Discovery Programme

24/05/2026

📢 The Discovery Programme is hiring a skilled communicator to lead digital engagement, public outreach, partnerships, and content production for a national archaeology research centre

🧭 Full-time, permanent role based in Merchants House, Merchants Quay, Dublin

💶 Salary €41,456–€45,510 (depending on experience)

⏰ Closing 12 noon Friday 05 June 2026

🔎 Learn more at https://discoveryprogramme.ie/2026/05/22/job-vacancy-communications-and-outreach-officer-3

The Heritage Council National Monuments Service - Archaeology Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland Archaeology News National Built Heritage Service Chartered Institute for Archaeologists

14/05/2026

🎉The Discovery Programme is pleased to confirm a grant of nearly €60,000 from the ECHOES First Call, to deliver the LandArchIE (FAIR and AI‑Ready Landscape Archaeology Data for Ireland) Project over the next 12 months.

🚀 LandArchIE will integrate high‑resolution LiDAR and Sentinel satellite data to produce multi‑layer, ML‑ready datasets and metadata following international standards and FAIR principles transforming over a 10,000 verified monument records into curated training packages and producing high‑resolution terrain/feature models and a large benchmark dataset for future research and development.

🤝 Project partners include Bias Variance Labs (Slovenia) and the ZRC SAZU – Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Slovenia).

📈 This work builds directly on the Transport Infrastructure Ireland ADAF MLM project (Automatic Detection of Archaeological Features from LiDAR using ML). https://discoveryprogramme.ie/projects/past-projects/tii-adaf-mlm-project/

We look forward to sharing datasets, tools, and findings with the heritage and research communities.

Read more: https://www.echoes-eccch.eu/first-cascading-call-projects-announced/

This project has received support through a cascading grant from .eu project





The Heritage Council National Monuments Service - Archaeology Aerial Archaeology Research Group

ECHOES is thrilled to introduce the 12 projects that have been awarded funding by the first Cascading Call for contributions of data to the Cultural Heritage Cloud. The Castel Sant’Angelo (MOH) The Water Castle, Ruppendorf, Germany (RuDIHeritage) The data being provided comes from: FinFAIR: a Balt...

01/05/2026

Happy Bealtaine! The point of the year that traditionally marks the start of summer. To celebrate today we are releasing this 3D digital model of Beltany Stone Circle, Co. Donegal, which gets its name from the festival.

The Discovery Programme has been undertaking a programme of survey and investigation at this enigmatic site, which may not be a stone circle at all, but the remains of a Megalithic Passage Tomb. Explore the model here: https://skfb.ly/pIYvM

OPW - Office of Public Works Heritage Ireland National Monuments Service - Archaeology The Heritage Council

Supported devices: iPhone 6S+ & iPad 5+ on iOS 12+ and Android 8.0+ with ARCore 1.9 support Open this page with such a device to experience AR.

29/04/2026

We are delighted for our colleague Hannah Boyd who will soon be moving on to a new role in Scotland. We're sorry to be losing a super colleague - Hannah has been our Communications and Outreach officer for the past two years, and has been instrumental in highlighting the work of the Discovery Programme 🌞

We will be recruiting for a new Communications and Outreach officer very soon - watch this space for details! 👀✨

28/04/2026

Fantastic to see the latest Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG) newsletter published. It features an article from the Discovery Programme on climate change risks at a study site in Donegal - also featured on the front cover image! Read it here:
https://aargonline.com/wp/aarg-news/

The aerial survey discussed in this paper was funded by an AARG grant, followsing recommendations from a coastal zone assessment grant-aided by The Royal Irish Academy research grant, funded by National Monuments Service - Archaeology

AARGnews, our bi-annual newsletter, is a diverse, up-to-date and open forum for discussion and exchange of new (and old) ideas.

27/04/2026

The Discovery Programme would like to congratulate our colleague Dr Eimear Meegan on her recent appointment to the Chair of the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland. Eimear is the Lead Project Officer on the Discovery Programme's Frameworks for Archaeological Research project - this appointment reflects her ongoing hard work and dedication to archaeology in Ireland. We wish her all the best for her time in the post.

24/04/2026

It's been a great 2 days on the hunt for Tara places in Co. Mayo & meeting with the community at Kilmovee Community Centre ☀️

All part of the Tara by Name, Tara by Nature? project Research Ireland National Monuments Service - Archaeology The Heritage Council

22/04/2026

📖🗺️ INTERESTED IN LOCAL HISTORY? The Discovery Programme is the national centre for archeology, and have reason to believe there may be connections between Tavrane and the Hill of Tara. Join us to learn more - and share any local information that might be useful! This project is run in collaboration with Abarta Heritage.

Parish of Kilmovee Mayo Public Participation Network - PPN Ballaghaderreen Past and Present Carracastle Community Events

22/04/2026

We are really looking forward to the 'Tara by Name, Tara by Nature' upcoming workshop with the Discovery Programme taking place on Thursday, 23rd April at 7 pm in The Thatch, Kilmovee, Co Mayo.

We want to hear about the Tavraun/Tavrane townland near Kilmovee - a place that may have connections to the Hill of Tara.

All are welcome to come along, hear about the project and share stories, knowledge, folklore, myths or legends.

The 'Tara by Name, Tara by Nature' project is a Research Ireland-funded research project.

18/04/2026

Another great day at the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland conference, with several Discovery Programme staff members presenting papers