IHBC Director and Chief Executive Dr Sean O’Reilly has been appointed to the Programme Board of the UK’s Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS), helping to oversee the £80m programme of investment in Conservation and Heritage Science infrastructure.
IHBC President Rebecca Thompson said: ‘After a great start to 2026 with the award of an OBE to IHBC’s Chair, David McDonald, this more fantastic news from the IHBC leadership.’
‘Dr Seán O’Reilly, has been invited to join the RICHeS Programme Board. RICHeS is an £80 million investment to deliver a nationally distributed network of research infrastructure for heritage science and conservation research across the UK. RICHeS coordinates access to facilities, collections and expertise, and connects UK researchers to major international infrastructures in this field, notably through their role as the UK National Node for European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS).’
‘This is great news for Seán, and for the IHBC, particularly as it aligns so with our core corporate objectives. It is also a great leadership message for all IHBC Members: to think about our Continual Professional Development and how we can professionally develop our careers, and have a positive impact for the Institute and for the heritage sector more widely.’
‘So join with me in congratulating Seán, and let’s reflect on this wonderful start to the year. We live in exciting times for the IHBC!’
IHBC Chair David McDonald OBE said: ‘This is yet another great boost for the IHBC, my warmest congratulations to Sean for his achievement. This can only add to the Institute’s status and help boost its progress on the Petition for Charter.’
Seán O’Reilly said: ‘I’m of course at once honoured and delighted to have been invited to help in the oversight of this critical programme of research funding. But most of all I am hugely impressed by the scale of the work, the allied investment, and the huge ambitions and opportunities on offer for all our conservation and heritage interests’.
‘RICHeS describes itself as ‘the UK’s Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science, a long-term £80?million commitment from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), supporting excellence, collaboration, and innovation in heritage and conservation science.’’
‘And while RICHeS may not be familiar to many of our members or core networks just yet, soon it will be! Already it has invested in 31 projects across the UK, and has a rolling Access Fund – its first call – is now open, and itsHeritage Science Data Service (HSDS) catalogue of services and data is also now available for use.’
‘It also has its own strong infrastructure – a great team of leads, experts and managers, a growing network, a substantial body of work behind it and dedicated funding for the future. So it is the strongest possible position to carry our the ambitious programme of work assigned to it, ultimately, by the Treasury.’
‘That progress already represents a huge investment, but even then it could be only a part of what could be secured through cross-sector interdisciplinary engagement with the programme. Indeed the RICHeS programme – and those that all hope will grow from it – could be a game-changer for our sector. So we must all engage with it accordingly, and if we do that right, it will be that game-changer!’
RICHeS writes:
The RICHeS programme will unlock access to heritage science facilities by creating a distributed infrastructure of heritage science collections and
Further information, including details of the current ‘RICHeS Access Fund’ is available
See theHeritage Science Data Service (HSDS) catalogue of services and data at HSDS
See more on current opportunities on the RICHeS Access Fund webpage
See more NewsBlog background HERE
See more on David McDonald’s OBE award HERE
