When You are more Likely to Die of Cancer than Become an Academic: What is the Role of PhD students?

It was 25 years ago that Papers from the Institute of Archaeology (PIA) was launched by postgraduates at the Institute of Archaeology. In the introduction to the first issue David Harris, then Director of the Institute, described the role postgraduates played in creating the journal: ‘I am therefore delighted that several of our current research students have taken the initiative – and put in the necessary sustained effort – to launch Papers from the Institute of Archaeology (PIA). The appearance of this first issue of PIA is the result of much hard work by a dedicated group of postgraduates who not only assumed responsibility for the practicalities of production but also for extracting the contributions from their colleagues and editing them to a high standard! The result is a substantive contribution to archaeological scholarship…’ David Harris (1990) That opening shows a glimpse of the different roles that PhD students play in archaeology: contributors to archaeological scholarship, managers of journals, editors, and much more. It was the role of PhD students in archaeology that I was asked to write about as the opening for this, the 25th anniversary PIA lead article.