Get Involved

We have a range of ways for you to get involved in our research services. Many revolve around our Collections and Archives as well as our Fieldwork.

Our volunteer roles offer a range of flexible ways to support our work. By volunteering with us you will gain new skills and experiences as well as sharing your love of archaeology and heritage.

For those seeking archaeological fieldwork or community engagement experience we also offer placements. They have proven useful for those who are studying or who want to gain experience working in these areas.

Volunteering in York
Volunteering in Nottingham
Placements in York
Placements in Nottingham
Placements in Sheffield

Volunteering

Volunteers in our Collections and Archives team help us to catalogue as well as care for the artefacts and the records held in our archives. Tasks include helping to digitise our slides and maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of our vast collection. We also currently have opportunities to get involved with our Fieldwork in York as well as in Nottingham. Many of these roles are based on our post-excavation tasks such as finds washing and marking.

The information below highlights the volunteer roles we offer. When spaces are available they will be advertised here with information on how to apply. Roles open to new volunteers will have a link below them to take you to the application information.

If you would like to be notified when we have spaces available, or when we advertise any new volunteer opportunities, you can sign-up to our Volunteer and Placement Mailing list here.

Our volunteer roles are open to anyone aged 18 or above. If you are seeking involvement and are under 18 you can find further information about our attractions based school placement offer in York here. We apologise, we are currently unable to offer placements to anyone under the age of 18 in the Collections and Archives team.

Volunteering in York

Collections Documentation Volunteer

Maintaining accurate records of the material in our care is an essential part of the work we do. The collection is one of the largest outside London. It includes a huge variety of materials that all require different packaging and storage conditions. Documentation volunteers assist with tasks including:

Location control
Repackaging of artefacts at our collections store
Contribute to keeping the artefact records on our internal database up to date.

This ensures that our collection is easily searchable and accessible to internal and external researchers.

Archive Volunteer

York Archaeology holds paper archives relating to every excavation we have undertaken over the past fifty years. This material, ranging from site notebooks to large format plans, is in the process of being catalogued and digitised. Archive volunteers assist by;

Sorting the archival material into categories
Recording it on our online database
Repackaging into new folders and boxes.

These tasks are invaluable for future research, both internally as well as with our external partners.

Photographic Collection Volunteer

Volunteers assist the Collections and Archives team with tasks such as the cleaning, labelling, and repackaging our extensive collection of photographic slides.

We hold approximately 65,000 slides and nearly 50,000 negatives covering the first thirty years of our history, including excavations, artefacts, museums, and events like the Jorvik Viking Festival. By cleaning and repackaging the photographic archive ready for digitisation, you will be contributing to making these images available to a much larger audience and preserving records of York’s recent history.

Finds Processor Volunteer

Find Processor Volunteers assist our post-excavation team with the processing of the archaeological finds discovered on our excavations. Tasks include helping to clean, log and where needed prepare the finds for long term storage in our collection.

You will help us to record, document and care for finds from various historical time periods as well as ensuring that they are available for future research. This role offers an opportunity to gain post-excavation experience or simply enjoy a flexible way to explore York’s rich heritage through the archaeological discoveries in our care.

Pottery Volunteer

Volunteers assist our pottery Researcher with the care and cataloguing of the pottery discovered on our excavations. Tasks involve helping to sort and catalogue fragments of pottery, as well as assisting to correctly mark and add information to digital catalogues.

Volunteers may also assist with small areas of research led by the Pottery Assistant. This role offers an opportunity to gain post-excavation experience with pottery or simply enjoy a flexible way to explore York’s rich heritage through the pottery collection in our care.

Volunteering in Nottingham

Finds Processor Volunteer

Community Excavation Volunteer

Community Excavation Volunteers assist our Community Engagement team in Nottingham to welcome visitors and participants to their Community Excavations. Volunteers assist the team in offering a warm welcome to both visitors coming to view the site and participants who have booked to take part in the excavation activities.

Tasks include welcoming visitors to the site by sharing information on the archaeological discoveries made or history of the area. Volunteers with previous archaeological experience, including as a participant of one of our community digs, may also help our staff leading simple archaeological activities by volunteering in a buddying role to help demonstrate and support the tasks with small groups of participants.

By volunteering in this role you are helping to support engagement for visitors and participants to our community excavations. In return the role offers individuals an opportunity to gain excavation experience in a community dig setting or simply to enjoy a flexible way to explore Nottingham’s rich archaeology.

Placements and Work Experience

We occasionally offer placements on the We DIG training excavations led by our Community Engagement teams. When spaces are available they will be advertised here with information on how to apply to take part.

Unfortunately we are not currently offering placements in our Collections and Archives Department.

If you would like to be notified when we have spaces available, or when we advertise any new placement opportunities, you can sign-up to our Volunteer and Placement Mailing list here.

We offer placements within our attractions which provide you with experience in engaging with the public on archaeology and heritage. Take a look at our attractions based placement opportunities here. For anyone interested in working with schools and families take a look at our placement opportunities with our learning team.

Our placements are open to anyone aged 18 or above. If you are under 18 and seeking school work experience in York we are pleased to work with North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership (NYBEP) to offer an attraction based work experience placement. You can find out more about these by visiting our attractions placement page.

We regret we are currently unable to offer placements in York to those under 18 years of age outside of the attractions.

Placements in York

We are not currently offering placements in our Fieldwork teams in York. When spaces are available they will be advertised here with information on how to apply to take part.

If you would like to be notified when we have spaces available, or when we advertise any new placement opportunities, you can sign-up to our Volunteer and Placement Mailing list here.

Placements in Nottingham

Further information on the opportunities in Nottingham, including those available to anyone aged under 18, will be shared here shortly.

Placements in Sheffield

Further information on the opportunities in Sheffield, including those available to anyone aged under 18, will be shared here shortly.