The Kick-off Meeting and Workshop 1 took place at the University of York from Tuesday 7^th January – Saturday 11^th January 2020.

A pre-event drinks reception was held on Tuesday 7^th January, allowing all attendees to meet and network before the main event commenced.

The Kick-off meeting took place on Wednesday 8^th January and the morning of Thursday 9^th January. This was then followed by a two and a half day workshop covering bio-archaeological methodologies and inspirational keynotes from leading researchers in the fields of history, archaeology and marine conservation biology.

The kick-off meeting included the following sessions:

• Introductory Presentations from:

  • • David Orton the SeaChanges Coordinator- provided some background information and covered the aims of the programme.

    • Supervisors – all the Supervisors who were present provided a 3 minute presentation, introducing themselves, how they are involved in the network and their area of speciality.

    • ESRs – all 15 ESRs had 5 minutes to introduce themselves and provide a bit of information about their background and an overview of their project.

    • Partners - all the Partners who were present provided a 3 minute presentation, introducing themselves, how they are involved in the network and their area of specialty.

• Networking Activities then took place to allow the group time to meet as many people as possible and to break the ice.

• Two Keynote presentations:

• • 1. Poul Holm from Trinity College, Dublin.

    2. Naomi Sykes, The Lawrence Professor of Archaeology from the University of Exeter

• Project Administration session delivered by the SeaChanges Project Manager, Nell Booker.

• Ethics session delivered by Matthew Collins (University of Copenhagen). Matthew has a wealth of experience working on ITNs and provided invaluable advice and guidance on ethical considerations.

• Social Media delivered by Colleen Morgan (University of York) who advised the ESRs on the opportunities and pitfalls of social media and how to best maximise the platforms to promote their work and network with peers in the field.

● Two evening social events - allowing all attendees to meet and network informally.

The workshop included the following sessions:

• Expert talks on bio-archaeological methodologies:

  • • Jen Harland, University of the Highlands and Islands: Zooarchaeology of Fish

    • Bastiaan Star, University of Oslo: Genetics

    • Matthew Collins, University of Copenhagen & Kristine Korzow Richter, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History: Introduction to ZooMS

    • Richard Hoffman, York University, Toronto: Historical study of past fisheries

    • Margherita Zona, University of Liverpool: Geometric Morphometrics

    • Harry Robson, University of York: Isotope studies on fish remains

• A key note from Callum Roberts, University of York: Fishing Ecology and Marine Protection

• Hands-on workshops:

  • • ZooMS workshop with Kristine Korzow Richter where students learnt about the theory of ZooMS and then participated in some sample exercises.

    • David Orton and Jen Harland from the University of the Highlands and Islands provided a computer-based research simulation exercise covering archaeological sampling considerations and osteological/biomolecular analyses of fish remains.