AN ART academic from Essex University is set to catalogue the art collection at Colchester hospitals.

Dr Majella Munro, who completed her PhD in art history at the university in 2011, will lead the project examining artwork at the Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust.

The first phase of the project, running until the end of April, has been funded by the national Arts and Humanities Research Council through its Cultural Engagement Fund initiative.

It aims to improve how the collection is looked after and displayed, giving better surroundings for patients, visitors and staff, and will also give students the chance to improve their skills.

The health trust has a sizeable art collection, located across its sites, including large sculptures, oil paintings, ceramic mosaics and photographic prints.