University College London

Department Member, Institute of Archaeology

Principal Consultant, Heritage Management

Centre for Applied Archaeology

About

I've moved from archaeological conservation into the wider area of heritage management, in my career: I trained and worked initially at the British Museum as a conservator, specialising in ceramics and glass, and then qualifying in archaeological conservation. I then continued working as an archaeological conservator for a further sixteen years, mainly in the Middle East: in 1986 I moved to the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara in Turkey for two years, and then went on to work freelance in 1988. Freelance work took me mainly to the Arabian Gulf, but also to Iraq, Cyprus, and Hong Kong. Contracts were carried out for museums, Departments of Antiquities, and for UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage Division; also for British excavation projects in Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait.

Between 2004 and 2006 I studied for an MA in “Managing Archaeological Sites” at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, in London. While studying and immediately afterwards, I worked with the International Policy Unit at English Heritage, and at ICOMOS in Paris.

I was then invited to join the Centre for Applied Archaeology at UCL, London, with the remit of developing and coordinating CAA projects in site management and capacity building, in the UK and abroad. I now work for them on a consultancy basis. This work has allowed me both to do commercial or not for profit projects, and research and write: an unusual combination, but one that the CAA is in a position to encourage, being part of UCL. It has also allowed me to do some teaching, mainly as part of the Managing Sites MA. I hope that being able to bring commercial work experience into the Institute, and to my research, can produce some useful material for discussion.

KEY PROJECTS FOR THE CENTRE FOR APPLIED ARCHAEOLOGY, UCL

 Project managed the editing of the 2008-2014 Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site Management Plan, for Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd, Hexham, Northumberland.

 Carried out an analysis of responses to the DCMS 2008 consultation paper “A Future for World Heritage”, which examined policy for the nomination of sites from the UK World Heritage Tentative List, and for the management of World Heritage Sites in the UK.

 Development of the WHS Management Plan for the Silk Road city of Merv, Turkmenistan, with Tim Williams, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Archaeology, UCL, for submission to the Getty Conservation Institute.

 Consultant on management issues and the nomination documents for the UK candidate World Heritage site of the Twin Anglo-Saxon Monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, for Sunderland and South Tyneside City Councils.

 Consultant to the Council of Europe Office, Pristina (Kosovo) on the CoE’s PCDK project. Facilitated the development of an MA course unit in Cultural Heritage by Working Groups in the university of Pristina, and the University of Pristina in Mitrovica.