CASA (Cambridge Annual Student Archaeology Conference) developed out of the Annual Student Archaeology Conference, which was an initiative formed out of a conglomeration of Cambridge, Oxford, Durham and York students, and ran from 2013-2016. In 2017, Cambridge became the home of the conference, which has continued as CASA since then.
CASA offers students of archaeology and related fields (undergraduate to graduate) the opportunity to present their research to an international audience. The conference themes proposed each year are purposely kept general and open in order to encourage an inclusive discussion around multiple topics and approaches to archaeological research from different perspectives. At the same time, CASA themes are also conceived to reflect current issues, debates and historical events both inside and beyond academia.
Themes of the past CASA conferences have been “Making People Making History”, “Coming Together”, “New Frontiers in Archaeology” and "Diversity in Archaeology". We invite applications for sessions spanning different theoretical and practical approaches to archaeological issues from researchers belonging to the broader international academic community.
Every year, CASA hosts several paper and poster sessions from researchers in different stages of their careers coming from all over the world. The main committee consists of Cambridge graduate students, with session organizers, chairs and presenters belonging to local and international universities, institutes and companies. CASA 4 (2020/2021) counted thirteen session organizers and four keynote panel organizers from Aberdeen, Cambridge, Cyprus Institute, Ireland, Leiden, Madrid, Oxford, Spain, Stockholm and York. The conference - held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic - consisted of 74 paper presentations and 7 posters, with a concluding keynote panel where we invited five international researchers from different backgrounds to discuss the theme "Diversity in Archaeology".
As part of our conference, we also organize numerous social activities to provide participants a chance to network among their peers and experience Cambridge. Some of these activities include small city tours, group visits to Cambridge colleges and punting. As a part of our community outreach, we collaborate with our Outreach Coordinator, and invite local sixth formers to attend the conference and get to know about archaeology in Cambridge.
Cambridge Annual Student Archaeology Conference