My background is in science, having obtained a B.Sc (Hons) in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Malta. However, I have always been interested in the field of cultural heritage. In fact, my undergraduate dissertation was ‘A Comparative Study of the Effects of Cleaning on Historic Papers’, where I worked in conjunction with the Diagnostic Science Laboratories and the Books and Paper Conservation Section at the Heritage Malta. I also had the opportunity to follow an internship with the Wood Conservation Science Group within the Department of Chemical Technology of Monument Conservation, Institute of Chemical Technology, in Prague, Czech Republic, during which time I was offered the possibility of working for a few days with the conservators and scientists at the National Archives in Prague.
These experiences and others along the way led to me confirming my desire to work in the field of heritage science. I am now a PhD student at the Centre for Sustainable Heritage, University College London, where I am doing an AHRC/EPSRC Collaborative PhD with the National Archives, London, as part of the Science and Heritage Programme. The topic of my research is ‘Lifetime of Colour Photographs in Mixed Archival Collections’.
