Heritage Lab shares research highlights at UCL Technical Showcase

The Technical Staff Showcase took place on the 30th March, in the UCL Cloisters and Jeremy Bentham Room. The day-long event included exhibition stands in the cloisters and a series of talks highlighting technical achievements and careers at UCL.

UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage’s Lab Technician Dr Miriam Wright took part in the event with an exhibition stand in the North Cloisters.

The Institute's contribution focused on non-destructive analytical techniques used for collecting information about heritage objects in different contexts. The demonstration featured sampling tools and techniques used prior to analysis using Gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) and Solid phase microextraction and Thermal Desorption-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (SPME- and TD-GC-MS ).

In addition to finding out more about our technical facilities and expertise, visitors had the opportunity to find out more about how the aforementioned techniques can be used to:

1. collect and obtain chemical information about historic smell samples, and to smell historic scent recreations;
2. collect and analyse volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by modern and contemporary heritage objects, and why these techniques are a valuable tool for monitoring and detecting deterioration in museum collections (SPME-GC-MS);
3. develop analytical methods for identifying and quantifying indoor air pollutants, through the presentation of technical work carried out in collaboration with UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering

The Technical Showcase event was opened by UCL President and Provost Dr Michael Spence, and Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Dean of UCL Engineering.