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Alicia Colson, PhD

Archaeologist I Ethnohistorian I Scientist

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I'm an archaeologist and ethnohistorian

who uses AI and computing science. I’m a member of The Explorers Club's Class of 2022 (#EC50). I've collaborated with indigenous peoples from the outset of my career as I've worked for governments, NGOs, and consultant archaeologists as I've conducted fieldwork in Canada, UK, US and Antigua to understand our pasts. Expeditions in Namibia and Iceland encouraged me to practice citizen science which I'd first encountered while undertaking fieldwork in northwestern Ontario, Canada.

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As a recent Wiley Digital Archive Fellow, my passion to explain to the widest audiences led me to produce an ESRI StoryMap of the Ilhas de Santa Catarina, Brazil, my childhood home. Co-founder and Co-Editor of Exploration Revealed, the Scientific Exploration Society's digital hybrid publication, with Briony Turner showcases advances in knowledge and peer-to-peer support for those engaged with scientific exploration and adventure-led expedition. I'm the Commissioning Editor for the Great Britain and Ireland Chapter, of The Log Magazine, a quarterly publication of The Explorers Club.

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I've a BA (Hons) from the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. I was supervised by the late Professor Bruce Trigger, for my PhD at McGill University. While at McGill, for my PhD i was a Research Visitor, supervised by Dame Professor Wendy Hall and Professor Paul Lewis, in the Department of Electronics and Computing Science at Southampton University. So, use AI and computing tools in my research. Based on my field training with the late C. S. "Paddy" Reid, Regional Archaeologist with the Ontario Government, I believe in the value of citizen science.

 

take a holistic point of view in my work and I have a wide range of research interests ranging from archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, the Americas,  hunter-gatherers of the Boreal Forest, computing, digital humanities, humanities computing, archaeological theory, history of archaeology, AI ethics, to the past, present and future of higher education in the US. I'm also a translator as I'm multilingual (Brazilian-Portuguese, Spanish, and French). I enjoy working as an editor and a copyeditor, 

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Work completing the PhD led me to conclude that I needed to understand the corporate world, another world view impacting on the region. So, I informally apprenticed myself, for a period of three years, to one of my uncles who founded one of North America’s most successful restaurant chains. He introduced me to corporate governance, finance, the role of risk and asset management, hedge funds, the equity and corporate bond market & so on. 

Memberships

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Fellow, Royal Geographical Society and IBG https://www.rgs.org

Fellow International, The Explorers Club https://www.explorers.org

Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of London https://www.sal.org.uk

Member, British Exploring Society https://www.britishexploring.org

Life Member, Scientific Exploration Society https://www.ses-explore.org

Member, Institute of Science and Technology (https://istonline.org.uk) and its Artificial Intelligence Special Interest Group (https://istonline.org.uk/networks/artificial-intelligence-sig/ )

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