Grants will fund time and resources for MOLA staff and at least one external partner: 

  • Groups of archaeology and heritage specialists 
  • College and secondary school students 
  • Youth groups 
  • Other relevant partners 

Policy-making stakeholders could include parliamentary officials, non-departmental public bodies, government departments, regulatory bodies, think tanks or political parties. 

Policy-shaping grants may be used to influence UK processes, practices, and policies around the management, access, and long-term use of the historic environment. They could also advance organisational policy change in key sectoral bodies regulating or accrediting archaeological practice.  

Examples of policy-shaping activities include, but are not limited to: 

  • Teaming up with a youth group to host a town hall meeting around guaranteeing long-term access to archaeological finds excavated from their local area 
  • Collaborating with other archaeological units to author and promote a briefing paper on social value based archaeology case studies for the All-Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group 
  • Partnering with local college students and local media to produce policy-focused op-eds around protecting diverse histories in the neighbourhood 
  • Co-authoring a position piece/white paper on the role the historic environment might have on placemaking  
  • Working with a local authority to test different archaeological methods to improve advisory decision-making  
  • Partnering with JNAPC to develop a video campaign to raise awareness for the protection of UK wrecks and their contribution to understanding wider issues 
  • Investing in an impact case study to highlight the contribution of the historic environment towards wellbeing and levelling up for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as a target audience 
  • Developing a pilot citizen science project to explore ways in which the wider public can have a stronger role in decision-making within local government.  
  • Working with any professional or advocacy archaeological organisation to build consensus and influence guidance on how to approach inclusion and diversity within development-led archaeology.