RESEARCH
I am interested in how conservation can be used to document and support the transmission of skill and material knowledge, and in examining the standards, language and methods of material care as a form of expertise. My work combines the handling, repair and risk management of material heritage with knowledge exchange and creative engagement.
In my collaborative projects, I often specialize in Tibetan and Himalayan material culture.
On fieldwork in the Western Himalayas for my dissertation, 2018
Dry cleaning 17th century painted stone panels in Mustang, Nepal
CURRENT AND UPCOMING PROJECTS
From 2021 to 2024, I was an Isaac Newton Trust-funded postdoctoral Research Associate in Conservation at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), University of Cambridge. During this time, I worked with MAA’s stores move project as a conservator and researcher-in-practice with a focus on safe handling, access and ethical care.
In 2025, I remain at MAA as a research associate with the AHRC-funded Hidden in Plain Sight project, a collaboration between MAA, Cambridge University Library and Queen Mary University London that investigates religious texts or textual objects transformed through use.
I will also be continuing with my impact-led research projects in the Himalayas, working with local colleagues in museums and religious institutions to develop collections care policies, resources, training and heritage risk management practices that are sustainable to their unique social, economic and environmental context.
(above) Working with colleagues at the National Museum of Bhutan on the natural history specimens, 2023
(left) Managing the effects of high humidity on textiles, 2023
PAST PROJECTS
In 2022, I organized a panel for the ICOM-CC Theory, History and Ethics of Conservation Working Group: “The right to decay: A panel discussion on inherent vice in conservation and creative practice”. The event was not recorded but a small packet of readings selected by the panellists is available here.
In January 2020, I organized a public event for Buddhism Inside/Out at the SOAS Centre for Buddhist Studies on the theme of the death of the body in Buddhism. A recording of my introduction – “Instrumentation and death in Buddhist material culture” – is available online thanks to the support of Khyentse Foundation.
In 2019 I led a workshop at the British Museum on the interpretation and handling of Tibetan and Himalayan ritual objects made with human remains. See a short article about the exhibition following in The Guardian about this, here.
For more information, see also TALKS AND READINGS.
Inscribed skull vessel on display at the British Museum with practitioner strategies for appropriate care in Tantra: Enlightenment to Revolution, 2020-21