Servants were central to the functioning of country houses across Europe and beyond: from the kitchens to the stables; from emptying bedpans to managing the estate. Their working lives have attracted the attention of both historians and heritage professionals, however, country house servants as people remain surprisingly neglected. We lack detailed, scholarly and comparative research on their accommodation, social and familial networks, and experiences, particularly for the period before c.1850. Whilst recent years have seen something of an upturn in interest in these "hidden" lives in various parts of Europe, research remains localised and lacks a broader comparative framework. The proposed network seeks to provide such a framework and nurture further research by building a sustainable community of researchers with a shared interest in country house servants and a common conviction that comparative perspectives can offer important new insights. It is inter-disciplinary, inter-sectoral and international, drawing together scholars from history, art history and literary studies; linking academics with heritage professionals, and involving network members from eight countries across northern and western Europe. It is also an open network: 21 core members will participate throughout, but open calls for participants will be issued for each of the four workshops. These workshops will deepen membership of the network by engaging the same core group cross a series of discussions; encourage novel interactions between different disciplines and sectors; highlight commonalities and differences in the experiences and lives of country house servants across Europe, and nurture ECRs and PhD students by helping them to create robust and sustainable networks of their own. They will cover four broad themes: the first links to research on consumption and the material culture of the country house, exploring how the accommodation and possessions of servants varied across time and between countries; the second focuses servants' social and familial networks, bringing together big data projects with research on the lived experiences of servants to nuance our understanding of the geographical and social mobility of servants, and their responsibilities within their own households and families; the third explores servants' lives through their representation in literary and visual media, asking what these tell us about how servants were perceived and how about their life experiences. The final workshops will showcase and critically assess the ways in which servants' lives are interpreted and presented in houses open to the public. The research discussed at each workshop will feed into a virtual exhibition on the hidden lives of servants in country houses across northern and western Europe, based around key objects, individuals and archival sources. This provides a showcase for research and a important mechanism for engaging with the broader research community and the public, tapping into and nourishing a widespread interest in country houses and the lives of servants seen in he popularity of TV shows such as Downton Abbey. A collection of essays drawn from the workshops will be published open access to facilitate further dissemination of the research to a geographically and sectorally broad audience.

Context: In January 2022, the Newcastle Material Culture Analytical Suite (NeMCAS) was established through CapCo, with support from Newcastle's World Class Laboratories fund, upgrading and expanding equipment for imaging and analysis of archaeological and heritage collections. We offer an unrivalled range of expertise in heritage materials including glass, metals, ceramics, environmental and organic artefacts, and are one of the few places in the world that can offer integrated thin section analysis and µCT imaging, optimised for humanities research. NeMCAS has seen considerable internal and external demand in the first 18 months of operation, and the potential applications and benefits are diverse. We have already supported work by academics and stakeholders for example: Additional research for projects funded by AHRC, Leverhulme, EPSRC Enabled new research funded by BBSRC, British Academy, AHRC, EU commission Contributed to research and an exhibition for the Great North Museum Conservation work for English Heritage and Norwich Castle Museum Commercial analysis of concrete additives for a British building materials company Other applications include non-destructive internal imaging of a wide range of cultural objects and archaeological materials, taphonomic experiments to inform preservation and conservation including impacts of climate and environmental change, and multiproxy analysis of archaeological sediments and heritage materials to understand the local environment in which objects have been deposited. Challenge 1: there is a huge demand for sample preparation for large-format thin section analysis (required for a wide range of analytical techniques). Following the closure of facilities at Stirling, there is nowhere else in the UK that can provide this for external users. Researchers now outsource to Europe and USA, where facilities uniformly have backlogs of >6 months. This includes the academic and UK commercial archaeology sectors and IROs such as Historic Environment Scotland. Challenge 2: The combination of 2D and 3D imaging is becoming the standard in areas such as soil science to provide the most comprehensive information on composition and structure. In archaeological and heritage science research however, µCT has not been easily accessible. The majority of µCT facilities in the UK are designed for STEM or Medicine, and are not easily accessible for SHAPE research, especially for the research base in the north. The demand for access to our µCT facilities highlights a growing interest in the potential of this approach to investigate questions related to object composition, ancient technology, for informing conservation, and for recording materials such as teeth/bone and their micro-environmental context prior to destructive sampling for isotopes and aDNA. Crucially, there are no UK facilities where researchers can combine both of these methodologies. Aims and Objectives: Our aims are to: Provide a new dedicated, fully accessible laboratory facility to co-locate equipment for sample preparation and analysis with capacity for large numbers of users Purchase an additional bespoke µCT and high specification PCs, to increase capacity, resolution, and enable rapid automated analysis of high-demand objects Provide a space where materials and their surrounding soil/sediment matrix can be simultaneously sampled for further analyses, in combination with µCT and ultra-high-resolution microscopy Establish the administrative and management infrastructure to enable external users to access the facility for collaborative and commercial work.

