Current activities
At the moment, I am coordinator of the Netherlands Institute for Conservation+Art+Science+ (NICAS). As coordinator, I'm responsible for:
- the daily management together with the Chair of NICAS;
- drafting and implementing strategic policy documents;
- initiating and tracking collaborative research projects;
- finding funding opportunities for NICAS-related research;
- keeping track of scientific developments within the field;
- maintaining and expanding the national and international research network;
- organising outreach events, courses and lectures.
NICAS is a network organisation initiated, by the division for Physical Sciences of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Rijksmuseum (RM), the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), the Faculties of Humanities and Science of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) as lead partners. NICAS seeks to integrate the disciplines of art history, conservation, the natural sciences (chemistry and physics) and data science (computer science and mathematics) in a lasting framework that strives to an optimal understanding, presentation and conservation of cultural heritage objects
Past activities
I have worked at the department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage as Research and Postgraduate Coordinator.
I was responsible for the coordination of the post-initial phase of the Conservation and Restoration programme. After the Master’s phase, students are not yet ready to enter the professional field as trained conservator-restorers, but are so-called ‘restauratiekundigen’, experts in the basic theoretical, practical and ethical principles of the profession of conservator-restorer. In order to become a starting conservation professional, the student needs to complete an additional two-year post-initial track, during which they are employed by the university as restorers-in-training. After this phase, a Professional Doctorate in Conservation-Restoration is conferred, and graduates are ready to enter the professional field.
As Research Coordinator my main responsibilities were coordinating PhD-research carried out at the department, both supporting the staff in existing PhD-projects and exploring possibilities for new PhD-research and assisting prospective PhD-candidates in drafting research proposals. In addition, I was involved in establishing a research profile for the Amsterdam C&R-programme, as well as finding an answer to the question of what the main criteria of (PhD-)research in conservation are: what should be it main subject and focus, what are the research questions that are unique to the discipline? Finally, I assisted in the preparation of grant proposals for external research funding, often involving consortia of international partners.
I was also the study adviser for the Conservation and Restoration programme. That means that I provided guidance for Master students of the programme about study behaviour, personal problems affecting progress, conflicts with teachers, funding opportunities, etc. In addition, I provided information about the application and selection procedure of the programme to interested external candidates.