United Kingdom

National Nodes

E-RIHS.uk contributes to the connection of world-class facilities and expertise across Europe driving scientific excellence in the field of Heritage Science. The UK has been an active member of the E-RIHS project since its inception and offers advanced methods and services from world leading institutions.

Our Ambition

Catalysing new cross-disciplinary research by mobilizing expertise and researchers in the humanities and natural sciences
Building state-of-the-art tools and services for research communities and the heritage industry
Leading the way in the development of digital platforms for the improved understanding, visualisation and use of heritage
Integrating world-class facilities across Europe to connect the global community of heritage science
Driving scientific excellence and innovation through visionary research projects
Developing skills and capabilities to build strong cross-disciplinary science and foster collaboration

Services

E-RIHS is a distributed infrastructure comprising facilities, resources and services from major scientific equipment (ranging from synchrotrons to portable kit), collections, archives and scientific data, as well as e-infrastructures (from archaeological fieldwork data to conservation documentation) and open science cloud.
We provide advanced services to the heritage science community and heritage industry by bringing together cutting-edge tools and expertise through four access platforms:

E-RIHS FIXLAB: access to large-scale and medium-scale fixed facilities – e.g. particle accelerators and synchrotrons, neutron and laser sources and other essentially immovable research facilities including the associated unique expertise
E-RIHS MOLAB: access to a comprehensive selection of mobile analytical instrumentation for non-invasive measurements on objects, buildings, and sites, allowing the implementation of complex multi-technique diagnostic projects for in situ investigations
E-RIHS ARCHLAB: access to physical heritage science collections, such as technical images, samples and reference materials, analytical data and conservation documentation, as stored in museums, galleries and research institutions
E-RIHS DIGILAB: online access to data concerning heritage, with the aim to make it findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable, based on the FAIR principles. This includes and enables access to searchable registries of datasets, reference collections, thesauri, ontologies etc., and supports data interoperability through the creation of shared knowledge organization systems.

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: