Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) Programme Projects

The Heritage Science Collections Hub: South HSCH:S Project

Historic England are leading on the Heritage Science Collections Hub: South (HSCH:S). The aim of this project is to help achieve Historic England’s vision for Fort Cumberland and help realise the national vision of the RICHeS programme.

By working with Aberdeen University (Ark of the North) and Sheffield University (University of Sheffield Bioarchaeology Collections) we will form sister collections hubs, ensuring that heritage science equipment, expertise and resources are accessible to the sector across the UK. This project will:

• Review the reference and research collections we hold to optimise their care, maximize their research potential, and ensure their long-term preservation;
• Upgrade collections stores and curatorial facilities to transform our aging infrastructure and ensure we can care for our collections maximising public benefit;
• Increase access to our collections by improving collections documentation and providing better work spaces for those using our collections;
• Develop a school’s access programme with our project partners Portsmouth Museums.

Creating a national integrated mobile and fixed lab for collections, historic buildings, and sites

We are co-leads on this project led by English Heritage, which will improve the national capability and capacity to investigate, monitor, model and mitigate the degradation of historic materials, focusing on factors accelerated by climate change.

English Heritage will create a new mobile laboratory that will enable more users to access a wider range of research equipment and expertise across England, whilst Historic England will invest in fixed facilities at Fort Cumberland, upgrading our aging scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometry system (SEM-EDS). The award will also allow us to employ conservation science technicians – one in each organisation – to facilitate access to the equipment, training, and provide analytical support so that more objects, collections and places can benefit from the improved research infrastructure. ​ Collaborators in this project are: Birkbeck College, University of London, the Victoria & Albert Museum and Cardiff University.

Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS)

We are partners in the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS) project lead by the University of York. This project will provide:

• A catalogue of research facilities, reference collections and expertise;
• An aggregating function, making data collections navigable and searchable;
• A 'FAIR' repository for research data, encouraging Access and Re-use;
• A suite of Virtual Research Environments and software tools to allow researchers to visualise and analyse data.