Caring for Cultural Heritage: Risk, Uncertainty and Reality

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Faculty of Arts, the University of Melbourne

2025 Grimwade Visiting International Scholar Public Lecture

Fritz Loewe Theatre, Level 2, McCoy (Earth Sciences) Building,  The University of Melbourne https://maps.unimelb.edu.au/parkville/building/200/fritz_loewe_theatre

<h4>2025 Grimwade Visiting International Scholar Public Lecture</h4><h3>Caring for Cultural Heritage: Risk, Uncertainty and Reality</h3><p><a href="https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/hendersonlj" title="https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/hendersonlj" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Professor Jane Henderson</a> (Cardiff University) - 2025 Grimwade Visiting International Scholar, The Univeristy of Melbourne</p><p><br></p><p>Drawing on insights developed during her tenure as the University of Melbourne Grimwade Visiting International Fellow, Professor Henderson will explore the complex interplay between cultural heritage conservation and the challenges posed by risk and uncertainty. Conservation decisions often emerge as compromises—framed within the language of sacrifice and material loss. These narratives reflect the limitations of the conservation framework, which can constrain the questions we ask and the scope of what we care for. This research will compare conservators' traditional narratives around risk with how those working with cultural heritage collections handle risk in their day to day reality.</p><p>Jane will review the mechanisms by which conservators seek feedback and ask if past concerns with material continuity have narrowed opportunities for practitioners to grow from feedback. Jane will ask what it might mean to expand the boundaries of conservation and risk—rethinking what conservators care for, and how uncertainty can be transformed from a perceived threat into a valuable opportunity for growth, embracing divergence of understanding as a powerful means to broaden our perspectives, enrich our practices, and redefine our relationship with cultural heritage.</p>

<p><strong><strong>About the presenter</strong></strong>: <a href="https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/hendersonlj" title="https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/hendersonlj" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Professor Jane Henderson</a>, BSc, MSc, PACR, FIIC, FRHisS</p><p>Professor of Conservation, Cardiff University; the Secretary General of the International Institute for Conservation; chair of the BSI standard group B/560 concerned with the conservation of Tangible Cultural heritage and member of the European standards body CEN TC 346.</p><p>Jane serves on the editorial panel of the Journal of the Institute for Conservation and the Science Museum Journal and is a board member of the Welsh Federation of Museum and Art Galleries. Jane is a lifelong conservator and will always be a conservator regardless of her employment situation. Jane's ambition is to align her twin lifelong goals of promoting and defending conservation with wider social justice equality and fairness issues. Jane's perspectives on conservation stem from her lived experiences and observations from her life in the heritage sector in Wales. Jane is honoured to be the Grimwade Visiting International Scholar. Jane still holds out hope that small acts of kindness or empathy can make a difference in a challenging world.</p>

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