The hidden secrets of some of the world's most famous paintings have been revealed thanks to a partnership between EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) and the National Gallery.

The AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme and the Centre for Contemporary British History are planning four half-day seminars on 8th-9th December 2010 in London. The aim of the seminars is to create an oral history of the development of heritage science between 1947 and 2007 when the

Sixteen new awards for Science and Heritage interdisciplinary research projects and post doctoral research fellowships have been announced today, all aimed at protecting the cultural fabric of the UK and further developing our understanding of it.

The EU Framework Programmes for Research have funded collaborative research since the 1980s and particularly since the 5th Framework Programme for Research starting in 1998.  This research has delivered a decade of innovation in technology applied to the protection of cultural heritage.  A European Heritage Technologies catalogue was produced for an exhibition of products and services organised as part of the 8th European Commission Conference on Sustaining Europe’s Cultural Heritage: Cultural Heritage Research meets Practice in Ljubljana, Slovenia in November 2008.  Please click here to download the catalogue.

The Technology Strategy Board has launched the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Programme designed to promote effective collaboration among business, third sector organisations and  academia. Anyone active in the field of science and heritage is eligible to apply. Further information can be found here.

In July 2009, NSF and the Mellon Foundation co-sponsored a workshop aimed at examining and improving the state of the science used to study, preserve and protect cultural patrimony.

COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is an intergovernmental framework allowing the coordination of nationally-funded research on a European level. COST contributes to reducing the fragmentation in European research investments and opening the European Research Area to cooperation worldwide and strives to support European scientists in their networking activities. Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) allow scientists to learn from an institution or laboratory in another COST country - a concept of particular interest to young scientists. The COST D42 action has set aside 15.000 Euro for short term scientific missions.  The call is open for the entire budget year until 31 March 2010 (i.e. there are no specific deadlines).

Details of the Science and Heritage Programme Call for Post-doctoral Fellowships are now available for download from the Calls for Proposals page and from the AHRC website.

The full AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme specification has now been released and is available for download from the Current Calls for Proposals page and from the Science and Heritage Progamme section of the AHRC website.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are taking forward a joint £8.1m programme entitled Science and Heritage to support leading-edge research which will explore new ways to understand the cultural and physical nature of heritage and to prepare society for the challenges that cultural heritage will face in the 21st Century.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and BT have recently announced a call for research projects under a pilot programme of Research Networking.

11th February 2009: The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding kicked off a  three-day Mission led by the Science and Heritage Programme Director Professor May Cassar during which she led a series of workshops between UK and Italian researchers in the area of research for the conservation of cultural heritage including diagnostics, protection, intervention, monitoring and innovative technologies.  For further information contact May Cassar at m.cassar@heritagescience.ac.uk or see the press release on the AHRC website.

One of the key recommendations in the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee Report on Science and Heritage in 2007 moved a step closer to reality today when the steering group for the National Heritage Science Strategy (NHSS) announced the launch of its new website.