Advancing Heritage Science in the UK
The United Kingdom has been an active member of the European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS) since its inception, offering world-class expertise, advanced methodologies and services from leading institutions. In 2025, the RICHeS Infrastructure Headquarters (RICHeS IHQ) became the UK national coordinator for the UK National Node of E-RIHS, strengthening the country’s role in conservation and heritage science.
What is RICHeS?
RICHeS (Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science) is the UK’s research infrastructure dedicated to safeguarding heritage assets and unlocking their full potential. Launched in 2024, RICHeS is an ambitious programme led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Infrastructure Fund.
UKRI is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom.
RICHeS’ purpose is to protect the UK’s heritage assets from deterioration and realise potential for value creation by investing strategically in both capability and capacity through new and enhanced facilities, digital infrastructure and access to collections. The principal activity of RICHeS is to provide the provision of support, administration, communications, strategic leadership and funding initiatives relating to the creation of a distributed research infrastructure for heritage science in the UK.
From Monday 31 March 2025, RICHeS IHQ will take on the administrative role of coordinating E-RIHS.uk as the UK National Node of E-RIHS ERIC, ensuring seamless collaboration with European partners.
RICHeS role as the UK National Node
The UK National Node plays a crucial role in supporting conservation and heritage science by:
- Providing UK-based heritage science facilities, collections and expertise to the E-RIHS central catalogue of services.
- Promoting and coordinating E-RIHS activities across the UK.
- Representing the UK’s conservation and heritage science community at the Committee of National Nodes and other central E-RIHS initiatives.
UK National Node Access Providers
The following institutions serve as E-RIHS UK National Node Access Providers, offering leading heritage science facilities and expertise:
- British Museum
- Historic England
- Nottingham Trent University
- The National Gallery
- University College London
- University of York
Contact
For more information about E-RIHS.uk, please contact us at: e-rihs.uk@ahrc.ukri.org
For more information about RICHeS, please visit: www.riches.ukri.org
