Keynote Presentation
We are delighted that our conference keynote presentation this year will be given by our very own Richard Evershed. Professor Evershed has spent more than four decades at Bristol’s Organic Geochemistry Unit, and in that time has expanded the horizons of analytical organic chemistry into fields as diverse as archaeology, food forensics, and palaeontology. His pioneering interdisciplinary approach has become the standard for modern archaeology, and has been recognised with awards from the Royal Society of Chemistry and Archaeological Institute of America as well as Fellowship of the Royal Society.
This event is open to the public as well as UKAS 2026 delegates. Free tickets can be reserved through eventbrite. UKAS 2026 delegate do not need to register for free tickets.
There will be a wine reception following the keynote presentation.
More than 40 years of becoming an archaeological scientist: happy accidents, a couple of light-bulb moments and several pinches of serendipity!
Prof. Richard P. Evershed, FRS
Oganic Geochemistry Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
Organic chemistry and archaeology are not natural bedfellows. Indeed, I would be surprised if any chemist has set out to plot a path towards a career in archaeology – I certainly didn’t. However, I was always interested in the natural world and being brought up in the 1960s an area of house building, as a young teenager, I regularly stared down into the trenches and saw the past recorded in the layers of gravel, clay and soil – the fossils revealed were very special highlights! My academic studies took me into a degree in chemistry and then a PhD in the chemical communication systems of insects. The end-point of this was a realisation of the powers of modern instrumental analytical techniques and that organic chemicals can be unique carriers of information – this has turned out to be the mantra of my career! My sojourn in Bristol Organic Geochemistry Unit as a postdoctoral researcher in the early 1980s provided me with a life-changing chance-encounter with archaeological organic chemistry and, as they say, “The rest is history…”