UCL Institute of Archaeology

Institute conservation student Emma Payne was awarded a £15,000 Queen Elizabeth Scholarship by HRH the Duke of Gloucester at a special ceremony recently. 

Emma's award will enable her to complete the second year of the two-year MSc in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums offered by the Institute.  Emma previously undertook the Institute's MA in Principles of Conservation during which time she worked as a Conservation and Collections Care Assistant at the UCL Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, assessing the delicate prehistoric Egyptian artefacts in order to design and make suitable packaging for them.

Emma said of her award:

• “It will provide me with a practical postgraduate qualification. Since the course comes with the guarantee of practical work at a site or museum in the second year, it will also allow me to enhance my portfolio at the same time as gaining a recognised qualification.”

While at the Institute Emma has been given the opportunity to work on the conservation of a diverse range of material including a late Bronze Age ceramic juglet from Tell el-Ajjul (Petrie Palestinian Collection, Institute of Archaeology, UCL), an Egyptian blue glass vessel c.6th-8th century AD (Petrie Museum), an ancient Egyptian limestone stela (Petrie Museum), an iron crampon from a Cambodian temple (Iron Kuy Project), a Krishnanagar figure from Bengal (Kew Economic Botany Collection), a Roman leather shoe (Hastings Area Archaeological Group), and ancient Egyptian wooden coffin fragments (Petrie Museum). Previously, Emma had volunteered for the Sittingbourne CSI Project working on Anglo-Saxon artefacts.

The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) was endowed by the Royal Warrant Holders Association to advance education in modern and traditional crafts and trades in the UK.  Scholarships of up to £15,000 are open to men and women of all ages and are awarded twice a year.  Since 1991, the Trust has awarded £1.7 million to 253 craftsmen and women aged between 17 and 50+ to develop their skills through study, training and work experience.   Eleven awards were made this spring, totalling £125,900.  

QEST, the charitable arm of the Royal Warrant Holders Association, was established in 1990 with money contributed by its members, to mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Association.  The Trustees look for well thought out projects, which will contribute to the pool of talent in the UK and reflect the excellence of British craftsmanship as symbolised by the Royal Warrant of Appointment.

Application forms for QEST Scholarships can be downloaded from the QEST website. Closing date for the spring scholarships is mid-January 2013.

Images courtesy of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust