Program Description

The Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS) in collaboration with Beta Analytic Inc. (Beta) invites applications for the Beta-SAS Radiocarbon Dating Award. This is an annual competition to award one free AMS radiocarbon date each to three scholars, to be analyzed at Beta Analytic. The award is designed to promote the creative use of radiocarbon dating in archaeology and related disciplines, and to propagate such applications into geographic and thematic research areas underrepresented in existing radiocarbon dating work.

Eligibility

The award is only open to graduate students and early career researchers who are current dues-paid members of The Society for Archaeological Sciences at the time of application.

The applicants must be either graduate students (Master's or Doctoral) or early career researchers. In the latter case, they must have been awarded their PhD within the previous eight years at the time of application. Exceptions may be made for the applicants with a career break, such as but not limited to parental leave, long-term illness or disability, or national service. The circumstances for exceptions must be clearly indicated in the application.

Application Procedure

• Applications for the award and recommendation letters should be submitted by February 16, 2025.
• An application should consist of
  • a short curriculum vitae(2 pages)
  • a (max.) two-page proposaldescribing the significance of their research, the importance of radiocarbon dating in their research, and how those dates will be used (g., Bayesian modeling) along with a list of specimens with contextual information (if not collected yet, expected contexts), and plans for disseminating the results
• Applications should be addressed to the SAS President (https://socarchsci.org/about-us/sas-executive-officers.html) and sent via e-mail as combined pdf (with the following order: CV and research proposal) to the SAS General Secretary (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
• Letter of Reference:Applications should be supported by one recommendation letter from the academic/professional supervisor of the applicant. Reference letters must be sent directly to the SAS General Secretary (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by the relevant deadline. 
• Potential applicants may contact Camilla Speller, SAS President (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for further information. 

Evaluation Procedure

• Proposals will be evaluated by a committee selected by the President of The Society for Archaeological Sciences, including, if necessary, suitable referees chosen from the membership of the Society.
• The committee evaluates the eligibility and merit of the application for support of the candidate. The criteria used will be the scientific merit of the proposal, the record of the candidate, and the strength of the letter of recommendation. In light of the fact that the award is for a single radiocarbon date per winner, a major part of the scientific merit criteria is “doing more with less”. The successful applicant will effectively communicate why a single radiocarbon date will have an outsized impact on their specific project or on a broader question of a thematic or regional interest. Examples include, but are not limited to, proof of concept for dating a novel material, generating radiocarbon dates for a site or region that is historically lacking in absolute geochronology, or redating a controversial sample or site feature using modern methods.
• A voucher for one Standard AMS date (valid for 1 year from the date of award) will be given to each of the three winners (turnaround time of 14 business days).

 Terms and Conditions

• The award does not include expenses for the data collection and postages.
• The successful applicant is committed to submitting a brief summary of the results of analyses to the SAS no later than one year after the award is made to the recipient (not one year after the completion of the project). The successful applicant consents to the public dissemination of the summary results via SAS social media, the SAS website, and any other mechanism or platform deemed applicable by the SAS Executive Board for the purposes of promoting the competition generally and the successful applicant specifically.
• The award should be acknowledged in any and all future publications that use the resulting radiocarbon date.
• The successful applicant must provide Beta Analytic with their First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Information about Current Research, and Professional Affiliation, and must agree to receive a newsletter that provides updates from Beta and its subsidiaries on new services, sampling advice, and other industry news with the option to unsubscribe at any time.
• No redress against the decision of the evaluating committee is possible.
• Failure to comply with these terms and conditions will result in the renunciation of the award and a ban on the awardee from future participation in all awards and competitive opportunities sponsored by the Society.

Beta Analytic Information

ISO 17025-accredited Beta Analytic is a dedicated radiocarbon dating laboratory with turnaround time of 14 business days or less for its AMS carbon-14 dating service. All analyses are performed in-house by dedicated professional scientists. Take advantage of excellent customer service in 10 languages. Sending samples is easy and convenient through our global forwarding facilities. Results are accessible 24/7 via web access. Discover why we have been respected worldwide for accuracy, quality, and customer care for over 40 years! Visit www.radiocarbon.com to learn more.

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SAS thanks Beta Analytic for partnering to encourage early career researchers in archaeological science!