UK launches £37m programme to uncover cultural heritage through chemistry

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will fund 31 innovative projects designed to protect and grow the UK’s £29 billion heritage sector. With an investment of £37 million from the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programmev, these projects aim to unlock the potential of existing heritage collections and provide access to previously untapped cultural assets. The RICHeS programme is funded by an £80 million research and innovation investment through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund.

This funding will be used to establish new state-of-the-art facilities to drive technological innovation in a range of areas, including sustainable building practices, bio-imaging, carbon dating techniques and advanced materials analysis.