The Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis (CfAS) is requesting information from scholars and researchers in archaeology and allied disciplines interested in designing and possibly participating in one or more collaborative synthetic projects on human migration. The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) are jointly sponsoring this effort in order to develop long-term, comparative and synthetic understandings of the factors stimulating human migration, the conditions and processes implicated in the success of the incorporation of immigrant groups at their destination, and how these new understandings might inform contemporary public policy.
The projects will be designed by a diverse group of about 15 researchers who have demonstrated experience relevant to migration studies and who have and are willing to share data or expertise pertinent to the topic. Participants are sought from relevant disciplines including, but not limited to: archaeology, anthropology, demography, ecology, agronomy, hydrology, paleoenvironmental sciences, informatics, socio-ecological modeling, geography, history, political science, and urban planning. The outcome of the design phase will be one or more proposals to be submitted to funding agencies. This Request for Information (RFI) is for the purpose of identifying participants in a 3 or 4 day workshop to design the synthetic projects; implementing the projects is contingent on securing additional funding.
RFIs must be submitted electronically to [email protected] by June 15, 2019, 5PM MST (GMT-7). Letters of Interest shall be submitted in a single pdf or Microsoft Word document, with pages having 1” margins and at least an 11 point font size.
Letters of Interest can be submitted by any scholar or researcher with experience and having the rights to data relevant to human migrations. Letters of Interest are welcome from all researchers regardless of nationality. Submitters do not need to be members of the SAA or EAA, nor do they need to be archaeologists. CfAS is committed to diversity and professional development and strongly encourages letters of interest from junior, historically underrepresented researchers, from heritage management professionals as well as academics, and individuals from developing countries and indigenous communities.
Each RFI response must consist of a 2-page letter of interest and a 2-page curriculum vitae.
A 2-page letter of interest demonstrates the applicant’s relevant experience, describes their interest in the study of human migration and explains how they would contribute to the design workshop and subsequent working group efforts. The applicant will outline the data set(s) and/or methodological/theoretical approaches that they would contribute to the design workshop and synthesis working group efforts. Willingness and ability to engage in interdisciplinary research and to integrate diverse data sources should be emphasized.
A 2-page summary curriculum vitae is required. No other information will be considered (e.g., hyperlinks to outside material). (The US National Science Foundation’s biosketch format is acceptable but not required.)