Katherine Curran

Katherine's research interests include the conservation of modern cultural heritage materials, polymer chemistry and degradation, and the analysis of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from historic objects. Katherine is currently the Principal Investigator for the ERC Starting Grant funded project "COMPLEX: The Degradation of Complex Modern Polymeric Objects in Heritage Collections: A System Dynamics Approach" which will develop new approaches to understanding and modelling the degradation of modern polymeric materials in collections.

Katherine also supervises several PhD researchers including those focussed on the degradation of plastics in heritage collections. Their research includes a study of the spectral dependence of photodegradation of plastic artefacts, the use of volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis as a tool to understand material degradation and the dynamics of plasticiser loss.

Katherine's work employs analytical techniques such as SPME-GC/MS, the use of portable mass spectrometry, and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Near-Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy.

Katherine previously worked on the AHRC/EPSRC Science & Heritage Programme project "Heritage Smells". The goal of this project was to characterise the VOC signatures (the "smells") of historic artefacts in order to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between VOC signatures and the condition, stability or potential hazards of artefacts. This work enabled heritage practitioners to make well-informed decisions regarding the conservation and storage of "smelly" artefacts and to reduce the impact of harmful VOC emissions on museum staff and visitors.