A colour photographs of a person looking at black and white photographic prints housed in an archival envelope. Taken at the University of Brighton Design Archives.

The University of Brighton Design Archives  have received national recognition with grants totalling £180,000. The funding, £60,000 in each of the next three years, has been awarded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). This is the first time Brighton’s Design Archives have received HEFCE funding and it positions the university alongside well established collections and museums such as the Whitworth Art Gallery at Manchester and the Fitzwilliam at Cambridge.

Dr Catherine Moriarty, Curatorial Director, said: “That the Design Archives are recognized as having international significance is a major coup. We have argued and demonstrated their research value long and hard and it is a real achievement for our small team, for theFaculty and for the University.”

The funding followed a review of university museums and galleries, led by Sir Muir Russell, which resulted in HEFCE widening the remit of the university collections eligible for funding. Among other new names receiving recognition are the Women’s Library at London Metropolitan University and the British Cartoon Archive at Kent  University.