Capability for Collections

The Cambridge Heritage Science Hub (CHERISH), a project seed-funded through the Programme's Materiality Research Growth Network, was awarded £3m from the AHRC’s Capability for Collections (CapCo) Fund in December 2020.

This new funding stream supports targeted, capital investments to renew and upgrade research facilities within UK galleries, libraries, archives and museums, focusing on conservation and heritage science facilities, digital capture equipment and specialist study spaces and reading rooms.

In Cambridge, CHERISH will build on existing departmental collaborations to create a distributed research infrastructure across the University’s world-leading collections. The project will be led by Dr Paola Ricciardi, Senior Research Scientist at the Fitzwilliam Museum, with Professor Marcos Martinón-Torres, Pitt-Rivers Professor of Archaeological Science at the Department of Archaeology. They will work with a cross-departmental, interdisciplinary team, including Dr Suzanne Paul, Keeper of Manuscripts and University Archives at Cambridge University Library; Professor Nicholas Thomas, Director and Curator at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; and Dr Lucy Wrapson, Senior Conservator at the Hamilton Kerr Institute.