Professor Millicent Mackenzie Award 2026: CAER Heritage

The Learned Society of Wales’s inaugural Professor Millicent Mackenzie Award for the Advancement of EDI in Academic or Professional Life has gone to CAER Heritage for its skilled combination of archaeological research and community inclusion. 

CAER Heritage has a proud record of academic and societal impact, bringing together Cardiff University researchers, schools, colleges and the local community to co-produce research and run activities centred around heritage sites in west Cardiff. 

CAER Heritage’s core archaeological and historical work is focussed on a heritage-rich landscape in the west of Cardiff that encompasses over 6,000 years of Wales’s story. 

From a neolithic enclosure and Iron Age hillfort on Caerau Hill, to a Bronze Age settlement and a Roman villa in nearby Trelai Park, to a medieval village and castle, to the important modern story of the local housing estates and communities. All these hidden histories have been discovered together with local people of all ages. 

Indeed, what makes CAER Heritage stand out is its grounding in the communities of Caerau and Ely, which comprise the largest social housing estate in Wales. It is an area with more than its share of social deprivation, and CAER is pivotal in efforts to challenge negative perceptions and raise aspiration, though its work with schools and local colleges, inspiring adult learners and those excluded from mainstream education.