Science and Heritage Programme Director, May Cassar, held a briefing for UCL staff on July 15th 2008 regarding the recent Research Clusters Call, which is the latest funding initiative available through the Programme. May's Power Point presentation can be downloaded below in PDF format.

 

Anyone who is interested in applying for funding under this Call should read the Call details and Specification documents, which are available to download here.

Programme Director’s Speech at the Launch of the Science and Heritage Programme, 20th February 2008

 

Professor May Cassar

 

UK heritage science is in the top league of European research. It is recognised internationally for high quality research and excellent researchers.

 

Yet today is a pivotal moment for heritage science within the UK:

• It is receiving positive attention from policymakers and research councils.

• Museums, galleries, libraries, archives, heritage organisations and universities are coming together to work out national priorities for heritage science research.

• We are about to deliver opportunities as never before to engage young researchers in science and heritage. 

• We are about to enter a period of sustained investment in science and heritage – we need to seize this unique opportunity - and do so quickly!

What will the Science and Heritage Programme do?

 

It has two main tasks:

• To increase our understanding, and improve the resilience of cultural heritage in the face of 21st century challenges - by funding high quality research, and

• To develop the heritage science community - by funding networks and other awareness-raising and capacity-building activities

The Programme will challenge and support the research community:

• We will expect researchers to focus on  whole objects as well as materials and techniques – the meaning of objects, their history, condition, conservation and use are all important in this Programme

• Whenever possible, cultural and scientific questions together will be expected to ignite the creative spark of research endeavour

• We will support new interdisciplinary networks and innovative research collaborations – such as between universities, non-academic institutions and industry; or between institutions responsible primarily for historic buildings and museum collections and practitioners. 

• We will define heritage stakeholders to include not only museum and heritage organisations, but also universities and the public – we will look for the potential of shared knowledge among collections, historic buildings, sites and landscapes.

• We will endeavour to develop further a research community at ease with working across diverse disciplines and across institutions.

The lasting legacy of our success could be the emergence of a progressive hybrid ‘science-and-heritage’ discipline.

 

Why do I believe this Programme to be instrumental in this development?

 

Because the Programme will seek to identify common values among researchers involved in heritage science such as

• an understanding that the moveable and immoveable heritage exist as objects within heterogeneous human, semiotic and material networks

• that these networks should integrate concepts and symbolic meanings (in the semiotic environment) with science and technology (in the material environment), and

• that social interactions have both material and human causes.

The Programme intends to live up to the true meaning of interdisciplinary endeavour.  This is what I believe the research community, policy makers and research councils are expecting.

 

I would like to close by acknowledging the policy makers and research councils present here today.  Because of your sustained efforts over the last two momentous years, we are seeing UK heritage science which is greatly admired abroad, being valued in its own right at home – and for this we thank you.