​The 11th February is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. A day instigated by the UN that recognises the critical role women and girls play in science and technology. Red River Archaeology would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the scientific contribution to project delivery by our highly qualified female members of staff. There is a longstanding debate as to whether archaeology is a science or should be classified as a branch of humanities. Regardless of this many of our staff are highly qualified in more pure science based skills. It is this diverse and expert skill set that is critical to high quality project delivery and their application of STEM subject knowledge to find out about the past.

With the start of a new year, we are looking towards the future. The future of the company and the future of our staff and their careers. With this in mind Red River Archaeology Ltd is very pleased to announce that we have been able to secure funding through the European Social Fund for staff training. This funding may represent some of the last grants available through the Fund, now that the UK has left the European Union, and was specifically for their gender equality initiative the Evolving Leaders Programme. The programme described itself as “for women who are serious about building their career and want to prepare for senior management”. The Evolving Leaders Programme aims to support women to transform their strategic thinking and leadership skills, give women the confidence and tools to assess their leadership performance, develop critical thinking skills, achieve organisational goals, and make strong and informed management decisions.

Yesterday was International Women’s Day and we posted on social media our thanks to all the ladies that work at Red River Archaeology and help make the company the a success. While the day highlights these social concerns they should not be forgotten about for the rest of the year, and we believe people should expect an equal opportunity to shine.