International call for Conservation expertise

Experts from Cardiff deliver specialist training

The expertise of a leading Conservation specialist has been sought for an international training project.

Cardiff Reader in Conservation Jane Henderson has devised preventative conservation training to benefit those working in museums in Myanmar in a special British Council-funded project.

The long-standing practitioner led sessions with Care of Collections alumna Amy Crossman of the Imperial War Museum over a week at the National Museum Yangon in January.

The International Museum Academy Myanmar is a British Council programme, developed to build the capacity of Myanmar’s museum sector through research, continued professional development, advocacy and policy dialogue.

The Preventative Conservation training brought together theory and best practice in cleaning, handling, relative humidity, light management, packing and movement. With knowledge transfer a key element of the project, wraparound training is to enable participants to build the confidence and skills to cascade the flow of knowledge more widely over coming months.

Delegates from across the country, formerly known as Burma, attended the five-day course.

Internationally-respected conservation practitioner Jane Henderson (FIIC, PACR, FHEA, MSc, BSc) has taught on undergraduate and postgraduate Conservation programmes at Cardiff since 1984.

Throughout her career in the heritage sector and academia, Jane has served on various national and international bodies, including for the Institute for Conservation (ICON) and numerous museums and galleries in and beyond Wales.

In February she will deliver the opening keynote From the Past to the Future (did we miss anything): The Rise of Risk Assessment at the 2019 Australian Conservation Conference Managing Risks to Collections, alongside fellow Cardiff alumnus Joel Taylor, Senior Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute.

She said: “The tasks that conservators in Myanmar face are similar to those of conservators round the world, but the resources available to them are very different. Teaching there reminds me how fortunate we are with the equipment at Cardiff University and challenges me to think how we could operate more sustainably as a profession.”

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

The School of History, Archaeology and Religion offers degrees at all levels in Conservation, from undergraduate (BSc Conservation of Objects in Museums and Archaeology) to postgraduate, including MPhil and PhD.