[Archport] Sheffield Archaeology Department and Zooarch Lab facing closure

[Vera Moitinho <veramoitinho@gmail.com>]

Bom dia,

Partilho o seguinte email, apelando à vossa solidariedade.

Cumprimentos,

Vera Moitinho de Almeida

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vera-Moitinho

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On Wed, May 19, 2021, 22:29 Lizzie Wright <lizzieewright@gmail.com<mailto:lizzieewright@gmail.com>> wrote:
Dear all,

We're devastated to let you know that the archaeology department in Sheffield, including the zooarchaeology lab, is facing closure. Staff were told in a meeting today, after a review which has been going on for the past few months.

I'm sure that many on this list will agree that Sheffield has been incredibly important for the zooarchaeology community for a long time. The lab has trained or hosted so many of us and I hope it's not over the top to say that it has played a large part in growing the importance and vibrancy of our field.

In the meeting today staff were told that there are these three options:
(A) support and invest in the department to ensure the future of archaeology at Sheffield;
(B) discontinue archaeology as a subject at Sheffield and make all the staff redundant;
(C) discontinue archaeology as a department, but retain aspects of archaeological research and education (human osteology and cultural heritage), and make remaining staff redundant.

It was strongly perceived that the pro Vice Chancellor's preference was NOT for option A, although she did not say it specifically. Options B and C are really the same, with a slight variation and the opportunity to save a couple of staff from the sack.

The University Executive Board (UEB)  will make its decision at a meeting next Tuesday (25th May).

As you can imagine the whole department and zooarch team is absolutely devastated by this news and we are rallying round to call for messages of solidarity from as far and wide as possible. We need to act very swiftly to make our voice heard before that meeting. As you can imagine it is a hugely stressful situation, in which staff are confronting the potential loss of their jobs as well as all that they have built in many years of love and dedication. Here of course I have to mention the incredible energy that Umberto has put into the lab , and our careers, over many years. He truly is the best mentor and advocate for zooarchaeology any of us could ask for!

So what can we do to help?:

The department is asking people to email:
1. the University Executive Board (UEB) -  ueb-admin@sheffield.ac.uk<mailto:ueb-admin@sheffield.ac.uk>;
2. the Vice chancellor (Professor Koen Lamberts) - vc@sheffield.ac.uk<mailto:vc@sheffield.ac.uk>;
3. and the Deputy Vice Chancellor - dvc@sheffield.ac.uk<mailto:dvc@sheffield.ac.uk>;
and based on the reputation of the department in sheffield and the importance of archaeology and osteology, request they vote in favour of option (A).
Please do make sure that all messages are also sent to the department, so that we can keep track of them: archaeology@sheffield.ac.uk<mailto:archaeology@sheffield.ac.uk>

Best wishes,
Lizzie, on behalf of the Sheffield zooarchaeology team