At the beginning of October, members of the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) and Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS) travelled to Daresbury, just south of Warrington, to attend the launch of the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme.
RICHeS is a long term, £80 million commitment from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to support excellence and collaboration within heritage and conservation science. Collectively, RICHeS will provide funding to 31 different heritage science projects, including the Heritage Science Data Service as well as a second project from the University of York’s BioArCh centre for the Biomolecular tools for Archaeological Conservation and Heritage Science (BIOARCH-HS) project.
The launch drew together the recipients of these 31 different projects to celebrate the launch of the programme and provide an opportunity for engagement between the successful projects.
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The day began with inspiring talks about RICHeS from Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair of AHRC, and Professor Meggen Gondek, Head of RICHeS IHQ.
Professor Christopher Smith, AHRC’s executive chair, 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.”
These talks were followed by a keynote address from Professor Alice Roberts, TV presenter and Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham. Professor Roberts’ engaging stories of the use of heritage science to understand the past demonstrated the importance of this sector and the potential for these exciting projects.
The afternoon session included a series of tours of areas of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Daresbury laboratory including the fantastic facilities of the Accelerator Science and Technology Centre (ASTeC) and the Hartree Centre.
ADS and HSDS staff were on hand throughout the day to talk about the service and how we can help provide assistance to the other RICHeS projects and the Heritage Science sector more generally.
For more information please contact the HSDS via the contact details in the footer of our website.