- engaging with visitors through in various ways, such as meeting & greeting, leading activities, or delivering guided tours
- taking part in biodiversity surveys, practical conservation and taking action for nature
- cataloguing our collections
- playing a musical instrument
- event volunteering
The benefits of volunteering
We know that every individual is motivated to volunteer for different reasons and has their own interests. We will strive to match these varying motivations and provide new opportunities for development where we can. Through volunteering with us, you could access the knowledge base of our friendly and enthusiastic colleagues, meet like-minded people, enjoy new social occasions and, above all, know that you are contributing as a valued member of ‘Team HES’. We recognise and celebrate the contributions and achievements of our volunteers. Examples include free access to our paid attractions, group outings and gatherings, concert and performance ticket giveaways, and participation in award programmes
What do our volunteers do:
Use the left and right arrows to scroll through and find out what our volunteers do.
At our sites
Our Visitor Connectors are volunteers who have one thing in common: a love of being around people as part on an excellent visitor experience in the settings of our unique castles, abbeys, cathedrals, forts and much more that we have in our care.
Our volunteering opportunities are designed to complement the unique aspects of a site and passions of our volunteers – for example, Duff House has a volunteer pianist; at Stanley Mills our volunteers teach sewing skills; and our volunteers at Fort George share wildlife information and provide guided tours of the chapel.
At our events
We recruit volunteers to provide support at a selection of our events, at locations such as Linlithgow Palace & Peel and Fort George.
Our event volunteers deliver to our excellent customer care standards through:
meeting & greeting, assisting with crowd marshalling, answering questions, providing information & giving directions and assisting with informal learning activities
With our Ranger Service
Our Ranger Service, based at Holyrood Park, Linlithgow Peel and the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, provides opportunities to volunteer in practical conservation and conservation surveys.
For practical conservation volunteering, groups from private businesses or local communities volunteer for just a day or on longer-term projects, including clearing litter, managing habitats, or assisting with some path and infrastructure maintenance.
Our conservation surveys provide a volunteering opportunity for anyone interested in gaining survey and conservation awareness or wanting to promote their local biodiversity through monitoring rare and endangered plants and animals.
With HES Archives and the National Record of the Historic Environment
Did you know that HES has an archive of over five million drawings, photographs, negatives and prints all about Scotland’s built heritage? Our volunteers provide research and add important pieces of information that enrich our knowledge of the historic environment.
Micro-volunteering
Micro-volunteering refers to easy to access, no-commitment, in-person or digital tasks that take about 30 minutes or less to complete. You can get involved in micro-volunteering on an ad-hoc basis without making an ongoing commitment, and you can take part from anywhere using a smartphone or in person.
Our micro-volunteers help us to monitor the impact of Climate Change at our sites by submitting images through our Monument Monitor project or take part in beach cleans or litter picks at one of our 12 participating sites, such as Blackness Castle, Holyrood Park, and Broch of Gurness.
Digital volunteering
Volunteers engage digitally with Historic Environment Scotland via contributing to our online collections with Scran and Canmore, and via the trove.scot project.
Through our website, Canmore, we provide access to the archive and data from the National Record of Scotland’s Historic Environment. If you register, you can contribute your own research digitally with MyCanmore.
Community Archaeology
In collaboration with our partners, local community groups are able to take part in our community archaeology digs by joining us in the trenches and trying their hand at excavating and other archaeological activities including finds handling, finds washing, and drawing practice.
If you are looking for information about paid employment with Historic Environment Scotland, please visit the Work with Us section of our website
