Our Committee

An Accredited Conservator, Jane graduated in Archaeological Conservation from Cardiff University in 1992. After a spell as a self-employed object conservator, including working on geological specimens, she moved into Collection Care.

In 2002, she became the conservator on the project to relocate Birmingham’s science and industry collection of 40,000 objects ranging from pen nibs to drop hammers. In 2003, she became a Conservator (Preventive) at Birmingham Museum Trust and is now Conservation Team Leader. In this post, she is responsible for collection care across Birmingham’s 9 sites. She began a programme of training and advice on collection care for museums in the West Midlands under the Renaissance in the Regions Scheme and training is still one of the more enjoyable parts of the job. The best bit of the job is IPM and Jane is never happier than when she is staring at insects down a microscope.

Meagen Smith is a Library and Archive Conservator for Lambeth Palace Library.
She develops and delivers book and paper conservation and preservation projects for the Library.  Her typical day includes environmental monitoring, preparing exhibitions and loans, along with book and archive bench conservation.

She came to conservation about 10 years ago by retraining through a Book and Paper MA at Camberwell College in London. Before joining Lambeth Palace Library, she worked at The London Library and the Parliamentary Archives. She freelanced and worked as a project conservator at The National Archives, Royal Institution, Birmingham Museum’s Trust and University College London Special Collections.

Meagen is a steering committee member for the International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art (INCCA) in a technology advisory role. Most importantly, Meagen's cake specialisation is carrot cake, a very important expectation in libraries and archives.

Kerren is an accredited conservator who graduated from Camberwell College of Art in 1998 after completing a BA in Paper Conservation. She went on to complete a PGDip in Museum Studies with University of Leicester in 2002 and is currently undertaking a Diploma in Art & Law with the Institute of Art & Law.

She has worked at Historic Royal Palaces since 1998 in various conservation roles across all HRP’s 6 sites. Roles which have included managing full refurbishment and storage projects, Salvage team, exhibition design projects and Event and Filming risk management projects.

Kerren is currently Preventive Conservation Team leader and is responsible for the delivery of all aspects of Preventive Conservation for Hampton Court Palace and Kew Palace sites.  She has wide experience across all aspects of Preventive Conservation but has particular interest in teaching and mentoring, lighting and showcase design, event risk management and insect pest management.
Kerren is currently joint vice chair on the Icon Accreditation Committee where she represents Preventive Conservation.

Karen graduated with a degree in Conservation and Restoration from London Metropolitan University in 2010.

From 2007-2010 she gained experience in the profession as a Conservation Intern for the Natural History Museum, London working with the Palaeontology and Zoology departments. In 2010, she was employed as a Project Conservator for Historic Royal Palaces where she contributed to the delivery of several exhibitions including a full refurbishment of Kensington Palace.

Since 2012 she has been employed at the British Library working on various projects and has now been appointed as the Collection Care Monitoring Conservator. All aspects of collection care are of great personal interest to Karen although Preventive Conservation is her particular passion. Karen has actively sought to gain as wide a variety of experience as possible; pest management, emergency planning, environmental monitoring and providing training are some of her favourites. She is an Associate member of Icon working toward accreditation.

Kayleigh entered conservation after graduating with a First-Class BA Honours degree in Conservation & Restoration from the University of Lincoln in 2008.

Throughout Kayleigh’s career she has gained experience working on exhibitions and loans, but also digitisation projects, preventative conservation, and providing training. She worked for the Science Museum Group in London before relocating to the South West, working for the National Trust at Stourhead House. She took a break from conservation working with a bioplastics manufacturer in the 3D Printing Sector, helping provide an insight into 3D Design, Printing and the understanding of plastics. This knowledge was utilised upon her return to conservation during object treatments on medical and social history collections, as an Object Conservator for the National Collections Centre.

She joined the Conservation and Museums Advisory Service in Chippenham in 2019 as an Object Conservator. In her current role she utilises her experience whilst carrying out object treatments, and sharing her knowledge with individuals, organisations and museums across Wiltshire. Kayleigh feels passionate about finding sustainable solutions to manage Conservation practices and making Conservation accessible to all.

I’m very excited for the opportunity to join the CCG Committee as Editor. I feel I can offer an eye for detail and organisation in the coordination of papers, abstracts, and events with the committee.

I am an emerging preventive conservator and recently completed a year-long Icon internship with the National Trust for Scotland. I am currently working as a freelance conservator and would relish an opportunity to become more involved in Icon and offer my skills to help support the work of the CCG committee. I have previously worked in arts administration and collection management roles, which often involved the coordination of diaries for events and meetings and often required me to communicate with a range of stakeholders across arts organisations. I have experience drafting reports and policies and proof reading documents.

I am passionate about preventive conservation and collections care and feel this opportunity will allow me to increase my engagement with professional colleagues in the course of my Editor duties as well as learn from committee colleagues.

Siân Blake is a Preservation Technician at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire. 

Siân holds a master’s degree in the Conservation of Museum and Archaeological Objects from Durham University, UK, earned in early 2024. During her studies from 2021-2023, she undertook a nine-month placement at The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, where she honed her skills in object treatments relating to maritime heritage. Her internship at The Mary Rose Trust, particularly the experience of surface cleaning the Mary Rose hull, further solidified her expertise and passion for working with large, complex objects. 

Upon graduating, she supported small institutions in Cambridgeshire, including St Andrew’s Church and the St Neots Museum, through volunteer conservation work.

Her current day-to-day activities at the Imperial War Museum include environmental monitoring, IPM, delivering emergency response and working with colleagues to support object and store cleaning. As a young professional, she is keen to stay updated in the preservation field with the support of the committee’s expertise, research and events.