Thirteen new awards for Science and Heritage research clusters that will further our understanding and help to preserve the cultural fabric of the UK have been announced today.
Worth over £300,000 in total and co-funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), these awards are intended to facilitate interactions between researchers and stakeholders from a range of disciplines and institutions with participants drawn from many different types of research organisations including higher education, research institutions, heritage organisations, museums, galleries, libraries and archives.
Organisations involved in these awards include the Victoria and Albert Museum, The National Archives and The Tate as well as leading universities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Topics to be explored within these vibrant interdisciplinary research clusters include:
- Environmental guidelines: Opportunities and risks
- Preservation and access: Conservation's "Catch-22"
- Acoustic reality and audio research: Improving the heritage experience
- Virtual handling of fragile archaeological artefacts
- Heritage buildings and coastal threats
- Acoustic and musical elements of prehistoric archaeological sites in Britain
- Landscapes, Archaeology and Built Heritage: Defining Responses to Societal and Environmental Pressures
- Studying the Cultural and Material Environments of Recent Historical Change
As well as broad themes, more specific materials and assemblages will be studied including stone monuments, ivory objects, battlefield artefact assemblages, the book and manuscript as artifact and the complex structures of lace and natural objects.
Professor May Cassar, who is the Director of the UK Science & Heritage Programme said "These ‘Research Clusters’ will provide excellent fora for the urgent discussion and exchange of ideas on many of the complex areas and problems of heritage science. They will also act as a vibrant catalyst for building a community around all the key research themes that the Programme has identified as necessary for the advancement of scholarly knowledge and practice in heritage science."
It is expected that the ‘Research Clusters’ will provide a framework for interdisciplinary groups to explore research topics for future Calls for research projects and to build heritage science capacity that will last for the duration of the Programme and beyond.
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Media Contact: Jake Gilmore, Communications Manager, j.gilmore@ahrc.ac.uk. Tel: 0797 099 4586
Editors Notes
Details of the thirteen joint AHRC/EPSRC ‘Research Clusters’ made as part of the joint Science and Heritage research programme:
Science and Heritage Research Clusters Scheme
Ms N Bell £24,368.00 Collection Care, The National Archives.
University College London, Tate.
EGOR: Environmental Guidelines: Opportunities and Risks
Professor T Fisher £23,171.00 School of Art and Design, The Nottingham Trent University.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum.
Understanding complex structures: the conservation, display and interpretation of lace and natural objects
Dr D Hicks £24,505.00 Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.
University of Exeter, Open University, English Heritage, Bletchley Park Trust
Ecologies of Modern Heritage: Studying the Cultural and Material Environments of Recent Historical Change
Dr JJ Hughes £24,291.00 School of Engineering and Science, University of the West of Scotland
Queen’s University Belfast, University of Glasgow, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, UHI Millennium Institute (Orkney College)
Transformation and resilience of our landscapes, archaeology and built heritage: defining responses to societal and environmental pressures
Dr LM Hurcombe £24,206.00 Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter
Touching the Untouchable: Increasing Access to Archaeological Artefacts by Virtual Handling
University of Glasgow
Panel(s):
Mr R Janaway £24,530.00 School of Life Sciences, University of Bradford
An integrated approach to the management, scientific study and conservation of battlefield artefact assemblages
Dr PJ Lane £24,390.00 Department of Archaeology, University of York
University of Bradford, National Museums Liverpool, Horniman Museum
Researching Ivory: Integrating scientific analyses, historical data, artefact studies and conservation needs.
Dr A Mazel £24,427.00 School of Arts and Culture, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Decay of Ancient Stone Monuments
Dr DT Murphy £24,538.00 Electronics, University of York
Ove Arup & Partners, The British Library
I-HE(AR)^2 [I Hear Too] - Improving Heritage Experience through Acoustic Reality and Audio Research
Professor AM Pollard £24,415.00 School of Archaeology, University of Oxford
Centre for the Study of the Book (based in the Bodleian Library)
BookNET: a network for the technological study of the book and manuscript as artefact
Ms EM Pye £24,449.00 Institute of Archaeology, University College London
Royal College of Art
Cultural Encounters and Explorations: Conservation's "Catch-22"
Dr JC Roberts £24,340.00 School of Computer Science, Bangor University
National Museum of Wales, National Museum of Ireland, National Trust, English Heritage
Modelling, Interpretation and Alternate Representations: Visualization technology, Heritage Buildings & Coastal Threats.
Dr R Till £24,487.00 Department of Music and Drama, University of Huddersfield
University of Sheffield, Durham University
Research Cluster for the Investigation of Acoustic and Musical Elements of Prehistoric Archaeological Sites in Britain
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Total number of awards: 13
Total value of awards: £316,117.00
Arts & Humanities Research Council: Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from archaeology and English literature to design and dance. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,000 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. Arts and humanities researchers constitute nearly a quarter of all research-active staff in the higher education sector. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC): is the UK's main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. The EPSRC invests around £740 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone’s health, lifestyle and culture. EPSRC also actively promotes public awareness of science and engineering. EPSRC works alongside other Research Councils with responsibility for other areas of research. The Research Councils work collectively on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK. More at www.epsrc.ac.uk
UK Science & Heritage Research Programme: The Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council are managing this research programme that will run, initially, for five years. The programme is led by Programme Director, Professor May Cassar. Professor Cassar leads on the programmes development, external coordination and outreach as well as on extensive networking with the national and international research community including non-academic sectors. In addition she is also establishing the base line level of funding across all the research councils and developing a comprehensive map of recent and current research and training activity in heritage science. www.heritagescience.ac.uk