Current NSERC Fellows at CCI
Judith Bannerman
After graduating from the University of Exeter with a Ph.D. in Engineering that focussed on artists’ acrylic paints, CCI was the obvious choice for my post-doctoral work. I wanted to benefit from their extensive testing facilities and to tap into the vast knowledge and expertise found within their Conservation Research Division. I wanted to be involved in a new field of research, developing and working with the micro-fading machine. There are a limited number of micro-fading machines in the world, and working at CCI provides me with an opportunity to test an extensive range of materials and to collect a large amount of information on how these objects fade over time. The data collected will add greatly to the world knowledge of how micro-fading could be used to help curators design display routines to preserve their important objects for future generations.
I am funded by NSERC and work closely with art galleries, museums, archives, and libraries in order to understand the concerns of the curators, to gain access to artifacts that are in need of analysis, and to broaden my horizons as a conservation research scientist. I have presented some of my findings to museums, art galleries, and university students from all walks of life. I have submitted papers to the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works (AIC) and the Canadian Association for Conservation of Cultural Property (CAC) for their 2009 conferences, and am in the process of writing papers for magazines. I have been a participant in the online micro-fading working group, which encourages all those with a micro-fader to discuss issues that arise with prolonged use of the equipment. Through this group, I was able to exchange ideas about future projects and to promote CCI as a service to other heritage groups. After completing my two-year NSERC Visiting Fellowship at CCI, I hope to continue my post-doctoral work with a museum or in a research capacity at a university, and to further develop preservation projects for all forms of historical objects.
