The seventh IHBC Research for Practice Digest has been issued to networks and subscribers, and features Prof Dana Arnold FSA, Chair of the Programme Board for the UK’s Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) and a distinguished architectural historian, all alongside our regular updates, so sign up HERE.
The IHBC writes:
Welcome to the IHBC’s seventh issue of its Research for Practice Digest. For this issue we feature Dana Arnold FSA, Professor of Art and Cultural Heritage at the Sainsbury Institute, University of East Anglia. Dana has written extensively on the history of architecture and urbanism including three books on London; The Spaces of the Hospital: Spatiality and Urban Change in London 1680-1820, (2013), Rural Urbanism: London landscapes in the early nineteenth century (2006) and Re-presenting the Metropolis (2000 and pbk 2018) which have significantly shaped the understanding of the relationship between space, society and the built environment.
She has held visiting fellowships at The Getty Research Institute and Yale University and honorary professorships in the schools of architecture at Tianjin University, China and the Middle East Technical University, Ankara.
Her recent publications include British Architecture: A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford, OUP, 2024) and an essay on Coade stone, Written in Stone: Eleanor Coade and the London building world of the late-eighteenth and early- nineteenth century that will be published as open access (30 March 2026) in A.Dianat and K.James-Chakraborty (eds), Minding her Business: Women, Architecture, and Design, (Leuven University Press, 2026). https://lup.be/book/minding-her-business/
Dana has played a leading role in shaping the field of heritage science, as a member of the Advisory Board for the AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme (2008-2015), she contributed to the development and promotion of interdisciplinary research in conservation and heritage science. She is now Chair of the Programme Board for the UK’s Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme. This flagship programme, launched in 2024 with an £80 million investment from the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), RICHeS is strengthening national capacity, infrastructure, driving excellence and collaboration across the heritage science and conservation sector. The Programme Board provides strategic oversight, delivery, support and assurance for this major programme.
RICHeS has invested in enhancing sector-wide capacity and capability in the heritage science sector through 13 host collections, 17 host facilities, and the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS), which delivers core digital research services. Reference collections include the National Trust Paint Archive Collection, containing paint samples from historic properties, and Historic Royal Palaces’ REVEAL, that provides access to over 1,000 years of architectural history. Facilities range from Historic Environment Scotland’s Retrofit Centre for Traditional Buildings and Cardiff University’s Perfform facility for built heritage, to Historic England’s mobile and fixed laboratories for historic buildings.
Access to these resources, and all RICHeS-supported investments, is available through the new RICHeS Access Fund. The first call for applications is open until Wednesday 8 April 2026 with further calls anticipated. Grants of up to £20,000 are available to support costs for prospective users. Further guidance on eligibility and application procedures is available via the RICHeS website.
We welcome links to heritage research that we might include in our next edition. We’re also curating a list of potential research topics, to be included in forthcoming issues of the Digest, so if you have any suggestions, please send them to Michael Netter, IHBC Professional Services Officer, at services@ihbc.org.uk
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Broader Context Research & News
UKRI simplify research translation and commercialisation funding – UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is streamlining its research translation and commercialisation funding?opportunities to make them clearer and more consistent. This update affects only the naming of UKRI funding opportunities and not existing remits, funding modes and processes. UKRI translation and commercialisation funding opportunities have begun to adopt one of four harmonised titles.
IHBC’s 2025 Parliamentary Briefing launches research-led ‘5 Commitments to Help Heritage Skills in Conservation’… From Crafts in Crisis to Rubbish in Retrofit
The UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC) published the final evaluation of the Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage (CCUH) Project, an 18-month, £1.8m programme funded by HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund and delivered in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Innovation in Action: RICHeS Access Fund Catalyst Projects Award Five Initiatives
IHBC’s Director, Seán O’Reilly, joins RICHeS Programme Board: ‘Honoured, of course, but mostly I’m impressed by the £80M of research opportunities for historic and built environment conservation’.
University of Glasgow: New research will help put emotions at the heart of regeneration
UK Research and Innovation launches creative industries strategy: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has launched a high-level?UKRI’s research and development (R&D) strategy for the creative and cultural economy will ensure research and innovation drives and sustains growth in the creative industries.
Heritage Fund: Putting people’s memories at the heart of heritage-inspired regeneration
Data from Space? Would high-resolution satellite data on energy efficiency of buildings, as part of an ongoing European Space Agency (ESA) Feasibility Study, help planners examine canopy cover, and/or prioritise areas which combine heat stress and vulnerable populations? Respond to the survey here.
The Conservation & Heritage Journal, Issue 47, has now been published.
Research Awards, Programmes, Funding
IHBC : Nominations close on 31 March for the IHBC-Marsh awards, Community Contribution (Retired Member) and Successful Learning in Heritage Skills. Each award is marked by a free place at the IHBC’s renowned Annual School each year, and £500 cash and certificate, with cheques written directly to the winners.
Unlock Access to RICHeS Research Infrastructure: Full Access Fund Call Now Open. The RICHeS Access Fund is now open for Full Applications, supporting heritage science and conservation researchers, museums and organisations to access world-class equipment, specialist facilities, nationally important collections and expertise across the UK.
Historic England and English Heritage are delighted to announce our 2025 Call for Proposals for Round 4 of our AHRC funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) programme. Proposals for studentship projects should be made by a university-based researcher in collaboration with a named member of staff from Historic England or English Heritage, who will act as first non-HEI co-supervisor.
SAHGB announces recipients of Spring 2025 ‘Research and Publication Grants’
The King’s Foundation Oxford DPhil Scholarships – Scholarships in Nature, Health and Wellbeing
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