The projects will unlock the potential of existing heritage collections and provide access to untapped cultural assets to safeguard and grow the UK’s £29 billion heritage sector and kickstart economic growth.
Additionally, new state-of-the-art facilities will drive innovations in other areas including sustainable building practices, bio-imaging, carbon-dating and materials analysis.
Conserving world-renowned artwork at the Tate and harnessing cutting-edge equipment to protect UK film and video collections are amongst the first tranche of 31 projects to share £37 million from the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme.
A world-leading network of heritage expertise
The National Trust, Historic Environment Scotland and the National Gallery are amongst the 100 partners from across all four nations of the UK and overseas that will create a genuinely world-leading network of heritage expertise.
Together they will ensure the UK maintains its international reputation as a cultural heritage superpower.
The RICHeS programme is funded by an £80 million investment from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Infrastructure Fund and delivered by AHRC.
Kickstarting economic growth
Minister of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Sir Chris Bryant, said:
A phenomenal heritage has been handed down to us in the UK, including stunning artworks, artefacts and architecture. They attract visitors from around the world and they bring billions of pounds and thousands of jobs into our economy.
What this does is bring cutting edge science to bear on our cultural heritage and thereby kickstart economic growth. This £37 million from the Arts and Humanities Research Council will amongst other things equip researchers with detailed information on famous artworks, ensure some of our centuries-old buildings are fit for a net zero future, and protect our famous film collections.
Unleashing new understanding about our cultural heritage
AHRC Executive Chair, Professor Christopher Smith said:
The UK has a rich and unparalleled cultural heritage and is a global leader in the science of heritage conservation. By investing in heritage science, we are not only unleashing new understanding about our cultural assets but boosting a world-leading heritage economy that will benefit us all.
Using the latest technology and scientific equipment, this programme will support access to heritage collections, grow the UK’s heritage economy and drive technological innovation in areas such as material science. Placing this work in Daresbury increases the chance of the spillover effects we have already demonstrated.
Take medicine, where bacteria in infant feeding tubes is detected faster using imaging technology developed for the conservation of old master paintings, or engineering, where pylon maintenance is made safer through AI algorithms first developed for cave painting images.
With 31 sites across all 4 devolved administrations and a network of 117 partners in three continents, RICHeS is UKRI’s largest distributed infrastructure and an undisputed world-first. It is an example of how AHRC works at the heart of UKRI to drive interdisciplinary science which benefits citizens, society and the economy.
The launch of the programme
The programme is being launched at an event held today, 1 October 2024, at the RICHeS headquarters at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Daresbury Laboratory, one of the UK’s most vibrant scientific hubs.
Heritage science is uniquely interdisciplinary and crosses over with art history, engineering, analytical chemistry and material science.
By embedding RICHeS at Daresbury, it will ensure that the benefits of heritage science become a critical driver of research and innovation in science and technology.
Head of RICHeS IHQ Professor Meggen Gondek said:
The launch of the RICHeS programme is raising the bar for heritage science globally. It signals a new era where art, culture and science unite to stimulate skills, growth and opportunity.
It will secure the UK’s position of excellence in the field and help foster world-class collaborations at both national and international levels.
Preserving Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych at the Tate
Two projects announced today will strengthen the conservation of the Tate’s extensive Modern and Contemporary Arts collection, which includes famous works such as Marilyn Diptych by Andy Warhol.
Dr Bronwyn Ormsby’s project will use new scientific equipment for material research, including volatiles analysis and infrared imaging. It will:
- develop new approaches to collection care that will influence conservation practices beyond the Tate’s walls
- contribute to a digital research service to protect art collections in the face of the climate emergency
Meanwhile, Louise Lawson will create a single accessible archive of the Tate’s rich physical collection of pigments, paints, artwork samples and over 40 years’ worth of imaging and scientific analysis data of the collection.
The tool will enable researchers to find, visualise and share heritage science increasing opportunity for new research and collaborations.
Protecting culture from climate change
Professor Fraser Sturt from the University of Southampton will establish a facility to investigate vulnerable traces of our shared past found in rivers, lakes, coastlines and seas such as shipwrecks and submerged prehistorical sites.
The facility will enhance access to advanced uncrewed surface vessels, remotely operated vehicles and laser scanning technology.
The data gathered will provide valuable insights into climate change impacts on heritage and contribute to research on:
- oceanography
- earth science
- engineering
- geography
- renewable energy
Adapting traditional buildings to help net zero
Another project led by Dr David Mitchell from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) will establish a new national retrofit centre to enhance the energy efficiency of traditional buildings constructed before 1919 to help achieve net zero targets.
The facility will expand HES’ technical research capability and experiment with low-carbon materials to set new standards for healthier and sustainable building practices in the UK.
