The RICHeS Access Fund enables researchers, conservators and heritage organisations to access specialist facilities, collections, equipment and expertise across the RICHeS network.
By removing barriers to accessing heritage science infrastructure, the fund supports a wide range of projects that use scientific approaches to investigate, understand, conserve and care for cultural heritage. Supported projects bring together researchers, heritage professionals and RICHeS network partners to deliver innovative research and develop new collaborations.
Explore the projects below to discover how organisations across the UK are using RICHeS facilities, collections and expertise to advance heritage science.
An appraisal of pathological animal bones held at UCL which form part of the unique Baker and Brothwell Collection
- Project Lead: Meave Moorcrosft, Freelance Specialist
- RICHeS Investment accessed: Advancing access to the UCL Archaeological Reference Collections (A3RC)
Animal bones as powerful carriers of meaning: memory and identity, life and death
- Project Lead: Mandy Keating, Freelance Specialist
- RICHeS Investment accessed: SHEFF BIOARCH
Assiros Toumba: Weed ecology and Bronze Age cultivation intensity
- Project Lead: Amy Bogaard, University of Oxford
- RICHeS Investment accessed: SHEFF BIOARCH
Bouldnor and the Submerged Solent
- Project Lead: Garry Momber, Maritime Archaeology Trust
- RICHeS Investment accessed: Coastal and Inland waters Heritage Science Facility
Burnswark: A Roman Siege of an Indigenous Hilltop Centre?
- Project Lead: James O’Driscoll, University of Glasgow
- RICHeS Investment accessed: Institute for Heritage and Environmental Science: 14CHRONO
Chemical and sensory characterisation of fungal odours in the dune stinkhorn: Documenting environmental smellscapes for olfactory heritage
- Project Lead: Sion Parkinson, Freelance Specialist
- RICHeS Investment accessed: University College London
Climate-resilient Self-Healing Lime Mortars for historic masonry (SHLM)
- Project Lead: Cristina De Nardi, Cardiff University
- RICHeS Investment accessed: English Heritage: A national mobile and fixed lab for collections, historic buildings and sites
Conservation in a Changing Climate: Redefining Environmental Guidelines for Marine Iron
- Project Lead: Nicola Grahamslaw, SS Great Britain Trust
- RICHeS Investment accessed: Perfform: built heritage for communities and collections, A national mobile and fixed lab for collections, historic buildings and sites
Culinary heritage and the formation of the New World: an analysis of early colonial pottery using organic residue analysis
- Project Lead: Javier Andres Montalvo Cabrera, University of Leicester
- RICHeS Investment accessed: BIOARC-HS
Distinguishing between European drying oil sources in paint microsamples using compound-specific isotope analysis
- Project Lead: David Peggie, National Gallery London
- RICHeS Investment accessed: AHRC Centre for Chemical Characterisation in Heritage Science (C3HS)
Durham Castle Plaster Analysis
- Project Lead: Gillian Rennie, Durham Castle
- RICHeS Investment accessed: NEMCAS Phase II
Fading records: Assessing the stability of archival writing media for public engagement strategy
- Project Lead: Sarah Graham, PRONI
- RICHeS Investment accessed: The Written Heritage Science Laboratory (WHSL)
Fair Isle: The Fealie Dyke and its environment as an indicator of past landscapes
- Project Lead: Daniel Rhodes, National Trust for Scotland
- RICHeS Investment accessed: Archaeology and the Environment Science Facility (AEonS)
Informing the Conservation of a Heritage Bridge through Multi-Scale Characterisation of Historic Cast Iron
- Project Lead: Kasun Kariyawasam, WSP Ltd
- RICHeS Investment accessed: Oxford Collaboration in Heritage Science Research and Engagement (OCHRE)
Langstone Harbour Changing Coastlines Project
- Project Lead: Lauren Tidbury, Maritime Archaeology Trust
- RICHeS Investment accessed: Coastal and Inland waters Heritage Science Facility
Mapping challenging landscapes on Holy Island
- Project Lead: David Petts, Durham University
- RICHeS Investment Lead: From Land to Sea: a facility for prospection, landscapes and people
Maritime Archaeological Investigation of Spurn (MARIS)
- Project Lead: Katerina Velentza, University of Hull
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Coastal and Inland waters Heritage Science Facility
New Narratives of the Norman Conquest: Dating Bosham’s ‘Bayeux Tapestry’ Power Centre
- Project Lead: Duncan Wright, Newcastle University
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Institute for Heritage and Environmental Science: 14CHRONO
Newport Medieval Ship Project: Post conservation scanning of individual timbers and test re-assemblies
- Project Lead: Nigel Nayling, Swansea University
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Biocultural HIVE, Coastal and Inland waters Heritage Science Facility
North Cornwall survey of historic shipwrecks and submerged landscapes
- Project Lead: Julie Satchell, Maritime Archaeology Trust
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Coastal and Inland waters Heritage Science Facility
