Am I still an archaeologist? I wondered whether I should contribute this year. Life is different; I had to leave archaeology and move to the wider heritage sector in order to progress my career. Many higher level roles are full time and due to my conditions I must work part time. 

I love my new job working for a Local Authority and I am now nearing the end of the second year of my doctoral studies looking at disability inclusion in archaeology. I am still doing voluntary work with the Enabled Archaeology Foundation and CIfA to help others and enact change in the sector.

My role as a Community Heritage Officer has two main strands. One is to manage a grant scheme and the other is to assist heritage groups to become more sustainable for the future. I do this by helping with external funding applications, by providing opportunities for them to recruit new volunteers and through providing training. I work from home, with flexible hours which helps me to manage my conditions the best I can. 

So what do I do in a typical day? The answer is no day is typical and every day is different which is what I like about it. Today I started by making final edits to a PowerPoint presentation which I will give tomorrow evening to a Heritage group at their meeting. Next, I went on some external training on neuroinclusive communications and finally I had a meeting with our National Lottery Heritage project evaluation consultant. Tomorrow I have some internal training on chairing meetings and at the end of the week I have a meeting with a group about a National Lottery Heritage Fund application I am assisting them with.