About the funding
Launched in October 2024, the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) is a long-term, £80 million commitment from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) – part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – that supports excellence and collaboration within heritage and conservation science. Of the 31 projects funded by the 2024–26 RICHeS programme, two were awarded to Tate.
We are open to expressions of interest for access to Tate’s rich heritage science research resources from 1 September 2026.
Accessing Modern and Contemporary Art (M&CA) Materials Research at Tate
Over the past four decades, Tate has embraced and developed expertise in twentieth-century paints, polymers, innovative cleaning science and plastics. However, as modern and contemporary art (M&CA) acquisitions have accelerated to over 90% of all works coming into the collection, the need to explore and understand artworks containing new, lesser-known, degradable and other novel materials is becoming increasingly urgent.
Through CapCo and RICHeS funding, we now have a tailored range of imaging and chemical analytical techniques for the identification of materials in works of art, including our RICHeS funded volatiles GCMS, Raman spectroscopy, laser infrared imaging system and a new microfader.
We welcome access requests and potential collaborative research around modern and contemporary artworks and materials, which can be combined with resources within the Conservation and Heritage Science Archive.
Tate’s Conservation and Heritage Science Archive (CHSA)
The Seine at Port-Villez, Claude Monet. Slider view of transmitted light, x-ray and visible light. (© Tate Photography)
The Tate Conservation and Heritage Science Archive (CHSA) has been designed to aggregate our conservation and heritage science research resources, and to facilitate discovery of our digital and physical archive collections.
The physical collections include project samples and mock-ups, our painting stretcher archive, Tate collection specific materials, pigment collections, Winsor and Newton oil and alkyd-based paint swatches, Ripolin paint swatches (1950–60), a range of modern and contemporary artists paint tubes, and paint media collections and painting supports. This also includes an ever-growing number of cross-sections, dispersions, and unmounted samples removed from Tate collection works.
Our digital assets consist of scientific and research output from the Conservation Science team, discoverable via the collections management database, The Museum System (TMS) and Conservation Studio.
To support access and interpretation of conservation images produced by Tate’s Photography & Imaging team, we have worked in partnership with iBase to develop a Conversation Image Viewer to sit within our digital asset management system. The viewer enables synchronised side-by-side views, layered views of images and a curtain viewer, to reveal and compare different types of imaging and views of artworks. By situating this viewer within our existing systems, its features are automatically available across the whole of our imaged collection. We can also ensure the security of our high-resolution assets and avoid duplication of image data across different platforms.
We welcome requests and potential collaborative research around these resources which can also be combined with our equipment and facilities access where required.
Expressions of interest
To request access or express interest in collaborative research, please fill out our form. A member of Tate's Conservation Science team will review your request and get back to you.
Frequently asked questions
Key analytical instrumentation has been renewed or augmented through two CapCo and two RICHeS awards; including FTIR (Fourier Transform InfraRed) spectroscopy and GCMS (Gas Chomatography Mass Spectrometry) instruments (volatiles and pyrolysis) as well as portable external reflectance infrared spectroscopy ER-FTIR, imaging FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and microfadometry. Please see our service catalogue page at the Heritage Science Data Service for a more extensive list of our equipment: Accessing modern and contemporary art materials research | Service
We are based in London and will be balancing these requests with the work we do for Tate. The team may be able to travel to support requests; however, most of our equipment is fixed within our laboratory in London.
We are unable to accommodate works of art on Tate premises.
Our RICHeS awards facilitate access to our expertise, equipment, facilities and conservation and heritage science archive only. However, if your request aligns with our internal research and practice, we may consider facilitating access to specific works of art as a collaboration.
All access requests to our Conservation and Heritage Science Archive (CHSA) are facilitated in-person at Tate Britain.
Yes, it is possible to request access to Tate collection data through this platform; however, data use will be subject to a signed user agreement and a gallery records check prior to release.
We are unable to accommodate requests on the authentication of works of art.
We are unable to advise on specific conservation treatments, however, we can inform methodologies around cleaning treatment research.
You are welcome to visit the labs and depending on your experience and the duration of the request period, you may be trained to use some of the equipment.
Costs will be discussed with you directly if we are able to help, with a small proportion offered on an in-kind basis. If you would like to explore obtaining funding through the RICHeS Access Fund, please see RICHeS Access Fund – RICHeS.
As much as possible (always), and a minimum of 3-months' notice so we can plan all of our work.
We require around 3 months to complete any request after we have obtained samples/data, and likely longer if your request is complex, large or sparks follow-on queries.
We will require you to sign an access user agreement which will outline terms and conditions for the sharing and publication of the information obtained.
We will keep the data produced within our Conservation and Heritage Science Archive, as the information will become a Gallery record. We will also add key metadata information to the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS) within 3 months of completion of your request, in consultation with you.
Yes – in fact we often find the archive resources are useful for M&CA materials research.
Yes you can, but depending on the number we receive, we may not be able to accommodate it, or you may be asked to wait a while so we can fulfill requests from others.
Yes, you can. Please use the Expression of Interest form.
No, we need to capture all interest in our RICHeS offer, so we need you to submit a form to help us keep track. Once we have received your form, we will consider the request and be in touch to start a conversation.
About RICHeS funding
Funded through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme which aims to promote excellence in the UK heritage science sector.
This generous grant builds on the two key Capability for Collections (CapCo) grants awarded to Collection Care by AHRC in 2020–22, which transformed the ways heritage science and materials-based research is carried out at Tate.
