Joint IAEA–ANSTO Workshop on Nuclear and Isotopic Techniques for Cultural Heritage

In February 2021 ANSTO became an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Collaborating Centre to support IAEA activities using nuclear techniques for development and sustainable environment protection.

Building on two previous Collaborating Centres, the current Agreement is focused on a broad work plan that includes tackling provenance and the authentication of products of illicit trade; the use of isotopes to study water and climate change;  the use of nuclear techniques to understand the impact of environmental and atmospheric pollutants and the use of nuclear and isotopic techniques to investigate art, archaeology and cultural heritage materials. As part of this new collaborating centre, we have planned to organize a series of activities to introduce the latest research works and results as well as innovative technological developments. 

We are proud to announce the first meeting: the Joint IAEA–ANSTO Workshop on Nuclear and Isotopic Techniques for Cultural Heritage which will be organized together with the IAEA and hosted as an on-line meeting by ANSTO from 6 to 9 December 2021. 

Background

Over the last decades, neutron, photon, and ion beams have been established as an innovative and attractive investigative approach for the study and conservation of cultural heritage. ANSTO offers a wide range of unique nuclear-beam techniques to look at the structure and dynamics of materials from the atomic to the macroscopic scale providing complementary information. These powerful and versatile tools are superb probes to be used in tandem with traditional methods to extract maximum information from an object requiring either minimal or no sampling or invasive procedures.

Collaboration between institutions, countries, and experts across a variety of disciplines are critical ingredients to reading the deep past. The big breakthroughs which change our thinking and knowledge are expected to come at the intersection of the major disciplines. Increasingly apparent to scientists, science policy makers and governmental agencies is that an understanding of mankind’s past and its impact on the environment is central to tackling the problems of global warming, biodiversity, landscape management and sustainability.

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the places in which we live and work. We recognise and respect the enduring relationship they have with their lands and waters, and honour the Elders, past and present.