Host organisation: Dumfries Museum
Project title: Re-examining the Roman Fort at Birrens
Project description

One of the most impressive Roman forts in Scotland is Birrens in Dumfries and Galloway. First excavated in 1895, it has been the focus of subsequent excavations throughout the 20th and into the 21st century.

Dumfries Museum holds many of the finds from these excavations and we are looking for an intern to assist us in scoping out the scale and nature of the material.

We are looking for PhD researcher with a knowledge of Roman history and archaeology. This internship will provide an opportunity to work closely with our museum team gaining professional experience in museums practices including object handling, documentation, research and collections care. All of your work will be supervised and appropriate in-house training and guidance will be provided.

Outputs
  • creating an overview document of different periods of finds and associated archival material
  • reviewing Birrens material in store and on display at Dumfries Museum
  • assessing storage of this material and collections care requirements
  • identifying significant items from Birrens Roman fort currently in store
  • creating a summary bibliography for Birrens to include key publications, locations of archives etc.
  • creating a summary document of Birrens holding in Dumfries and other collections
  • providing further recommendations for the Birrens collection

There is also an opportunity to publish an article or report in the Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society as well as presenting a talk on the findings of this internship.

Location
The majority of the intern’s time would be spent working in Dumfries Museum and the successful candidate would need to be able to travel to Dumfries at their own expense. Visits from Dumfries to other museums and facilities may also be necessary but these would be supported with travel expenses. Some remote working would be possible but the majority of work will be based in the museum due to the nature of the project (focusing on objects in the museum collection and working closely with museum staff).
Benefits to the researcher

Dumfries Museum has an excellent track record of supporting volunteers, interns and work experience students. The intern would benefit from a caring, supportive work environment with professional staff on hand to offer assistance and guidance.

They would gain real world understanding of the Roman period in Scotland as well as an understanding of museum work, the practicalities of archaeology after excavation. They would develop skills in research, collections care, documentation and access.

Previous interns have gained confidence and employability skills and we would hope the intern would develop these too. There are opportunities to present talks on the outcomes of the project and to publish in the Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society. However, this would depend on the intern - if they felt capable of delivering a lecture and/or writing a paper then they could be supported with this.

Key relationships

The key relationships will be with members of the museum curatorial staff. However there will also be some involvement and assistance from Dumfries and Galloway Council's County Archaeologist, the Curator for Archaeology and World Cultures at The Hunterian and The Principal Curator for Iron Age and Roman collections at the National Museum of Scotland. We would also continue our positive working relationship with Dr John Reid of the Trimontium Trust (an expert on Iron Age and Roman Scotland). Previous research into Birrens Roman fort has taken us to the Historic Environment Scotland archive in Edinburgh and there may be involvement from other archives in future such as the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Timescale

Start date (or must start by): Flexible

End date (or must end by): Flexible

Work structure: Flexible

Subject areas

This opportunity would be relevant to the following subject areas:

Archaeology of Literate Societies; Archaeological Theory; Landscape and Environmental Archaeology; Museum and Gallery Studies; Heritage Management; Archives.

Person specification

A1. Knowledge Base
  • Essential: Subject Knowledge; Research methods – Practical application; Information seeking.
  • Desirable: Research methods – theoretical knowledge; Information literacy and management; Languages; Academic literacy and numeracy.
A2. Cognitive Abilities
  • Essential: Analysing.
  • Desirable: Critical thinking; Evaluating; Problem Solving; Synthesising.
A3. Creativity
  • Essential: Inquiring minds; Intellectual insight.
  • Desirable: Innovation; Argument construction; Intellectual risk.
B1. Personal qualities
  • Essential: Enthusiasm; Perseverance; Integrity; Responsibility.
  • Desirable: Self-confidence; Self-reflection.
B2. Self management
  • Essential: Preparation and prioritisation; Commitment to research; Time management; Responsiveness to change.
  • Desirable: Work-life balance.
B3. Professional & career development
  • Essential: Responsiveness to opportunities.
  • Desirable: Career management; Continuing professional development; Networking; Reputation and esteem.
C1. Professional conduct
  • Essential: Appropriate practice; Respect and confidentiality.
  • Desirable: Health and Safety; Ethics, principles and sustainability; Legal requirements; IPR and copyright; Attribution and co-authorship. 
C2. Research management
  • Essential: Project planning and delivery.
  • Desirable: Research Strategy; Risk management.
C3. Finance, funding & resources
  • Desirable: Income and funding generation; Financial management; Infrastructure and resources.
D1. Working with others
  • Essential: Collegiality; Team working; Collaboration.
  • Desirable: People management; Supervision; Mentoring; Influence and leadership; Equality and diversity.
D2. Communication & dissemination
  • Desirable: Communication methods; Communication media; Publication.
D3. Engagement & impact
  • Desirable: Teaching; Public engagement; Enterprise; Policy; Society and culture; Global citizenship.

First published: 9 October 2025

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