The Black Lives Matter movement sparked fervent debate among the British public about how to come to terms with the cultural legacies of empire, but discussions have largely focussed on statues, paintings, and the built environment. The colonial underpinnings of Classical music have not been scrutinised in the same way. This has pressing implications for our present-day understanding of the cultural legacies of empire and for the lack of diversity among Classical music's audiences. Classical music's historical narratives rarely recognise the contributions of enslaved and colonised people, which has an exclusionary effect on participation. In a recent survey of children learning a musical instrument by the ABRSM only 2% of learners identified as Black or Black British (ABRSM, 2021). Accordingly, Classical music's proven positive effects for health, social development, and learning are not being accessed widely. This project will bring together an interdisciplinary team to unravel how the history of Western Classical instrumental music is related to that of the British Empire and the consequences of this relationship for how it is presented in our museums and classrooms. It will inform wider studies of empire and its cultural legacies, develop new technology to encourage diverse audiences to engage with Classical music and its histories, and shape curatorial and pedagogical practice, with benefits for humanities scholars, computer scientists, curators, teachers, and the wider public. The team will approach the topic via three interrelated work packages (WPs): WP 1: Economic Legacies WP 1 will ask long-overdue questions about how the profits of the slave trade and colonialism supported musical activity. It will scrutinise the sources of financial support behind early orchestras, conservatoires, and music collections. Many, including the Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra and the Philharmonic Society of London, which acquired their wealth through the cotton trade and slave ownership, still exist today. The colonial networks and connections discovered will demonstrate Classical music's connections to broader global history. WP 2: Sounding Imperialism: Musical Exchange and Resistance WP 2 will analyse Classical music's role in imperial projects in "performing" the ideologies of empire and connecting its disparate and distant locations. It will also highlight the influence of colonised subjects' music, ideas, instruments, genres, and practices on the development of Classical music. Classical instrumental music was imagined as the apex of Western creativity and performed frequently by philharmonic societies organised by colonial settlers. This WP will make the repertoire, performance practices, and discourses surrounding Classical music-making in colonial cities in India and the Caribbean widely available through open access publications and a digital archive. WP 3: Musical Trade WP 3 will trace the patterns of imperial coercion and trade underpinning the global spread of Western classical music by mapping the movements of musicians, musical ideas, and artefacts through imperial networks. Working closely with our partner organisations, it will trace the imperial collecting practices and ideologies behind the music collections acquired by the British Museum in the 19th century (now in the British Library); sheet music, instruments, and musical themed sculptures and paintings at English Heritage country houses Audley End and Brodsworth Hall; and the provenance and circulation of materials involved in the construction of instruments at the Royal College of Music Museum. Working with black community groups, teachers, and curators, the team will communicate the inclusive stories that emerge to school students and the public through teaching resources, new digital and immersive technologies, exhibitions contextualising the colonial connections of collection items, and a programme of public engagement and outreach events.

