Southeast Asia Archaeological Research and Training Program

University of Washington

The University of Washington (UW) has been awarded a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation as part of its new Initiative on East Asian Archaeology and Early History. The UW received the largest of four awards made to institutions in North America in 2006 under this initiative.

The UW program is focused on the archaeology of Southeast Asia and directed by Dr. Peter Lape, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Curator of Archaeology in the Burke Museum. With investment from the Henry Luce Foundation and the UW, this program will dramatically increase the level of research, training, mentoring and public awareness of archaeological heritage in the region. This four-year program began in fall 2006 and will build both North American and Southeast Asian capabilities to protect and explore Southeast Asia’s archaeological heritage. Our program includes:

• New Tenure-Track Faculty Position in Southeast or East Asian Archaeology. We welcomed Dr. Ben Marwick to our program in March 2008, after he finished his PhD at the Australian National University. His research uses models from evolutionary ecology to analyze past human behavior in mainland Southeast Asia and Australia.
• Graduate Fellowships in SE Asian Archaeology that consist of three-year packages plus pilot research funds at the UW Archaeology Program, next round of applications due December15, 2009, click here for application procedures
• International Archaeology Speaker Series to bring specialists in Southeast Asian archaeology and comparative perspectives to University of Washington.
• Joint University of Washington-Southeast Asian Archaeology Field Training and Mentoring Program in Southeast Asia with funding for six Southeast Asian students per year for three years, jointly taught by American and Southeast Asian instructors, plus self-funded spaces for American and other international students, as well as a mentorship program to help Southeast Asian students and junior scholars with career development. We held our first field school in January-March 2009 in Indonesia. Next field school will be in Palawan Island in the Philippines in March-May 2010, and we plan to hold the third field school in Laos in 2011.
• Museum Training and Exchange Program includes one-year Museum Fellowships for students from Southeast Asian countries to study Museology at the University of Washington; plus funding to send University of Washington students and faculty to Southeast Asian museums for exhibit and collections management projects
• Cultural Heritage Law Program provides one-year Cultural Heritage Law Fellowships and new courses that will provide advanced training for Southeast Asian lawyers in archaeological site protection and antiquities trade law at the UW Asian Law Center.
• Library Digitization and Training Project to preserve and increase access to regional archaeological literature to international scholars and provide digitization training and equipment to Southeast Asian librarians, directed by the UW Libraries Southeast Asia Section

Please contact Peter Lape for more information

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