Jean Brown

I trained at Camberwell College of Art graduating with an Honours degree in History of Drawing and Printmaking followed by a post graduate degree in paper conservation. My first job was as a paper conservator at the British Museum followed by a position as Head of Paper Conservation at the National Museum of Wales. I have taught paper conservation for over twenty years at Northumbria University and introduced an MA in Preventive Conservation ten years ago, which was the first in the world at MA level and the first to be offered on line or on campus, part or full time. This provided students with an unprecedented degree of flexibility as to where, when and at what pace they learnt. They no longer had to move to Northumbria in order to study at Masters level. This offered not only savings on re-location costs but also the opportunity to sustain family life as well as continue in employment throughout the programme. It also provided an invaluable opportunity to study within their own culture and environment thereby bringing a dynamic new perspective to academic discussion within the student cohort. I am now a Teaching Fellow at Northumbria University as well as the Director of Online and Distance Learning and I sit on the Board of Directors of the International Council of Museums Conservation Committee (ICOM CC)