The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is consulting on a potential new approach to infrastructure funding for research and innovation in heritage science and would like to invite the input of members of the archaeological community.
Heritage science brings together the diverse disciplines, professions, and communities of practice, where science is used to address questions in areas such as archaeology, conservation, and material culture. Since 2019, AHRC has carried out several cycles of consultation, leading to the identification of heritage science as a strategic priority within AHRC’s remit. The present consultation will inform a bid to the UKRI Infrastructure Fund, for heritage science infrastructure investment over a 10-year period. Infrastructure in this context is defined as people (including technical / specialist staff, as well as scientists / researchers), assets (physical and digital / virtual) and equipment. The broad intention of the bid is to address specific challenges which currently prevent the discipline from reaching its full potential.
Here is a link to a survey which should take between 5-15 minutes to complete, depending on whether or not you complete the optional questions.
Next steps
The survey will close at 9am on Monday 21st June. Analysis of the results will feed into our development of the programme. If the bid successfully makes it through the next stage of assessment, it will be worked into a full Treasury business case during 2021/22, with the intention of launching the programme early in 2023.
How your data will be used
This survey is anonymous; you will not be asked for any details that would allow you to be identified. The data generated by the survey will be stored on a secure server, and will be deleted after 6 months. The data will be mainly used in aggregate form, though we may pick out specific (anonymous) comments to quote in the consultation outputs.
Sharing this survey
We invite you to share this survey with anyone, either within your organisation or beyond it, who may be interested in contributing. We are happy to have more than one response from a single organisation, department, or profession.
Contacting the project team
If you have any questions, or wish any further information, about the survey or proposed infrastructure programme, please feel free to contact the project team by email at infrastructure@ahrc.ukri.org
