Tessa Verney Wheeler Memorial Award

The fund has been inaugurated through a generous gift from an anonymous donor and will provide a number of awards for Institute of Archaeology Masters students to gain training in field archaeology. 

The award is named in honour of Tessa Verney Wheeler (1893-1936), the South African-born British archaeologist, who founded the Institute of Archaeology in 1934 with her husband Sir Mortimer Wheeler.  

Angharad Milenkovic, UCL Vice-President (Advancement) said:

“The Tessa Verney Wheeler Memorial Award reflects UCL’s commitment to ensuring that archaeology students enrolled in a Masters programme have access to vital fieldwork training. We are grateful to our generous donor for enabling the next generation to gain hands-on experience essential to their future studies and careers.’’

Tessa Verney Wheeler - TrowelBlazer 

A specialist in Romano-British archaeology, Tessa Verney Wheeler was an accomplished lecturer and field archaeologist who directed excavations at Segontium, Gaer, Caerleon, Lydney Park, Verulamium and Maiden Castle with her husband. Together they pioneered field techniques that remain essential to the discipline today as well as the strict technical training of students which remains a defining characteristic of Institute of Archaeology undergraduate degrees today.  

Despite her untimely death in 1936, before the Institute officially opened to students, she played a formative role in training students as a Lecturer in the Museum of London as well as in the field and was a trailblazer for women in field archaeology.   

This year, the UCL Institute of Archaeology is delighted to offer up to 2 fully funded places on the new UCL archaeological fieldwork school at Alpheton, Suffolk from 6-18 July for Masters students enrolled on a MA or MSc degree in Archaeology or Archaeological Sciences. 

Further details and apply here

The deadline for applications is 12pm on 7 March 2025  

Previous archaeological investigations at the site have identified the presence of Romano-British remains, including a bath-house, and geophysical prospection suggests the existence of an extensive Roman villa complex with several buildings and service features. The plan for the excavations in 2025 is to establish the nature and significance of the known Romano-British remains, and to clarify the form and chronology of the site. 

According to Corisande Fenwick, Professor of Late Antique and Islamic Archaeology (UCL Institute of Archaeology):

“Tessa Verney Wheeler was truly a pioneer in archaeology and her emphasis on field-training students continues to be at the heart of our undergraduate curriculum. Thanks to this very generous endowment in her name, Masters students will  be able to apply for an award to join some of the Institute’s exciting field projects."

Tessa Verney Wheeler Awards (2024)  

The first recipients of the Tessa Verney Wheeler Awards (2024) were Zhuohan Yu (MA Archaeology and Heritage of Asia) and Jennifer Wilburn (MSc Bioarchaeological and Forensic Anthropology) who participated in the Institute’s dedicated field-school at the Roman villa of Norton, Suffolk. During their time there, they helped excavate several features and structural remains relating to the villa complex, as well as an infant burial interred amongst the buildings.  

As part of the Institute’s field training on CIFA accredited undergraduate degree programmes, students are taught essential excavation and survey skills which map onto the BAJR Archaeology Skills passport (http://www.archaeologyskills.co.uk/) these can facilitate graduates to apply for membership of the Chartered Institute for Field Archaeologists and are widely applicable within and beyond archaeology. The Tessa Verney Wheeler Awards facilitate the involvement of selected Masters students in our field training activities. 

Student testimonials

As Zhuohan Yu said: 

“I learnt many skills, including mapping, section drawing, planning, sampling, photography… The fieldwork marked a significant learning experience for me, crucial for my future studies and career.”  

According to Jennifer Wilburn : 

“This field school experience allowed me to apply the theoretical knowledge I have gained to real-world situations....it will greatly help me show prospective employers that I am competent in these areas and dedicated to this field.”

There is an opportunity to match fund further donations to the Tessa Verney Wheeler Memorial Fund and if you would like to discuss this, or other ways to support the Institute of Archaeology, contact the UCL Office of the Vice-President Advancement
(advancement@ucl.ac.uk)

Further information

• UCL Institute of Archaeology student fieldwork opportunities