The Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC), the UK’s professional body for built and historic environment conservation specialists, is encouraging anyone interested in England’s heritage and history to contribute to the current review by English Heritage (EH) of their Research Frameworks in a consultation that will close at the end of February 2014.
IHBC Director Sean O’Reilly said: ‘This review rightly recognises the seismic shifts in the need for proper and proportionate heritage information, both inside the planning process and as part of the ever-widening public interest in places and their cultural legacy.’
‘They also need to register just how much information there is out there already, and that the real problem can be finding what you want – speedily and cost-effectively – across the morass of detail that can so easily misdirect or confuse users.’
‘Research Frameworks, as a resource that can guide research priorities within EH and beyond, should play a critical role in helping us rationalise our approach to information gathering and accessibility in an age when there’s often simply too much data and not enough knowledge.’
‘To make sure that Research Frameworks will live up to their ambitions we’re encouraging members to promote the widest support for and contribution to this consultation, especially from the huge constituency of stakeholders for whom ‘Research Frameworks’ are a foreign language as well as a foreign land.’
Consultant for the review, Pye Tait, writes:
The current model for Research Frameworks is now nearly 20 years old and in this time the sector has seen significant changes in how it manages the historic environment, specifically within the planning process, and in relation to how research is generated and coordinated.
English Heritage has commissioned an evaluation of the role, impact and value of Research Frameworks for the historic environment sector in England (including, but not limited to, archaeology and the built environment).
To inform this research it is vital that English Heritage obtains views and feedback from current non-users, as well as users, of Research Frameworks.
We would therefore like to draw your attention to this research and invite you to respond to an online questionnaire – available via the link below.
It is anticipated that the questionnaire will take no more than 10 minutes to complete for current non-users and no more than 20 minutes to complete for current users of Research Frameworks. The survey will remain open until the end of February 2014.
The survey is being carried out independently by Pye Tait Consulting, under contract to English Heritage. Your views will be treated confidentially and reported anonymously by Pye Tait Consulting under the Data Protection Act 1988 and the Market Research Society (MRS) Code of Conduct.
Further details about the research are provided via the survey link at: LINK
