The National Archives to create centre of excellence for heritage science and conservation research

We have been awarded £1.3m to upgrade our analytical research laboratory creating a centre of excellence available to collections throughout the UK and beyond.

The award is part of the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council’s new Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme, a major £80m research and innovation investment that will support the latest technology and scientific equipment to safeguard heritage for future generations and boost the UK’s heritage economy.

£995,056 awarded will create a heritage science and conservation research laboratory to allow a wider range of cutting-edge research on paper, parchment, photographs, textiles and books. It will also enable our Collection Care Department to increase its scientific expertise by funding a new heritage scientist.

The award includes a further £323,023 to support the creation of the Heritage Science Data Service. This UK-wide digital research service will bring together heritage science and conservation research data for the first time, advancing the understanding, preservation, and management of the UK’s heritage. The HSDS development is led by the University of York, supported by a consortium of heritage partners from England, Scotland, and Wales.

The aim of the funding is to make existing expertise, facilities, and data more easily accessible to professionals across the heritage sector. It will also allow our Collection Care team to build on their existing work with ResearchSpace – an open web data management platform, making their research easier to find and reuse for the wider heritage sector.

Gemma Maclagan-Ram, Director of Research and Commercial Development, at The National Archives said: ‘This investment will help us create state-of-the-art facilities for heritage science conservation research at our Kew site, driving forward our ambitions for world-leading research in this space.

‘We’ll be able to provide equipment, expertise and resources for new users across the archive and wider heritage sectors. We’re excited to be starting this work.’