What does the future hold? A new vision for heritage science in the north east.

It finally happened. After continuously posting since 2012, 2024 was the first year I didn't make a single blog post. To be fair, 2022 and 2023 weren't exactly prolific either, but I did manage a handful of posts. There is an explanation for this. 2024 overall was a incredibly stressful year, and I didn't manage to get much of anything done, as most of my time was taken up trying to solve a rather major problem.

Back in 2021 I was lucky to apply successfully for an AHRC Capability for Collections grant, to establish NEMCAS (formerly Newcastle Material Culture Analytical Suite). Over the following 3 years, I worked hard with my technical team and colleagues to build up our portfolio of research in the facility, and build collaborations with museum partners in the north-east. I also worked very hard developing a relationship with the AHRC, as part of my vision for NEMCAS was to integrate into the new RICHeS programme that we knew was on the horizon. RICHeS (Research Infrastructure for Conversation and Heritage Science) is a new strategic programme from AHRC, with a 10 year investment to establish an arts and humnaities led research infrastructure (similar to those that are already established for other councils within UKRI).

Our application to RICHeS was very ambitious and complicated, and exciting! It involved a collaboration between Archaeology and other subjects, particularly Geography, to expand NEMCAS, to provide an integrated workflow of 2D to 3D analysis of natural and cultural heritage materials, emphasising the development of non- or minimally destructive techniques. Our proposal included expanding our XR-CT capabilities and establishing a new thin section and sample processing facility, which involved a substantial refurbishment of shared laboratory space. It was a massive amount of work to put together, and is a vision that I truly believe in, the potentials when STEM and SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy) come together - the British Academy have termed this Connected Knowledge.

The application was submitted late 2023, and outcomes were announced early 2024. I was thrilled that NEMCAS Stage II was successful, a true career highlight moment. Unfortunately, as we tried to move forward with the project, a whole host of unforeseen issues became apparent. I won't go into the details here, but the major one was that a survey indicated that the building and labs that were to host the newly expanded facility had structural problems that meant it would be a major risk to locate the facility there. So the following months my time was spent trying to find an alternative location, reworking budgets, costings for potential alternative locations. Anyone working in a university will know how difficult it is to find space, especially at the scale we needed to deliver the NEMCAS vision, and we just couldn't find a solution. Part way through 2024 as we were working through a business case for a tentative new location, Newcastle, like many UK universities, announced major financial issues. Part of that meant a pause on most capital projects. I was pretty devastated. 

But, where one door closes, another opens, and I was able to transfer the facility to Durham, just down the road, still in the North East (my mam would never have forgiven me if I'd moved from the toon!). So as of April 2025, NEMCAS is now the North East Material Culture Analytical Suite, and I am now Professor of Geoarchaeology and Heritage Science in the Department of Archaeology at Durham. It was sad to leave behind my wonderful colleagues at Newcastle, where I led the Archaeology labs for almost 10 years, but I am really excited about the opportunities for my research and NEMCAS at Durham (and all my Newcastle collaborations will continue!). Durham has one of the largest Archaeology Departments in the world, with 8 already established laboratories in every area of archaeological science you can imagine, and a strong commercial operations. So NEMCAS has truly expanded its scope, and will be even bigger and better. The refurbishment of the new thin section lab is well underway, the large chamber CT scanner (SkyScan 1273) has been installed in its new location, and procurement is underway for the second CT scanner which will enable faster throughput and higher resolution imaging. Together with Engineering and Biosciences, I am now working on expanding the NEMCAS vision and linking with Durham's key priority areas 'Smart Soils' and 'Heritage 360', to develop a truly interdisciplinary cross Faculty centre of excellence in heritage science. I am so excited to see what the future holds!