CIfA is delighted to announce that the CIfA2025 conference will be hosted over Wednesday 30 April & Thursday 1 May 2025.
We are hosting CIfA2025 as an in-person conference, hosted live in Birmingham, UK and there will be post-event online recordings also available.
There will be two full days of engaging content incorporating keynote addresses, wide-ranging sessions and training workshops in a live in-person environment. If you are not available to attend in-person, do not worry you will have the option to watch the recorded content in your own time.
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What to expect?
The theme for CIfA 2025 is 'Shaping the future (of our profession)' . Ten years have passed since CIfA gained its royal charter. As we reflect on our progress since then and embark on a new phase in CIfA's journey, we will be asking: what does fit for the future look like? How is the sector preparing for the opportunities and challenges the next ten years will bring? Do we have the right structures, standards and skillsets to drive change, contribute to sustainable growth and deliver social value? CIfA members are leading the way, embracing new technology, new thinking and innovative approaches, creating new knowledge and benefit for the communities they serve.
CIfA2025 is the professional platform to share your ideas, promote good practice and demonstrate the impact your work is having. We are showcasing the many ways our sector is coming together to shape the future. Come and join us!
Our conference is the premier professional archaeological conference in the UK, attracting hundreds of participants across the heritage environment sector.
Recordings - Wednesday
Opening address
HS2 in the West Midlands
Trowel and Error
National Highways Knowledge Share
A conversation about conservation
From discovery and deposit to display. Examining the conservation behind the storage and display of copper alloys and iron.
Dust, Rust and Horror - 30 years of tales from the lab
A Condition scoring method for archaeological small
Conservation in Commercial Archaeology: from grave to archive
Exploring the role of Education in Developing Conservation
Stories of our past to inspire our future
Stories of our past to inspire our future: The Enderby Shield
Collective Collaboration, holistic histories and long-term legacies: SPA - a snapshot
Maritime Academy, Frindsbury: Excavating the Palaeolithic in developer lead archaeology
Engaged? Creating an Archaeobotanical Display within the Leicester Cathedral Loos
Intergrating landscape visualisations and archaeology
Electric Ladyland. Scientific Analysis of infants and their 'Invisible' Mothers from a Roman Rural Settlement, Somerset
Coin hoards and other surprises: Riverside settlement at Great Chesterford
Challenges and opportunities in post-excavation: lessons learned from archaeological ‘mega-projects’
Welcome and introduction to the session
The A14: Analysing and presenting results from one of the UK’s largest archaeological projects
London Crossrail project: post-excavation design
Mega-project: What does it mean for FINDS? Other than we have a lot of finds!
The bigger they are, the harder they (could) fall: deriving meaning from large-scale environmental archaeology
Burial archaeology at scale: future potential
Radiocarbon data and radiocarbon infrastructure
Archiving ‘Mega-Projects’: Lessons Learned and Future Plans
Measuring What Matters: Social Impact in Major Infrastructure Projects
Crossing the Divide: Starting a conversation to improve communication, collaboration, co-ordination and creativity between the commercial and academic sectors
Beyond binaries: Archaeology as always becoming
Crossing the Divide: Starting a Conversation
An Early Career Perspective
Crossing the divide: Not just empty vessels, but the glue that binds a fragmented profession?
Commercial and academic archaeologies: differences in practice and the bridges that bind
Don't call it a T3D Talk: the future of the profession in big ideas
Introduction
Precedents
Making the Intangible Tangible
From "Absence of Evidence" to "Evidence of likelihood" - AI, Consistent Baselines and the Frustration gap
Archaeology as Advocacy: Shaping Policy to Protect Historic Agricultural Landscapes
Machine men with machine minds, stamp collecting, and a little bit of punk
Beyond Empire: Expanding Museum Narratives to Reflect Postcolonial Migration
Large project case studies: Stonehenge scheme and TransPennine railway upgrade
Innovative and Collaborate: we did it our way
Curating a World Heritage Landscape in Collaboration
The TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU)
Recordings - Thursday
Shaping the future of evaluation
Shaping the Future of Evaluation Part 1
Shaping the Future of Evaluation Part 2
The DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital Initiative – what’s in it for archaeology?
The DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital Initiative – what’s in it for archaeology?
Future for archaeological archives
The FAAP programme and our current plans
Crisis and Opportunity
Transfer of Title
Current use of archives (SMA’s survey report)
The Museum Data Service
The future potential and opportunities of a National Collection of Archaeological Archives
Archaeologists for a nature and climate positive future
Archaeologist for a Nature and Climate Positive Future
Landscape Recovery Schemes
Wider Contexts
Wellbeing-focused engagement in archaeology: How and why we do it and what it means for us?
Archaeology, Public Benefit and Wellbeing: strategy, research and policy in Historic England and beyond
What is ‘Wellbeing Archaeology’, and Where is it Going?: Best Practice, policies, and future through inter-industry discussions.
Leveraging Wellbeing through Planning-led Archaeology: A working example from Greater London
Taking a holistic look into archaeology and wellbeing in Northamptonshire
If archaeology is good for wellbeing, why are archaeologists so miserable
Pouring from a full cup: managing wellbeing as a practitioner
A Digger’s Forum
Beyond the Spoilheap: Unearthing the Value of Field Archaeologists
Heritage data
Informing Our Heritage Future(s): Preserving Our Digital Past(s)
Heritage Information Access Simplified (HIAS)
How Might We Re-shape the Future of Post-Excavation (PX)?
Nobody Wins Unless Everybody Wins
Steering the story: AI and Maritime Heritage Data
Archaeology that doesn't cost the earth: building green competencies for all archaeologists
Archaeology that doesn't cost the earth: building green competencies for all archaeologists
Closing session Creating small wins: Preparing wicked archaeologists for the heritage future
Preparing wicked archaeologists for the heritage future
Wicked Problems for Archaeologists: Promoting Heritage as a Transformative Practice
Entrepreneurship:policy
Wicked Problems for Archaeologists
Wicked Problems, Small Wins and CIFA'sThree-Year Plan
Programme
See below for the CIfA Conference 2025 programme and schedule.
Bursary information
CIfA's 2025 bursary applications are now closed, with the exception of the CIfA bursaries. Further information can be found on our dedicated bursary page.
Sponsorship & exhibitor applications
We are now accepting bookings for sponsors and exhibitors within our exhibition hall. We look forward to welcoming our exhibitors back in full force to the CIfA conference.
Registration fees and deadlines
| Live in Birmingham | Online Recordings only | ||||
| Early bird (until 31 January) | Late registration (from 1 February) | Early bird (until 31 January) | Late registration (from 1 February) | ||
| CIfA member - 2 day conference | £240 | £250 | £100 | £110 | |
| CIfA member - 1 day conference | £120 | £125 | N/A | N/A | |
| Student/unwaged - 2 day conference | £120 | £50 | |||
| Student/unwaged - 1 day conference | £60 | N/A | |||
| Non-member - 2 day conference | £370 | £390 | £180 | £190 | |
| Non-member - 1 day conference | £190 | £200 | N/A | N/A | |
Accommodation
CIfA worked with Birmingham and West Midlands Conference Bureau to create an exclusive conference accommodation booking portal. The accommodation booking portal is now closed.
If you are still requiring accommodation, please note that Birmingham has a range of accommodation centrally to suit all budgets.
Further information
Please see our conference FAQs for further information; this page will be updated as the conference approaches. If you have any additional questions or would like any more information on CIfA2025, please don't hesitate to contact our team on: conference@archaeologists.net.
Keep up to date with the latest conference news via our eBulletin and on social media: #CIfA2025.
Harassment
CIfA is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion, nationality, education, experience, career or speciality. By registering to attend CIfA you confirm you have read our CIfA online conference harassment page and understand that any form of harassment, discrimination and bullying is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Accessibility
CIfA aims to be as accessible and inclusive as possible - see our further information on online conference accessibility. We will have access to quiet space at conference; please liaise directly with the events team for further information. If you have any requests or suggestions for how we can make the conference more accessible for you, please do get in touch at conference@archaeologists.net.