Get Involved
There are a range of ways to get involved with or support the work of York Archaeology. From taking part in our community outreach events, volunteering and work placements.
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 the past with the public.
For those seeking heritage and archaeological work experience we also offer placements. They have proven useful for those who are studying or who want to take their career in that particular direction. Explore all the different ways you can get involved with our volunteering and work placements below.
Volunteering with York Archaeology
Volunteers are involved at every level of our work doing a range of tasks. From our public facing roles in our attractions and events to roles within our collections and archives and fieldwork teams. Volunteers are an important part of what we do, helping us to engage visitors with over 2000 years of history. They support our work to care for and create access to the collections and archaeology in our care.
You don’t need previous archaeological or heritage experience to volunteer. We welcome applications from anyone wanting to help us preserve and inspire access to the archaeology and heritage in our care.
Our volunteer roles are open to anyone aged 18 or above from all backgrounds.
If you are under 18 and want to get involved you can find further information about our school placement offer in our placement section.
Volunteering at our Attractions and Events
Help us engage our visitors with 2000 years of York’s history by volunteering in one of our attractions. If you would like to support us by contributing your time and be a part of what we do please take a look on our attractions websites for the different roles on offer.
Volunteering with our Learning Team
Our volunteer roles offer a range of flexible ways to support our educational work with families and schools. By volunteering with us you will gain new skills, experiences and share your love of archaeology, heritage and collections.
Volunteering with our Community Engagement Team
We host volunteer opportunities with our Community Engagement teams in York and Nottingham. Both focus on their involvement in the Training Digs scheme.
Volunteering in Collections and Archives
Volunteers in our Collections and Archives team in York help us to catalogue and care for the artefacts and the records held in our archives.
Volunteer with our Fieldwork Team
Volunteers in our Fieldwork department are mostly based around the post-excavation process.
Placements and Work Experience with York Archaeology
Our placements offer a great opportunity for anyone wanting to gain a focused period of work experience in a heritage or archaeological setting, whether you are a student or are thinking about a change in career.
Our placements are designed to offer experience for around 10 days spread over two to three weeks. If you are on a university course requiring a longer-term commitment please check with your course leader or supervisor to see if they have any pre-existing arrangements with us. If you need a more flexible experience over a longer period of time, you may also want to consider our volunteer roles which offer a range of ways to gain experience. You can find out more about these here.
Our placements are open to anyone aged 18 or above. If you are under 18 and seeking school work experience we are pleased to work with North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership (NYBEP) to offer a York based work experience placement in our attractions. You can find out more about these by visiting our attractions placement page.
We regret we are currently unable to offer York based work experience or placements to those under 18 years of age outside of the attractions. Further information on the work experience opportunities available to those aged under 18 in Sheffield, Nottingham and Glasgow will be shared here shortly.
Placements at our Attractions and Events
Our placements offer a great opportunity for anyone wanting to gain experience in a heritage environment, whether you’re a student, or are thinking about a change of career and have always wondered what goes on in a museum.
Placements with our Learning Team
We offer work experience placements within our learning team. Based out of York they are ideal for those on teacher training courses or wanting experience of heritage education roles.
Placements with our Community Engagement Team
For those seeking archaeological fieldwork or community engagement experience we also offer placements on the training Dig excavations led by our Community Engagement teams.
Placements in Collections and Archives
Collections and Archives Placements in York help us to catalogue and care for the artefacts and the records held in our archives.