A $15 million gift from Minsmere Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the Cripps Foundation, will further elevate the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation to research institute status. This builds on an earlier gift of $6.9 million to the University of Melbourne from the Foundation.
The Institute already has demonstrated expertise working to secure the cultural health of people around the world, particularly in Asia and the Pacific. An important focus will be strengthening partnerships with Indigenous communities to keep knowledge alive.
The Institute’s work preserving culturally significant material has expanded to address the growing risk of cultural heritage loss from factors including climate change, civil unrest and mass migration. It will also grow the workforce of skilled conservation graduates and cultural heritage researchers.
“Access to cultural, historical and scientific heritage is at the heart of human capability. Cultural material that is well preserved, secure and authentic is important for community empowerment, freedom of speech, democracy and institutional integrity.”
Professor Robyn Sloggett – Director of the Robert Cripps Institute for Cultural Conservation
The Cripps Foundation is a global philanthropic organisation with a mission to support society through substantial gifts to universities, colleges, schools, churches, hospitals, charitable organisations and museums. It has had an enduring partnership with the University, and especially with the Grimwade Centre, for over 25 years.
The 2013 gift brought a relatively new discipline into sharp focus, and provided fit-for-purpose teaching and research spaces, a visible public presence on campus and a named professorial chair in cultural materials conservation.
Building on this legacy, the Robert Cripps Institute for Cultural Conservation will exist as a new type of community and industry-aligned research institute in the humanities. It will address our fragmented understanding of what cultural materials – from rock art to easel paintings – are being lost, why it is important and to whom it matters.
The Institute’s work will be underpinned by the understanding that cultural, archival and scientific heritage are intrinsically linked to community knowledge, wellbeing, empowerment, equity and cohesion – driving economic, social and educational benefits.
Working at a larger scale, the Institute will translate the Grimwade Centre’s community engagement and teaching into globally impactful research. The trusted partnership with the Cripps Foundation will enable the new Institute to lift its science and research specialities from the current six research groups to eight by 2030. It will increase graduate researchers from 21 to 45 over the same timeframe.
It will also allow more flexibility in programming, with introduction of new micro-certificates for practitioners, industry aligned shortcourses, and priority on-Country and Indigenous-led programs.
The Institute brings together the humanities and sciences for new research that supports individuals and communities to protect their cultural legacy and ensure it is available to them and to future generations. This is key to understanding, equity and empowerment.
Diverse income streams from teaching, research, commercialisation and philanthropy supports the Institute’s ambitions.
First published on 8 September 2025.
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