The French National Node of E-RIHS – E-RIHS France – has been on the national roadmap for research infrastructures since 2016 and was renewed in 2020. In 2017, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, together with major partners from French Heritage Science, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the construction of E-RIHS France. This MoU was transformed in 2022 into a formal Partnership Agreement under the patronage of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research between French Ministry of Culture, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CY Cergy Paris Université, Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine.
E-RIHS France’s missions are aligned with the European ones:
- To provide access to cutting-edge scientific resources and associated expertise for academic researchers, researchers from the cultural and creative industries, heritage professionals and French and European industries;
- To stimulate research and innovation in all the heritage science-related disciplines, such as the humanities and social sciences, the experimental sciences and the digital sciences;
- To promote best practices and innovative methods that meet the needs of the community of heritage researchers and professionals in the characterisation of materials, the identification of degradation mechanisms, the evaluation and development of conservation treatments or any other issue related to the intimate knowledge of heritage;
- To provide training that reflects the diversity of themes, issues and professions that constitute the heritage sciences;
- To support its members in the digital transition from an open, collaborative science perspective, with a European and international outlook.
On a more specific level and based on a flexible national constitution, E-RIHS France aims to explore new possibilities for the national node with a focus on providing additional access at the national level, the interoperability of data resulting from access, and the organisation of its own training and research activities.
Coordination
Victor Etgens
Center And Search Restoration Musées De France (C2RMF)
Services offered in the country
E-RIHS France guides its scientific activities around four axes, following a holistic approach:
Access provision – E-RIHS France provides access to the platforms ARCHLAB, FIXLAB, and MOLAB under an excellence-based access mode, and to DIGILAB under an open access mode.
Training – in addition to participating in European training activities through the HS Academy, E-RIHS France plans to draw from the Institut National du Patrimoine and CY Cergy Paris Université expertise in training: a master’s degree in Heritage Science framed into the Erasmus+ programme will be developed by CY Cergy Paris Université.
Joint Research Activities – based on E-RIHS’s objective to bring the heritage science community towards more interdisciplinary and transnational cooperation, E-RIHS France also aims to build synergies between research institutions, laboratories, and heritage institutions through the development of technological tools and innovative methods. It shall be a pool for new research projects and consortia in France, throughout Europe and beyond.
Digital – E-RIHS France implements data policy at the national level and coordinates the development of digital tools and services for heritage science in DIGILAB in collaboration with other European and French initiatives such as ESPADON and N-DAME.
