[Bonetools] European ivories research network proposal

Sat Sep 27 19:43:37 CEST 2008

Dear Sonia and others,

Your research sounds very interesting and I sincerely hope that you will receive the grant. 
As you might know, I am working on my PhD on the Dutch ivory trade and craft in the 17th and 18th century.This research network seems very usefull to me and if I can be of any help, just let me know.

Good luck and all the best, 

Marloes

From: S.Oconnor at Bradford.ac.ukTo: bonetools at listserv.niif.huDate: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:26:03 +0100Subject: [Bonetools] European ivories research network proposal

Dear All,

I have recently been involved in a grant application with Dr Paul Lane ( http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/staff/Lane.htm ), University of York, to set up a multi-disciplinary, ivories research cluster in the UK. Paul is Project Coordinator of HEEAL http://www.heeal.eu/ .  This four year project is funded by a European Union Marie Curie Excellence Grant which aims to study the historical ecology of east African landscapes over the last 500 years through a combination of archaeological, historical, ethnographic and palaeo-environmental research and includes six sub-projects, one of which is the bio-archaeology of the ivory trade.

In our discussions about the ivories research cluster, we increasingly realised the value of having a far wider geographical base for such a research network and now propose to bid for European Science Foundation funding under their Research Networking Programme.  

The aims of this research network are to

1)       Refine scholarly understanding across the natural sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities boundaries of the nature and diversity of different types of ivory and the range of current methods of study and analysis;

2)       Stimulate future cross-disciplinary research on ivory in Europe and establish a set of research priorities and objectives, with particular reference to archaeological material and museum collections;

3)       Develop protocols for the use of destructive and non-destructive methods of study and analysis of ivory artefacts, with guidelines that would allow curators, conservators and researchers to make informed decisions on the merits and drawbacks of different techniques and the type of information that might be gleaned through their use;

4)       Establish a network of experts across the disciplines around specific issues, and to bring together their various areas of expertise by contributing to a dedicated website on ‘Researching Ivories’ and publishing, electronically, an annotated bibliography on these topics;

5)       Contextualise historically and geographically the changing nature and pattern of different systems of ivory acquisition, production, exchange, consumption and representation;

6)       Develop collaborative research links with other experts and research groups in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia;

7)       Facilitate knowledge transfer through dissemination of the work of the research network to the broader academic and museum communities, relevant government, international and non-governmental bodies and agencies, and a wider public.

It would be useful if you could 

let me know what interest there would be for such a network amongst members of the Bonetools list.  
suggest names for the Steering Committee of the research network 
supply contact details of other researchers and appropriate people at museums with major ivory collections that we should approach about the proposed network
let me know of any particular topics you think such a network could usefully tackle.  

The deadline for applications for this funding is October 23rd so time is short but we think it is worth trying.

All the best,

Sonia

Dr Sonia O'Connor FIIC ACRResearch Fellow in ConservationArchaeological SciencesDivision of AGES
University of BradfordBradfordWest Yorkshire BD7 1DP

Tel 01274 236498 (office)Tel 01274 235210 (lab.)Fax 01274 235190 

X-Radiography of Textiles, Dress and Related Materials by Sonia O'Connor and Mary BrooksCheck it out at http://books.elsevier.com/uk//Elsevier/uk/subindex.asp?maintarget=&isbn=0750666323

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