IPERION HS is a consortium of 24 partners from 23 countries that contributes to establishing a pan-European research infrastructure on Heritage Science. It offers training and access to a wide range of high-level scientific instruments, methodologies, data and tools for advancing knowledge and innovation in heritage science.
This Heritage Science Project is being funded by Horizon 2020.
It is the continuation of a very successful idea, which originated in 1999, where the best research centres, museums and universities in Europe which have Heritage as one of their main research topics, came together to provide free access for researchers to instrumentation and associated expertise to help understand complex heritage-based issues in a multi-disciplinary manner.
Malta was invited to participate as a partner in IPERION HS – and it is doing so through the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage of the University of Malta.
As part of this collaborative initiative, alliances are currently being established with other UM Departments which have as a core interest Heritage research, as well as entities external to UM, to create a common base, for research, for partnerships, and for exchanges in the field of Heritage.
IPERION HS provides Trans-National access to the best facilities and experts in Heritage Science through three different platforms: ARCHLAB, FIXLAB and MOLAB. These offer access to, respectively: organized scientific information in largely unpublished datasets from archives of prestigious European museums, galleries and research institutions (ARCHLAB); key fixed research facilities and the associated scientific experience of their staff that develop and maintain sophisticated state‐of‐the‐art instrumentation for advanced diagnostics and archaeometry (FIXLAB); and mobile equipment and related competencies for in-situ non-destructive measurements of artworks, collections, monuments and sites (MOLAB).
In order to disseminate knowledge on access to these platforms, and to help researchers prepare scientifically excellent proposals, the IPERION HS Academy has been organising a series of webinars aimed at the Heritage community, addressed by selected experts and past users. Three webinars have already taken place – and are available online and shared below for your convenience.
From October, there will be other webinars, when the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage will host a webinar addressed to the Social Sciences and Humanities community; information on this will be provided at a later stage.
The IPERION HS Academy also organises Doctoral Schools and on site training camps to further knowledge exchange on specific themes within the wider realm of Heritage Science Research.
In May 2021, Prof. JoAnn Cassar, Head of the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage, and Prof. Matija Strlič, Professor of Heritage Science at University College London and Professor of Analytical Chemistry at University of Ljubljana, presented a paper on “The opportunities of a global, shared research infrastructure for the conservation community” at the ICOM-CC 19th ICOM-CC Triennial Conference in Beijing, China.
Further information on the projects and access platforms, and copies of the paper, can be obtained from Prof. JoAnn Cassar.
- Webinar 1
- Webinar 2
- Webinar 3