Research infrastructure for conservation and heritage science (RICHeS)
Research infrastructure for conservation and heritage science (RICHeS)

RICHeS Access Fund Awardees

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

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

Burnswark: A Roman siege of an Indigenous hilltop centre?

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)

Conservation in a changing climate: Redefining environmental guidelines for marine iron

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

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

Fair Isle: The Fealie Dyke and its environment as an indicator of past landscapes

Informing the conservation of a heritage bridge through multi-scale characterisation of historic cast iron

Langstone Harbour changing coastlines project

Mapping challenging landscapes on Holy Island

Maritime Archaeological Investigation of Spurn (MARIS)

New narratives of the Norman Conquest: Dating Bosham’s ‘Bayeux Tapestry’ power centre

Newport Medieval ship project: Post conservation scanning of individual timbers and test re-assemblies

North Cornwall survey of historic shipwrecks and submerged landscapes

Past pits

‘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 Accessed: Historic Royal Palaces

Plant remains and the environmental and economic context of the Ness of Brodgar

Post excavation analysis of organic residues and sediments from shell midden 2B at Tarradale, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire

Pottery production at Roman Corbridge: Its character, scale and significance

  • Project Lead: Ludovica Galli, Newcastle University
  • RICHeS Investment Accessed: NEMCAS Phase II

Preserved in Peat: The archaeology of Northern Ireland’s bog finds

Quantifying acidic pollutants and airflow requirements in cool film storage

Reconnecting with Māori taonga through heritage science aided research and transnational exchange

  • Project Lead: Areti Galani, Newcastle University
  • RICHeS Investment Accessed: 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 Accessed: NEMCAS Phase II

Reusable digital workflows for heritage bridge documentation, conservation and presentation (ReDiW–Bridge)

Staffa survey

The archaeology of Knossian Linear B tablets

The Llyn Llydaw project

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

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 Accessed: BIOARC-HS

Transitional foodways: Investigating the Anglo-Saxon transition through a multidisciplinary study of consumption practices in 3rd-8th century Northamptonshire

UAL ballets russes: Materials and making

  • Project Lead: Jacqueline Winston-Silk, University of the Arts London
  • RICHeS Investment Accessed: 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 Accessed: NEMCAS Phase II

Validating photometric stereo for heritage textiles using micro-CT reference models

Visualising terracotta animals in the Shefton Collection through heritage science

  • Project Lead: Sally Waite, Newcastle University
  • RICHeS Investment Accessed: NEMCAS Phase II

Where the deer run: Mountain archaeology near Loch Broom, NW Highlands

Yeavering environs project: High resolution ground-penetrating radar survey