or FWO junior doctoral researcher format;
Critically and constructively assess their peers’ grant applications, following a formal “peer review” format;
Incorporate evaluations into a revised application and present this (updated) research proposal, following the interview style of a major funding body.
Timetable
Course schedule details can be found in MyTimetable.
Log in with your ULCN account, and add this course using the 'Add timetable' button.
Mode of instruction
Flipped classroom: the students gather knowledge before class and evaluate their knowledge during the classes. Hands-on exercises are at the core of individual work and group presentations.
The instructor functions as a coach for the students.
Assessment method
Active participation in group discussions (20%);
First draft of the grant proposal (20%);
Revised draft of the grant proposal (30%);
Presentation of the grant proposal (10%);
Peer-review of two other grant proposals (10% + 10%).
A retake is only possible for the revised grant proposal and the presentation of this proposal.
Assessment deadlines:
The dates of exams and retakes can be found in MyTimetable. The deadlines of papers, essays and assignments are communicated through Brightspace.
The submissions will have strict deadlines, to be announced.
Reading list
Guidelines for applications:
FWO NWO Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions ERC
Selected papers:
Journal of Archaeological Science Archaeometry The Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences
Further readings will be defined per chosen subject matter.
Registration
Enrolment for all components of your study programme through MyStudymap is mandatory. This applies to both compulsory elements and elective credits. If you are not enrolled, you may not participate.
General information about registration can be found on the Course and exam enrolment page.
Contact
For more information about this course, please contact prof. dr. P.A.I.H. (Patrick) Degryse.
Remarks
Compulsory attendance.