A Dynamic Alliance
Date: Friday 24 October 2008
Time: 12 noon
Photocall: Hall of Steel
Venue: Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
A Memorandum of Cooperation between Royal Armouries Museum and the University of Huddersfield will be signed. Knights in armour will join dignitaries to witness the new partnership between the two organisations.
The Royal Armouries and the University of Huddersfield on Friday 24 October will sign a Memorandum of Cooperation heralding an exciting new partnership between the two institutions.
The partnership will encourage new research in the field of arms and armour by bringing research students into contact with the collections at the Royal Armouries. This will ensure that the study of this diverse and important subject is nurtured and enhanced. In addition three prestigious Scholarships will be awarded to support world-class research.
Professor Andrew Ball, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Enterprise said:
“The Royal Armouries and the University of Huddersfield make ideal research partners; when the collections, the reputation and the expertise of the Armouries are combined with the specialisms and the facilities of the University, the research possibilities are vast. I am certain that the planned long term close collaboration will bring extensive mutual benefits across a wide range of research areas, disciplines and activities.”
Staff at the two institutions are already forging strong working relationships and today’s event celebrates three key appointments. The University has appointed Graeme Rimer, Academic Director of the Royal Armouries as a Visiting Professor, and Peter Smithurst, Senior Curator, as a Visiting Research Fellow. Paul Wilcock, Research Fellow at the University, has been appointed by the Royal Armouries as an Historical Consultant.
Graeme Rimer has worked within the collections department of the Royal Armouries since joining the museum at the Tower of London in 1975 and has developed a worldwide reputation for his knowledge of European arms and armour.
Graeme said:
“I am enormously grateful to the University of Huddersfield for nominating me for this great distinction. I have always been sure of the relevance of arms and armour to wider fields of study, and I therefore accept this rare and generous appointment to help both the Royal Armouries and the University of Huddersfield give our subject the prominence and relevance which I and my colleagues believe it deserves”.
Paul Wilcock is a Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield. Paul has been a stalwart supporter of the Royal Armouries since it opened its museum in Leeds in 1996. He has made many valuable contributions to the lecture and publication programmes promoted by the museum because of his special knowledge of edged weapons, particularly French Napoleonic military swords.
Peter Smithurst is a Senior Curator at the museum. He is an expert in the development of firearms and in particular the introduction of new forms of technology for their mass production in the middle years of the 19th century. This launched the processes which are still familiar today in the production of interchangeable parts in all aspects of engineering. Peter’s expertise and deep knowledge of this subject is something of direct relevance to aspects of the work of the departments of history and engineering.
The University and Royal Armouries Museum will also be working together in the areas of History, Sociology & Politics, Costume Design, Exhibition Design, Precision Engineering, Forensic Science, and Criminology.
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For further information please contact:
Andrea Long
Royal Armouries Museum
Tel: 0113 220 1979
Email: andrea.long@armouries.org.uk
Jenny Grainger, University of Huddersfield.
Tel: 01484 472982
Email: j.c.grainger@hud.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
Royal Armouries is the national museum of Arms and Armour as well as being the oldest museum in the UK comprising sites at the Tower of London, Leeds and Fort Nelson in Portsmouth, and with a permanent home in the Frazier International History Museum, Louisville, Kentucky.
The University of Huddersfield welcomes over 22,750 students every year to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in: sciences, engineering, technology, IT, computing, business and managements studies including logistics, tourism and marketing, design, textiles, architecture, law and accountancy, education and teacher training, health, the social sciences, humanities and the arts.
