CBA 2024 Online AGM and de Cardi Lecture

Neil Redfern

CBA Executive Director,

Neil joined the CBA in 2020 after a distinguished career in heritage, most recently as Development Advice Team Leader and Principal Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Historic England. 

During his time at Historic England Neil led teams delivering award-winning development advice in Yorkshire, developed their response to major environmental threats as part of the National Heritage Protection Plan and initiated a major project on the Yorkshire Wolds to address monuments at risk from cultivation, amongst other achievements. 

Prior to this, Neil spent ten years with English Heritage as North Yorkshire Team Leader, Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Field Monument Warden. 

Between 1997 and 2000 he worked with the CBA as a Project Officer on its Defence of Britain project. 

Ken Smith

Chair of CBA Trustees,

Ken joined the CBA as Chair of Trustees in 2017. As an archaeologist, Ken worked for the Peak District National park for many years, starting as an Officer in 1982 and finishing as a Cultural Heritage Manager in 2017. During his career Ken has had national roles in the development of aspects of the last 3 agri-environment schemes focusing on the historic environment; he served for 6 years on Historic England’s Advisory Committee; and is advisor to the National Trust on historic environment issues.

Dr Amara Thornton

Dr Amara Thornton is a historian of archaeology. She is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London, and Co-Investigator of the 3 year AHRC funded project “Beyond Notability: Re-Evaluating Women’s Work in Archaeology, History and Heritage, 1870-1950”. Previously, she was a Research Officer at the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, University of Reading. She is co-editor (with Dr Katy Soar) of Strange Relics: Stories of Archaeology and the Supernatural 1895-1954 (Handheld Press, 2022) and the author of Archaeologists in Print: Publishing for the People (UCL Press, 2018).