Organisation: Historic Royal Palaces
Principal investigator: Constantina Vlachou-Mogire
Project summary
Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) is an independent research organisation that oversees six heritage sites that span over 1,000 years of architectural history across England and Northern Ireland. Despite HRP’s renowned scientific laboratory for heritage science and conservation research, its significant scientific sample collections remain largely uncatalogued and dispersed due to external commissions. The lack of dedicated facilities to organise, store and facilitate access, limits availability for scientific research.
Project purpose
This project aims to consolidate and enhance accessibility to HRP’s substantial scientific sample collections through the REsearch Vault for HEritAge Science CoLlections (REVEAL), a dedicated physical and digital storage facility. The project will systematically catalogue scientific samples into a centralised collection, enhancing research access and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations.
The upgraded physical space will accommodate over 6,000 samples and will provide critical insights into historic materials, techniques, and cultural artefacts spanning centuries. REVEAL will serve as an essential platform for knowledge dissemination and offers diverse training opportunities.
Project impacts
This project will establish a state-of-the-art heritage science infrastructure, integrating physical and digital repositories for scientific samples, research data and digital assets. This project will ensure comprehensive cataloguing and safe storage that will significantly increase accessibility to the HRP’s scientific sample collections.
This project will enhance research and foster partnerships across the heritage science community, strengthening HRP’s role in advancing heritage science and conservation practices.