This project proposes operationalisation (a method to provide measurable observation for abstract concepts) for transferable risk assessment and a value-based decision support tool. Supported by this approach, the overarching aim of this project is therefore to develop innovative methods for understanding risks of climate change for heritage that allow for multiscale analysis and scalable approaches, bridging the gaps between local knowledge and global data, and from local vulnerability to global risks. To this end, this project will: a) develop a set of operationalised indicators/metrics for relevant determinants of climate change; b) develop a locally adaptable protocol for stakeholders' engagement in the identification of relevant determinants of climate impacts that acknowledge and celebrate diversity in cultural contexts; c) develop a climate adaptation decision support tool to evaluate relevance of assessment approaches for different spatial scales; d) explore the challenges and opportunities of an operationalisation approach to climate change-heritage risk. Addressing a complex, wide and research-intensive subject, this project unfolds several organisational, scientific, technical, technological and cultural heritage-oriented elements. The project team includes four research partners, together bringing significant experience in climate change and heritage and requisite expertise in physical sciences, social sciences and humanities and technology. The team can significantly contribute to safeguarding and protecting their region's coastal heritage but also to the global discussion of the integration of climate impacts assessment on cultural heritage through the close collaboration with UNESCO's Advisory body, ICCROM and case study stakeholders. SASCHA will develop methods for assessing, interpreting, and communicating climate change risks for heritage, while also supporting effective policy development and heritage management.

Stonehenge, Britain's iconic prehistoric monument, continues to fascinate. Thanks to recent research including a new series of excavations undertaken over the last 10 years, the public's appetite for the story of Stonehenge is a voracious as ever, demonstrated by countless documentaries, popular books and a new visitor centre at the site. Here we wish engage new audiences with the remarkable detailed evidence for the consumption of food at Stonehenge, that has recently come to light through the Feeding Stonehenge Project (FSP) funded by the AHRC. Food is central to all our lives, forming the structure of our days and lying at the heart of many social events. At the same time, food is the focus of many health concerns, with advice on the quality, quantity, type and source of food never far from the front page or the screen. This project will tap into this public appetite for all things edible by providing a prehistoric perspective on how foods were treated (acquired, prepared and consumed) in Neolithic Britain. We will show how scientists have made these discoveries through examination and molecular analysis of bones and artefacts, focusing on those recently excavated from the Stonehenge monumental complex. Through these twin core themes (food and science), we aim to substantially extend the reach and significance of the original research. To do this we will embed a post-doctoral researcher within English Heritage (EH) during their temporary exhibition "Feast! Food and Feasting at Stonehenge''. As an archaeological scientist, the PDRA will train staff and volunteers, and collaborate with the EH interpretation team to develop creative engagement activities whilst ensuring that these are aligned to the original Feeding Stonehenge research. In addition to the exhibition, we will bring in specialists (food interpreters and artists) and work with the local community to recreate some of the food procurement and culinary practices at the visitor centre through a series of workshops designed to engage the public. Working with the EH educational team and STEM Learning, the largest provider of science education and careers support to schools, we will develop primary and secondary schools resources to enthuse young scientists in the scientific aspects of the original research. Finally, we will create and deliver workshops to engage families adn young people at national cultural events through expertise and networks developed by Cardiff University's outreach group, Guerilla Archaeology. Guerilla Archaeology takes archaeology to new audiences at music festivals; these hugely popular 3-4 day events are fast becoming the most exciting places to creatively engage with research, and provide the potential to bring entirely new audiences to prehistory. Guerilla Archaeology will help us to deliver pop-up, provocative and highly interactive events that make the past present for younger audiences, and stress the important role that both scientific enquiry and cultural reflection can bring to our understanding of ancient, modern and future lives. We will evaluate the effectiveness of transferring our key messages to the large number of visitors to the Stonehenge Visitors Centre, festival goers and the local community using embedded evaluation, face to face surveys and online questionnaires. By end of the project, will we have transferred knowledge to EH staff, artists and food interpreters, members of the community local to Stonehenge, and the Guerialla Archaeology team who will be well placed to continue the dissemination activities leaving a legacy to this project. We also will have created a series of online schools resources that will be freely available and preserved for the foreseeable future and which can be easily expanded or used as template by other cultural heritage agencies.