Purpose

Bristol Museums and Museums Development South
West (MDSW) will submit a joint application to become a Co-Hub
leading the South West delivery of a Wales and West programme for
DiSSCo UK (Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK), led by
Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales, Cardiff (a UK Independent
Research Organisation). DiSSCo UK is a £155 million, 10-year
initiative to digitise UK natural science collections. Funded by UK
Research and Innovation (UKRI) and led by the Arts and Humanities
Research Council (AHRC) in partnership with the Natural History
Museum (NHM), DiSSCo aims to create a digital, distributed national
research infrastructure.
This project will make collections accessible for multidisciplinary
research and engagement. It will unlock their critical potential to
support climate resilience and ecological recovery. This first
funding opportunity has two goals 1) mass digitisation of key
collections and 2) building wider museum sector capacity.

Content

EDM gave approval for Bristol Museums and
Museums Development South West to apply to the Arts and Humanities
Research Council for UK Research and Innovation funding for up to
£499,000. It was agreed that Bristol Museums and MDSW could
accept and spend the grant (ie deliver the project) if
successful.

Alternative options considered

Bristol Museums and MDSW have worked to lay
the foundations of this project for 10 years, to lead the UK in
this area from a regional perspective and to secure a place
alongside national museums and major university museums in this
first round of funding. Not applying for this first round of
funding would lead to a loss of leadership.