Job position
PhD in Heritage Science (see project description below).
The candidate must be a motivated student with a physical science/bioinformatics background and an interest in heritage science including conservation science, archaeological science.
The student will have the opportunity to work in the Imaging and Sensing for Archaeology, Art history and Conservation (ISAAC) Lab at NTU and in the PHOENIX collaborative research project at the University of Namur (Belgium).
This PhD studentship is jointly funded by Nottingham Trent University in the UK and University of Namur in Belgium. The studentship covers the tuition fees and stipend. The successful candidate will be registered at both universities (double graduation).
Exceptional international student will be considered for an international student scholarship to cover the fee gap between international and UK students.
Any inquiry about the PhD project can be sent to Prof. Olivier Deparis (olivier.deparis@unamur.be) or Prof. Haida Liang (haida.liang@ntu.ac.uk).
Application must be sent here.
Project description
Parchments are a writing material made from treated animal skins used for centuries to record important writings such as legal documents. In Europe and West Asia, it was the main writing surface from around the 4th century to around the 15th century. Understanding the origin, making and degradation of this important material will help to preserve the written record of European civilisation. Parchment is processed from animal skin, a fibrous material containing mainly collagen which degrades with time as any biological material. Over centuries, collagen in parchments suffers denaturation (through oxidation and hydrolysis) which can lead ultimately to its gelatinization. The identification of animal species from which parchment originates (calf, sheep or goat) in connection with the making of manuscripts and their economic value has given rise to a new discipline: biocodicology. Zoological mass spectrometry (ZooMS), an invasive technique, has long been used for identification of animal species in archaeological samples at the molecular level and its more recent micro-invasive variant (eZooMS) has been applied to historical manuscripts. More recently, in a limited preliminary study, machine learning (ML) applied to the non-invasive optical technique of reflectance spectroscopy succeeded in identifying species in historical manuscripts, demonstrating the potential of non-invasive optical techniques aided by AI in parchment studies.
In this project, we will extend the application of non-invasive analysis to imaging methods of a larger range of relevant modalities such as reflectance and fluorescence hyperspectral imaging to record the statistical variation across a parchment and manuscripts to improve the accuracy of machine learning or AI analysis. 3D topography and tomography information will be recorded using the non-invasive imaging method of optical coherence tomography (OCT). The aim is to develop a workflow that utilises multimodal and multiscale (from microscopic to macroscopic) non-invasive imaging techniques to capture the range of relevant information, e.g. related to the animal species, age, part of the animal used, degradation and difference in the manufacturing process. An AI based method will be developed to disentangle the information. Where possible samples will be taken to be performed with the more precise proteomics analysis as reference and for verification of the results. In order to train the AI model, this project will be data-driven where a large collection of parchment/manuscripts will be analysed, which is only possible with non-invasive imaging techniques. Manuscripts from different dates, from regions exposed to the atmosphere to inner regions of a manuscript will be compared to understand the various markers. Measurements will be carried out on Belgium archives and on British historical archives with different manufacturing tradition. The project will benefit our understanding of one of the most important writing materials – a method to date a document based on the parchment and provide surveys of the conservation state of the material.
Scientific environment
At Nottingham, UK
Nottingham Trent University's ISAAC Research Centre specialises in developing cutting edge, mobile, non-invasive and non-destructive imaging, spectroscopy and remote sensing systems tailored for cultural heritage applications. These systems, along with a range of complementary state-of-the-art commercial instruments, are used both in our ISAAC Mobile Lab (MOLAB) for in situ analysis of cultural assets at museums and heritage sites, and as a FIXLAB facility at our premises. Along with the novel data science methods of the ISAAC DigiLab, the instruments are applied to solving conservation, art history, archaeology and other arts and humanities research questions. The ISAAC Research Centre provides Mobile Lab and DigiLab access to all Heritage Institutions, including museums, art galleries, libraries, archives, and archaeological and historic sites, where the mobile and long-range equipment can safely assess the objects and monuments in situ and at a distance, without the need for scaffolding.
At Namur, BE
Teams at NISM institute work on various research topics in organic chemistry, physical chemistry, chemistry of materials, surface science, solid state chemistry and physics from theoretical and experimental points of view. It aims at exchanging and sharing skills and ideas in the field of synthesis and functionalization of molecular systems and innovative materials, of 0 to 3 dimensions. It also aims at facilitating the rational design of solids with specific architectures and surface properties, while developing advanced techniques for the study of their physicochemical properties.
The main objective of naXys institute is the study of complex systems, by means of the analysis of real-world data, their modelling through mathematics and numerical simulations, and their control and optimization. The different poles of the institute reflect its interdisciplinary nature. Research topics and expertise include pure or applied mathematics, theoretical biology, economics, astronomy, quantum physics, artificial intelligence and robotics. The institute organizes skill development sessions and regular seminars to promote interactions between its members.
The Heritages, Transmissions & Inheritances (PaTHs) Institute is a federation of research centres and groups that have emerged in and around the Arts Faculty of UNamur in recent years. Bringing together the researchers of those entities, it aims to encourage a diachronic approach to social and cultural phenomena in the broadest sense. It also aims to strengthen collaboration between several “human sciences” that are usually perceived as complementary, but whose subjects and research methods are in fact very heterogeneous.
