CIfA Cymru/Wales Group archives afternoon

Description

The CIfA Cymru/Wales Group invites you to join us for an afternoon featuring talks on Archives in Wales from 14:00 until 17:00 on Friday 5 June 2026.

We welcome everyone to attend - you don't need to be living, working or studying in Wales or have a background in archives to join us. We welcome everyone who would like to learn more.

Agenda

The full agenda is to be confirmed, but we will be joined by 3 different speakers, all sharing updates about recent archaeological archives in Wales. Watch this space for full information about our speakers and topics.

• 14:00 – 14:10: Welcome from Wales & Archives Groups
• 14:10 – 15:00: Introducing the Heritage Science Data Service with Julian Richards
• 15:00 – 15:05: Break
• 15:05 – 15:55: National Specialist Lead in Archiving for Heneb – The Trust for Welsh Archaeology with Sophie Edwards
• 15:55 – 16:00: Break
• 16:00 – 16:55: Depositing data with the Heneb Historic Environment Record with Calli Rouse
• 16:55 – 17:00: Closing remarks & thank you

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introducing the Heritage Science Data Service with Julian Richards

In October 2024 the AHRC launched the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS), an £80m investment over five years. In the first phase AHRC have funded 17 laboratory facilities and 13 reference collections hosted in universities, museums, libraries and archives. An Access Fund helps individual or organisations cover the costs of using these services. In addition to academic organisations​, registered charitable bodies, social enterprises, commercial companies, and freelance specialists working in collaboration with eligible partner organisations are all eligible to apply to the Access Fund to cover their costs. The Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS) provides digital services which form the core of the RICHeS programme. It is managed by the ADS, and shares the same technical infrastructure and data repository. Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales is a core partner. Data from all the RICHeS facilities and all data generated via the Access Fund must be deposited with the HSDS or another CoreTrustSeal repository.

In October 2025 the HSDS launched an online Catalogue of Facilities and a separate Catalogue of Data. In addition, the HSDS is working closely with the Hartree Centre at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to develop collaborative virtual research environments for the visualisation and analysis of data which is beyond standard desktop and laptop computers, and our virtual desktop services will be launched on 1 June 2026. We also manage a small grants programme to support the deposit of additional datasets, and to provide opportunities to work with the Hartree software engineering team to develop more online tools. We have so far made 27 awards of up to £25,000 each. A second round will be launched in June 2026, with another £0.5m available. This talk will provide an introduction to the full range of services being offered, with a focus on those which may be of interest to CIfA members working in Wales, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

------------------------

Julian Richards is Professor of Archaeology at the University of York, where he researches information management and Viking archaeology. He was founding Director of the Archaeology Data Service, and the e-journal Internet Archaeology, both established in 1996, and he is now leading the development of the Heritage Science Data Service. He has pioneered providing Open Access to heritage data in the UK, for academic, professional, and public audiences. He is Vice-President of the European ARIADNE European Research Infrastructure for archaeology. He was awarded an OBE in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to Heritage and Digital Archiving.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

National Specialist Lead in Archiving for Heneb – The Trust for Welsh Archaeology with Sophie Edwards

Sophie will introduce Heneb and provide a brief overview of the archive system in Wales before talking about a pilot project Heneb have recently undertaken on behalf of Welsh Government to assess the archaeology collections in Welsh Museums. The project has considered collection size, accessibility, condition, significance, research and display potential, conservation requirements, and whether there is potential to refine/de-accession and re-use or discard any of this material to free up much needed space. She will conclude with some food for thought for the future of archaeological archives in Wales.   

------------------------

Sophie Edwards has been working in the archaeology sector for over 25 years, having worked in the field, on community projects, agri-environment schemes, the HER and in planning services, and has been an advocate for archiving within the former Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust for many years and now Heneb - the Trust for Welsh Archaeology. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Depositing data with the Heneb Historic Environment Record with Calli Rouse

The talk will cover depositing data with the Heneb HER via HEDDOS (Historic Environment Record Data Deposit Online System), give some insight into how we use that data and reflect on how the merger of the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts to form Heneb has affected the statutory HER in Wales.

------------------------

Calli Rouse is Heneb’s National Specialist Lead for the HER, overseeing the provision of the HER service across Wales, at both regional and strategic level.  Calli is also the current chair of ALGAO Cymru and the representative for Wales on the ALGAO UK HER group. Calli has over 20 years of experience in the archaeological sector, with over a decade of commercial field experience, followed by roles covering archaeological planning management, consultancy and the Historic Environment Record (HER).  Calli joined Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust in 2015 as HER Officer, becoming HER Manager in 2018. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Can't wait? 

You can catch up on any of our Group talks which you might have missed in the mean time. Head to the Wales Group YouTube playlist to view recordings of our previous sessions whilst you wait.

Event pricing

This event is free for all CIfA members to attend; this includes CIfA Group members, there is a fee of £5  for all non-members of CIfA.

If you are a not a CIfA or Group member you can join the group for an annual fee of £15 to attend this and any future digital bitesize CPD or networking event run by the Wales Group for free.

More information about joining a Group can be found on the Groups webpage or you can submit your details and payment information to join any groups immediately via this form.

If you are a CIfA member or a Group supporter you must be logged into your account to select the member rate price. 

Contact us
If you have any questions at all or require any assistance in registering or accessing this event please contact us: groups@archaeologists.net