Past Pits
- Project Lead: Derek Alexander, National Trust for Scotland
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Archaeology and the Environment Science Facility (AEonS)
‘Pictures in little’: Technical and material insights into a select group of early portrait miniatures through advanced scientific analysis
- Project Lead: Victoria Button, Royal Collection Trust
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Historic Royal Palaces
Plant remains and the environmental and economic context of the Ness of Brodgar
- Project Lead: Nick Card, Ness of Brodgar Trust
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Archaeology and the Environment Science Facility (AEonS)
Post excavation analysis of organic residues and sediments from shell midden 2B at Tarradale, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire
- Project Lead: Eric Grant, North of Scotland Archaeological Society
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Archaeology and the Environment Science Facility (AEonS)
Pottery Production at Roman Corbridge: its character, scale and significance
- Project Lead: Ludovica Galli, Newcastle University
- RICHeS Investment Lead: NEMCAS Phase II
Preserved in Peat: The Archaeology of Northern Ireland’s Bog Finds
- Project Lead: Niamh Baker, National Museums NI
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Institute for Heritage and Environmental Science: 14CHRONO
Quantifying Acidic Pollutants and Airflow Requirements in Cool Film Storage
- Project Lead: Saya Honda Miles, Historic England Archive
- RICHeS Investment Lead: A national mobile and fixed lab for collections, historic buildings and sites
Reconnecting with Māori taonga through heritage science aided research and transnational exchange
- Project Lead: Areti Galani, Newcastle University
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Nottingham Trent University
Recovering medieval bindings: Non-invasive imaging of medieval binding structures beneath 19th century rebindings from Durham Priory Library
- Project Lead: Tony King, Durham University Library and Collections
- RICHeS Investment Lead: NEMCAS Phase II
Reusable Digital Workflows for Heritage Bridge Documentation, Conservation, and Presentation (ReDiW–Bridge)
- Project Lead: Alejandro Jiménez Rios, University of Bath
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Perfform: built heritage for communities and collections
Staffa Survey
- Project Lead: Stuart Jeffrey, The Glasgow School of Art
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Coastal and Inland waters Heritage Science Facility
The archaeology of Knossian Linear B tablets
- Project Lead: Ina Berg, University of Manchester
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Multiscale Heritage X-ray Imaging Centre
The Llyn Llydaw Project
- Project Lead: Jezz Davies, Malvern Archaeological Diving Unit
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Coastal and Inland waters Heritage Science Facility
The Naburn Whale: A new Yorkshire icon
- Project Lead: Sarah King, York Museums Trust
- RICHeS Investment accessed: BIOARC-HS
The Roman Crossing of the Wye at Chepstow
- Project Lead: Simon Maddison, Chepstow Archaeological Society
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Coastal and Inland waters Heritage Science Facility
The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum Human Remains Collection: Proposed Skin Analysis
- Project Lead: Aoife McKenna, The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
- RICHeS Investment Lead: BIOARC-HS
Transitional foodways: Investigating the Anglo-Saxon transition through a multidisciplinary study of consumption practices in 3rd-8th century Northamptonshire
- Project Lead: Alvaro Felipe Ortega González, University of Leicester
- RICHeS Investment Lead: AHRC Centre for Chemical Characterisation in Heritage Science (C3HS)
UAL Ballets Russes: Materials and Making
- Project Lead: Jacqueline Winston-Silk, University of the Arts London
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Historic Royal Palaces
Unlocking the potential of X-ray computed tomography for ancient and historical cereals research, conservation, and curation
- Project Lead: Peter Etchells, Durham University
- RICHeS Investment Lead: NEMCAS Phase II
Validating photometric stereo for heritage textiles using micro-CT reference models
- Project Lead: Xavier Aure Calvet, University of the West of England
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Multiscale Heritage X-ray Imaging Centre
Visualising terracotta animals in the Shefton Collection through heritage science
- Project Lead: Sally Waite, Newcastle University
- RICHeS Investment Lead: NEMCAS Phase II
Where the Deer Run: Mountain archaeology near Loch Broom, NW Highlands
- Project Lead: Duncan Mackenzie, Lochbroom Heritage, Dualchas Loch Bhraoin
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Archaeology and the Environment Science Facility (AEonS)
Yeavering Environs Project: High resolution ground-penetrating radar survey
- Project Lead: Tudor Skinner, Durham University
- RICHeS Investment Lead: Institute for Heritage and Environmental Science: 14CHRONO