National Museums Scotland

National Museums Scotland has been recognised as an Independent Research Organisation (IRO) by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Only 11 museums hold IRO status and National Museums Scotland is the only museum organisation in Scotland to have achieved this status.
The status is granted by Research Councils UK to organisations which make a considerable contribution to research. This enables them to apply for funding to the research councils under the same terms as higher education institutions.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council exists to support world-class research that furthers the understanding of human culture and creativity, from ancient history to architecture and digital content. National Museums Scotland’s new IRO status will create more opportunities for partnership work amongst academic and other research institutions.
Jane Carmichael, Director of Collections said;
‘We are delighted that our application has been successful. This opens up considerable opportunities for future research at National Museums Scotland and to share that knowledge widely.’
Current research themes at National Museums Scotland range across national and international collections and encompass a wide range of subjects from biodiversity and climate change to analysis of archaeological finds, studies in Scottish engineering, and modern dress design. Research includes work on Scotland’s military history, as well as Roman and native interaction, the aborigine collections from the Canadian Great Lakes and the ethnomusicology collection assembled by Jean Jenkins.