SMA is offering up to five bursaries to support people who would like  to attend but otherwise would be unable to do so.

The bursary consists of:

• a free place on both days of the conference (which includes all talks, refreshments and the conference dinner on Thursday evening).
•  up to £50 towards travel expenses and/or accommodation (receipts must be provided)

Applicants must be individual SMA members or work/volunteer for an institutional SMA member. They must not have attended the SMA annual conference in the last 3 years (i.e. not in 2013, 2014 or 2015). They must also be self-financing their attendance at the conference (i.e. not reclaiming costs from their organisation or elsewhere). Successful applicants will be asked to write a short report on their experiences of the conference for the SMA Newsletter. Click on the link below for details of how to apply.

SMA Conference bursaries 2016

Museums Association Conference & Exhibition 2016
7-9 November, Glasgow

The future of Subject Specialist Networks will be among the many topics being debated at this year’s Museums Association Conference & Exhibition in Glasgow, 7-9 November 2016.

The session on SSNs will feature speakers from  SMA, Natsca and  Understanding British Portraits.

Other collections-focused sessions at the MA conference include using museum stores to engage audiences; ethical disposal; and how partnerships can transform collections practice. A number of Museum Practice Workshops will also focus on collections and details of these will be announced soon.

Conference is a vital forum for debate, exchange and networking – join in the biggest event of its kind in Europe and help shape the future of museums.

Early bird booking ends on 5 August 2016. For more information and to book your place go to www.museumsassociation.org/conference

The CIfA Specialist competence matrix – to support applicants who work in museum archaeology – has been approved and is live on the CIfA website. This means that if you wish to be accredited by CIfA you can now make an application and illustrate it with evidence that demonstrates a level of competency relevant to your particular skills and work experience as a museum archaeologist. As you will see the levelling mirrors that of other specialisms but also highlights what you need to be doing in practice to be deemed competent at each level. The matrix can be found by following this link to the CIfA website:
http://www.archaeologists.net/join/individual