Our Research Strategy

At Historic Environment Scotland our aim is for our research to drive our activity to investigate, care for, and promote Scotland’s historic environment, and to ensure the benefits of heritage are felt by people and communities across the country.

Research lies at the heart of understanding, caring for, and celebrating the historic environment.

Research helps us to understand and manage the historic environment effectively, and ensures that a well-informed evidence base underpins the decisions that are made about its care and promotion.

It also allows us to promote innovation, drive change and improvements in the historic environment sector, and to forge links with industry and local communities.

Our research activity at HES is guided by our Research Strategy.

This document lays out our vision for research, the principles and priorities that will guide our work, and our research priorities for the immediate future. Our Research Strategy guides our decision making and resourcing of research, including our decisions about which projects or researchers to partner with.