We are delighted to welcome readers to this issue of Archaeologies, on the theme of Students in Archaeology Globally. This issue of Archaeologies emerges from the National Archaeology Students’ Conference, which was held at Flinders University, Adelaide, in April 2014. Students at the conference were invited to submit their papers for review for publication in Archaeologies. This invitation was extended more widely through the WAC list-server to invite students from throughout the world. In the end, we received 84 abstracts of potential submissions. Of these, 37 papers were submitted for review and seven papers have been published in this issue. Some of the other papers remain under review and will appear in a subsequent issue of Archaeologies. The final papers were selected on the basis of referees’ reports and their fit with the editorial policy of the journal.

Given the genesis of this issue, it seems appropriate to comment on student conferences. Such conferences occur in various parts of the world, including the MAE conference in Brazil and the long-standing Chacmool conference at the University of Calgary, Canada. They are important on many levels. Whilst new research is presented at these conferences, they are important because they provide a supportive speaking environment for archaeologists who are not yet fully fledged professionals. They provide a venue for new ideas to be flagged in a safe academic environment and for emerging academics to practice professional delivery. In addition, they provide publications and networking opportunities for students, whilst those involved in their organization gain valuable administrative experience.

The dynamism and breadth of interests of the next generation of archaeologists and cultural heritage practitioners is apparent in the papers in this issue of Archaeologies. The papers cover a wide range of topics, from public education in Nigeria, the formation of the state in Japan and museums and community archaeology in China to the archaeological identification of Irish ethnic identity, Celtic art, colonialism in Central Africa and state terrorism in South America. The papers are written by student authors from Japan, China, Australia, Tanzania, Nigeria and Argentina. Sometimes, these are their first research publications. We are proud to see these articles written published in Archaeologies.