Robyn Sloggett

Robyn Sloggett is Director of the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation (CCMC). She has qualifications in Art History, Philosophy and Cultural Materials Conservation. As Director of the CCMC she manages the diverse conservation, teaching and research programs of the Centre. These programs include the conservation of the cultural collections of the University of Melbourne (with over 32 separate collections owned or managed by the University) and the provision of a consultancy program for external clients. The CCMC also delivers the only comprehensive post-graduate conservation professional programme in the Australasia-Pacific region, as well as subjects in Art Authentication and Photographic Preservation.

Her contribution to research and teaching has developed in both an academic and professional framework. In her previous role as Deputy Director and Grimwade Chief Conservator in the Ian Potter Museum of Art she managed both Conservation and Collections Management, developing research programs which linked the scientific analysis of art and archival material (in partnership with researchers in the Faculty of Science) with art historical analysis (in partnership with researchers in the Faculty of Arts) and collection management (in partnership with staff in the Ian Potter Museum of Art and Information Services). These collaborations resulted in over 23 competitive research grants and 23 successful ARC-supported projects.

Robyn is currently a member of the University’s Cultural Collections Committee; the Indigenous Collections Committee; the Advisory Board of the Centre for Accounting Industry Partnerships. She founded and is Production Manager for the Melbourne Journal of Technical Studies in Art. In the past she has been a member of a number of editorial boards (including Museums National Museum Australia Magazine and Open Museum Journal) and a number of organising committees (including the IIC’s 50th Congress Tradition and Innovation). She was a Board Member of the Ian Potter Museum of Art from 2000 to 2005, a Foundation Director of AusHeritage, a member of the Federal Government’s Conservation and Collection Management Working Party of the Heritage Collections Council, and both a State and National President of the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM Inc). She has been a member of course advisory committees for both the University of Canberra and Deakin University. She is an associate of the School of Enterprise and the Centre for Free Radical Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Melbourne.

Her research interests include programs in cultural materials conservation that focus on the materials and techniques of artists (particularly in Australia and South East Asia), ethical and philosophical issues in cultural materials conservation, and the development of scientific techniques for conservation. She has published 7 book chapters, 64 papers in conference and journal publications, and over 27 reports to government and non-government organisations.

In 2004 she was awarded the Australian Institute for Cultural Materials Conservation’s Conservator of the Year Award for service to the profession. In 2013, as part of the 20th Century in Paint research team, she was awarded the AICCM award for 'Outstanding Research in the Field of Conservation'