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Dr Aisling Tierney

@irishashyt.bsky.social

1.6K followers 1.8K following 1.4K posts

🎓Lecturer @BristolUni @BILT (curriculum, pedagogy, SFHEA, sustainability, AI, qual research) UCU WIASN Higher Education 🏺 Archaeologist @archsengage.bsky.social Archaeology 👩‍🎨Crafter, TephraArts https://tephraarts.etsy.com 📍Bristol ☘️ she/her

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

Aw schucks Martin 😊

Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

Thanks to all our community collaborators and partners.

*the project is an off-shoot of international charity ArchaeologistsEngage

#archaeology #publicengagement #community #communityengagement #coproduction #cocreation #heritage #devon #northdevon #torrington #greattorrington #torridge

Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

I can’t wait to get back to it next year with Emily, @dodoarchaeology.bsky.social, Belinda, Noami, Kate and many many more. I am so lucky to do the things that I love most with old friends and new.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

Dig the Castle is a huge team effort drawing on individual strengths and collective positive action for the community of Great Torrington.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

For now, I will be back to normal at my regular University-based work in the office and at home. But I still have my evenings and weekends to support all the research, analysis, funding bids, finance management and report write ups that make the archaeological fieldwork possible.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

It is worth spending as much time as possible building trust with your communities, ensuring that everyone understands each other and avoiding interpersonal tensions that can so easily fray collective efforts.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

And if there is one thing that makes community engaged projects thrive, the magic ingredient of trust is it.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

I honestly believe that pure enthusiasm gets you most of the way, but planning in rest and recovery time is really important.

A huge factor for me is that I am working with friends, some of whom I have know for decades. There is safety and comfort built from practiced trust.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

It’s tricky to balance volunteering away from home across weekends, some weekdays and evenings. Everyone who works and volunteers knows it can be tricky to find the right balance without burning out.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

…and played around with some Lidar photogrammetry. Plus, I whipped up a 5,000 word funding bid for a creative arts and archaeology project (fingers crossed).

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

Excitingly, we think we hit 12th century features and artefacts, which is our main research focus.

I was on photo and video duties, did some digging, recorded the site plan, conducted a GPR survey of the carpark, marked GPS points, covered the data management, …

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

Don’t believe me? Then believe the Council for British Archaeology’s Marsh Awards who awarded us Community Project of the Year a few months back.

This season the project was smaller scale and focused on sinking trenches in strategic locations to test some theories.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

She saw the gap in historical readings of Great Torrington and its archaeological potential. With her team of upskilled-for-archaeology community members and a bunch of professional volunteers, from both commercial archaeology and academia, we have all the right ingredients for an incredible project

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1h

🧵 This is what I’ve been using my annual leave for recently, travelling to Devon to explore the rich archaeological heritage of Great Torrington.

I volunteer with Dig the Castle, a project started by Dig Director Emily Wapshott MCIfA.
@archsengage.bsky.social

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 1d

Across three long weekends of fieldwork, one hand is more tan than the other. I’m farmer’s tan central!
Perfect for going back to the office again 🤣

Three women smiling clicking drinks in a bar

Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 3d

The reason I got the model of phone I have was so I could play with lidar. While imperfect, I’m happy with how both these trenches came out - only took me about 20 minutes of faffing and processing! #archaeology

Archaeologists Engage @archsengage.bsky.social · 3d

It’s always fun to make archaeological excavations as tangible as possible, including for those who can only connect digitally. We created these 3D interactive images with phone lidar/photogrammetry

Trench 2
m.3dScannerApp.com/m?id=r2kfLky

Trench 3
m.3dScannerApp.com/m?id=9fkKAN

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Reposted by Dr Aisling Tierney

Archaeologists Engage @archsengage.bsky.social · 6d

Delighted to share our publication in British Archaeology magazine covering our Dig the Castle project (Great Torrington, Devon, UK).

Get your copy now - issue 205, December 2025.
#archaeology #greattorrington #community #publicengagement #devon

British archaeology magazine cover with picture of corroded metal artefacts and text the massive melsonby hoard

British archaeology magazine cover with picture of aerial view of green and community washing artefacts with text archaeology active and we dug the castle

British archaeology magazine cover with pictures of geophysics and smiling team photo and childs drawing of castle

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 6d

It’s pottery processing at lunch time! Not back to the archaeology project properly until Friday

Clear Plastic bag with pottery text and dark brown sherds

Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 6d

1,000 people are stuck on Mt Everest right now

a stuffed monkey is sitting in front of a screen that says tv peru

Alt: a stuffed monkey is sitting in front of a screen that says tv peru

media.tenor.com

Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 7d

Sprinkling nonsense and whimsy wherever I go 🤣

Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 7d

New achievement unlocked: get the Mayor to dress up in Medieval garb!

In fairness, Phil is a very cool dude and was up for a laugh. Not everyday the mayor visits the dig site!
#GreatTorrington #Torrington #NorthDevon #Archaeology #PublicEngagement #Community

Two men in medieval garb, one wears hat and holds sword and shield

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 12d

I am yet again demonstrating I’m not AI through my many typos 🤦‍♀️

Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 12d

I’d love to hear from others who deliver similar courses to see how our experiences compare and what we can learn from each other.

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 12d

Every year, I have the honour of welcoming new teaching staff and delivering the Introduction to Higher Education course. My latest blog reflects on the course, why its impactful and why our learners think.

Link bilt.online/starting-to-...

🎓 #academia #highered #teaching #university #pedagogy

Starting to Teach: welcoming new teachers and reflecting on the Bristol approach

At the start of each new academic year, BILT welcomes staff from across the university to undertake the Introduction to Higher Education Teaching course. We run an evaluation survey each year and t…

bilt.online

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Dr Aisling Tierney @irishashyt.bsky.social · 13d

*this is a selection of recent A4 prints I reimagined available here tephraarts.etsy.com

tephraarts.etsy.com