Preserving UK film and video collections at the BFI
Kieron Webb from the BFI National Archive will establish a Moving Image Conservation Research Laboratory to safeguard UK moving image collections from the BFI and archive partners across the UK.
This unique facility will be equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation dedicated to the scientific analysis of film materials, to improve understanding of material composition and deterioration processes of film, video and paper-based collections.
As film materials age and older production techniques become obsolete, the need for advanced preservation techniques becomes more pressing.
The laboratory’s pioneering approach will ensure historical film colours are reproduced more accurately so that future audiences can enjoy British films and videos in their original form.
Newly developed research and results will also enable national and international collaborative research.
Safeguarding biocultural collections for future research
Dr Catriona McKenzie and Professor Naomi Sykes from the University of Exeter will establish a facility to store the physical remains of ancient humans, animals and plants. This will help ease pressure on museum archives that are running out of space.
The project will:
- increase physical storage capacity
- provide laboratory space for researchers
- establish a new database for the collation of digital 3D files and associated analytical data
It will lead to new discoveries about human interactions with the natural world from otherwise lost biocultural assets.
Further information
The projects
Collections
Material history: hosting a cross section of National Trust properties and collections
Led by Rebecca Hellen, National Trust
Scotland’s Archaeological Human Remains Collection (SAHRC)
Led by Matthew Knight, National Museums Scotland
Ark of the North: opening up access to animal bone reference collections in northern Scotland
Led by Kate Britton, University of Aberdeen
Establishing Tate’s Conservation and Heritage Science Archive (CHSA)
Led by Louise Lawson, Tate
The Reynolds Digital Research Resource: access to rich heritage science data in its multidisciplinary context and a template for future initiatives
Led by Marika Spring, National Gallery
Biocultural Heritage Information in a Virtual Environment (Biocultural HIVE)
Led by Catriona McKenzie, University of Exeter
University of Sheffield Bioarchaeology Collections (SHEFF BIOARCH)
Led by Umberto Albarella, University of Sheffield
Reconstructing the ancient past: digital access and visibility of the Garstang distributed collection
Led by Joanne Fitton, University of Liverpool
Advancing Access to the UCL Archaeological Reference Collections (A3RC)
Led by Kevin MacDonald, University College London
Heritage Science Collections Hub: South HSCH:S
Led by Gill Campbell, Historic England
Transforming access to Mediterranean cultural heritage science collections
Led by Mark Jackson, Newcastle University
Empowering safety: hazardous materials awareness, identification and management
Led by Michelle Stoddart, Science Museum
HRP research vault for heritage science collections (REVEAL)
Led by Constantina Vlachou-Mogire, Historic Royal Palaces
Facilities
Coastal and inland waters heritage science facility
Led by Fraser Sturt, University of Southampton
BIOARC-HS: Biomolecular tools for Archaeological, Conservation and Heritage Science
Led by Oliver Craig, University of York
Multiscale Heritage X-ray Imaging Centre
Led by Daniel O’Flynn, British Museum
Creating a national integrated mobile and fixed lab for collections, historic buildings and sites
Led by David Thickett, Historic England in collaboration with English Heritage
Institute for Heritage and Environmental Science: 14CHRONO for RICHeS
Led by Patrick Gleeson, Queen’s University Belfast
Archaeology and the Environment Science Facility (AEonS)
Led by Ingrid Mainland, University of the Highlands and Islands
Retrofit Centre for Traditional Buildings
Led by David Mitchell, Historic Environment Scotland
AHRC Centre for Chemical Characterisation in Heritage Science (C3HS)
Led by Lucy Cramp, University of Bristol
NeMCAS phase two
Led by Lisa-Marie Shillito, Newcastle University
Accessing modern and contemporary art materials research
Led by Bronwyn Ormsbym, Tate
Oxford Collaboration in Heritage Science Research and Engagement (OCHRE)
Led by Heather Viles, University of Oxford
From land to sea: a facility for prospection, landscapes and people
Led by Catherine Batt, University of Bradford
Nottingham Heritage Science Gateway (NHSG)
Led by Holly Miller, University of Nottingham
BFI National Archive Moving Image Conservation Research Laboratory (MICRL)
Led by Kieron Webb, British Film Institute
The National Archives Centre for Heritage Science and Conservation Research
Led by Juergen Vervoorst, National Archives
Centre for Digital Modelling and Analysis, for Conservation and Heritage
Led by Benjamin Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University
PERFFORM: built heritage for communities and collections
Led by Nicola Emmerson, Cardiff University
Digital resource service
Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS)
Led by Julian Richards, University of York
Top image: Head of Heritage Science Research, Marc Vermeulen using Raman spectroscopy to identify the pigment used in record PROB 11/61/557 at The National Archives. Credit: The National Archives