Zarah holds a PhD in Chemistry from Dublin City University. Her thesis explored structure-functional relationships in organic polymeric materials, which led to postdoctoral research in wood conservation using adaptable polymeric materials at the University of Cambridge. Her research has since grown to encompass fundamental studies of bio-based materials for applications including heritage conservation, as well as sustainability in heritage conservation. Zarah is currently a Marie Sklodowska Curie International Fellow (Career Restart) with a joint appointment at the University of Basel and the ETH Zurich, in Switzerland. Her research focuses on building and controlling nature-inspired materials with adaptive properties across multiple length scales, for applications in biomedicine and heritage conservation. She continues to promote sustainability in the heritage sector, and across materials science, through her outreach work and recent publications.
Emma holds a PhD in Archaeological Conservation and Classical Reception Studies from the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Her thesis explored the conservation and archaeological significance of plaster casts of ancient sculptures, focusing on the casts held by the Greek and Roman Department at the British Museum. She has particular interests in ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and wall-paintings, and has completed practical placements in the conservation departments of the V&A (sculpture conservation) and the British Museum (stone, wall-paintings & mosaics conservation).
She is currently based at the Department of Classics, KCL, where she is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow. Her research project is ‘The Evolution of Technology and the Interpretation of Classical Sculpture’. By examining the impact of 19th-20th century technological change on the scholarly interpretation of ancient objects, this project will reveal the profound effect of advances in sculpture reproduction on the understanding of ancient sculpture, as well as exploring how new technologies continue to exert significant influence in this field.
I am a Lecturer at the Centre for Sustainable Heritage and Course director for the MSc Sustainable Heritage. After the completion of my first degree in Archaeology and Art History at the National Kapoditrian University in Athens, Greece, I completed a MA in Cultural Heritage Studies and a PhD in Heritage Management at University College London, both funded by the Greek State Scholarship Foundation. My doctoral research entitled ‘Conflict Resolution in the Management of In-Situ Museums’ adopted an innovative interdisciplinary approach merging negotiation theories with the heritage management field in the case of in-situ museums, modern structures that enclose in situ conserved archaeological remains. The completion of the thesis was followed by research collaboration at University of York where I investigated, as part of the 1807 Commemorated project team (a project funded by AHRC), the ways in which visitors to exhibitions, commemorating the abolition of the slave trade in the UK, engaged or disengaged from the history of enslavement. During this project I developed an interest in the role of heritage in social inclusion as well as in models of community engagement in the heritage sector. This led me to work as the New Audience Advocate at the Audience Research and Advocacy Unit of the Science Museum. Other research projects that I have initiated include an anthropological study on the declining Greek island of Antikythera regarding local perceptions towards the archaeological site known as ‘The Castle’ and a nationwide survey in Greece exploring the barriers that prevent Greeks from visiting museums and archaeological sites. The projects were funded by the Greek State Scholarship Foundation and the Initiative for Heritage Conservancy respectively. I have also worked in several museums as archaeologist and curator including the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, the archaeological museum in Ancient Olympia and the Museum of London.
My research interests combine the fields of museology, cultural heritage, anthropology, reception studies, heritage management and public archaeology. My expertise lies in the areas of negotiation theories and conflict management in the heritage sector, value-led heritage management, community engagement and participatory planning models, audience development, and the application of qualitative and quantitative research methods to heritage studies.
I have published in a diverse range of journals and edited books and I have co-authored the book Representing Enslavement and Abolition: Ambiguous Engagements published by Routledge.
Alan J. Hogg, Jr. founded the Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies when he was a student at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology in 1995/96. Since then, his scientific experience has expanded from archaeological conservation to include neuroscience and atmospheric chemistry. His current position at the Sweetland Center for Writing at the University of Michigan allows him to focus on teaching ‘New Media Writing’ (with a focus on presenting scientific research), and ‘Writing in the Sciences’ to undergraduate and graduate science students. He also advises individual students and faculty about their writing, and is a freelance science writer and editor. Alan has a PhD from University of Michigan, Atmospheric and Space Science, a Certificate in Archaeological Conservation from UCL and a BA in English from the University of Michigan.
Emily Kaplan is an objects conservator at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). She works on exhibit preparation at the museum’s New York and Washington DC facilities and specializes in technical studies and preventive conservation. Emily holds a Master’s in Art Conservation from Queen’s University and has done internships at several museums in the United States and worked at archaeological sites in Pakistan, El Salvador, Peru, and Turkey. Emily began working at the NMAI in 1994, stationed at the museum’s storage facility in New York. Since 1999, she has been working at the museum’s Cultural Resources Center in Maryland, when she was detailed to the Collections Management Department as Assistant Move Coordinator for Conservation during the five-year project to move the collection from New York to Maryland.
Bethania Reis Velloso is the director of the Centro de Conservação e Restauração de Bens Culturais Móveis (CECOR) at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.