Conservation of Cultural Heritage | BA (Hons)

Dr Lynda Skipper - Programme Leader

Dr Lynda Skipper is programme leader for BA (Hons) Conservation of Cultural Heritage. After gaining a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, she studied conservation at Lincoln. Her previous employers include the Science Museum and National Trust. She re-joined the University of Lincoln as a lecturer in 2011. Her research interests include paints, pigments, and wallpapers.

Academic Staff List

Welcome to BA (Hons) Conservation of Cultural Heritage

Conservators play a key role in the protection and care of cultural heritage, preserving artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections for future generations to enjoy.

The BA (Hons) Conservation of Cultural Heritage degree offers the chance to gain extensive, hands-on experience working on a range of historic materials provided by museums, historic houses, and private collections.

Students on the course work together in high-specification, purpose-built laboratories in the University's Peter de Wint Building. During their studies they can become familiar with different materials, time periods, and collections within their historical context.

Conservation is a multidisciplinary course, drawing together skills in art, science and history, and applying these to cultural heritage. Students on this course have the opportunity to study both the theory and practice of conservation. This enables students to navigate decision-making and ethics through independent research and the guidance of tutors.

Throughout the course, students can carry out conservation treatments and scientific analysis of historical artefacts. This starts with simple objects in the first year and increases in complexity as skills and knowledge grow. The course culminates in an exhibition of work at the end of the final year, celebrating the achievements of the graduating group with their family and friends, as well as potential employers.

The second term of year two offers students the opportunity to study at a partner institution, choose from a range of optional modules from across the School of History and Heritage, or undertake an extended work placement. Students have the opportunity to source their own placement in a historic property, museum, or private workshop in the UK, or overseas.

How You Study

The course is delivered through workshop, studio and laboratory sessions, lectures, demonstrations, and seminars. After an initial introduction to conservation skills, materials and techniques, practical work is carried out on historic objects from museums and private collections.

What You Need to Know

We want you to have all the information you need to make an informed decision on where and what you want to study. To help you choose the course that’s right for you, we aim to bring to your attention all the important information you may need. Our What You Need to Know page offers detailed information on key areas including contact hours, assessment, optional modules, and additional costs.

Find out More

An Introduction to Your Modules

† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.

Applied Practical Skills 2023-24CON1014MLevel 42023-24This module aims to introduce students to generic practical skills used in the treatment of historic objects. It provides a foundation to future work, although at the early stages the students work on exercises and simulations, prior to being allocated their first object. Students can develop awareness of the practices and procedures common to areas of conservation treatment including laboratory and bench skills, documentation skills and basic decision-making skills.CoreBecoming a Professional 2023-24CON1015MLevel 42023-24The module supports students in planning and preparing for their professional life by providing a framework to successfully navigate their way through university study, including progression to postgraduate level, and from this springboard to their chosen professional destination. It is intended to provide students with the knowledge, skills and insights into how to manage the transitions into university and from there into the professional world.CoreConservation Processes 2023-24CON1016MLevel 42023-24In this module students have the chance to learn the theory and application of basic conservation principles related to observation, documentation, condition assessment and cleaning of historic objects; adhesives, consolidants, modelling and casting.CoreConservation Science 1 2023-24CON1018MLevel 42023-24This module is designed to introduce students to basic chemistry concepts, and the scientific study of materials commonly found in cultural heritage. Students may develop a systematic approach to scientific investigation and examination of historic objects and an understanding to the nature of different materials, technological factors and the processes of deterioration.CoreConservation Theory 2023-24CON1021MLevel 42023-24This module aims to provide the underpinning basic theoretical knowledge related to historic materials, on which the discipline of conservation is based. Students are introduced to a range of conservation techniques, through lectures discussing a range of different material types and their potential deterioration.CoreDocumentation techniques 2023-24CON1019MLevel 42023-24This module provides an introduction to the recording skills necessary for a practising conservator. Various forms of documentation encountered in the practice of conservation are introduced, and drawing and photography recordings skills developed. Students can be introduced to the basic principles of photography, lighting techniques and their application in conservation. The conventions and standard representations used in record drawing are also introduced.CoreIntroduction to Visual and Material Culture 2023-24HST1038MLevel 42023-24This module is designed as an introduction to visual and material culture, embracing the history of art and architecture, historical archaeology, and the conservation of historical buildings. It aims to enable students to interrogate visual and material objects throughout the past and to understand their functions and possible meanings of visual and material objects as primary sources.CoreApplied Practical Conservation 2 2024-25CON2050MLevel 52024-25This module aims to develop the basic skills introduced in year one and apply them to the conservation of objects related to a range of material types. Theoretical concepts introduced in Year 1 can be developed and underpin students practice. The module offers the chance to develop important transferable skills for understanding of the behaviour of materials and manual dexterity. It also looks to reinforce and develop students' skills in conservation report-writing.CoreConservation Science 2: Analytical Techniques 2024-25CON2053MLevel 52024-25This module aims to further develop knowledge of materials science and its relevance to conservation. Students have the chance to develop skills in the use of scientific analytical techniques for the examination and identification of materials encountered in historic objects and their treatment.CorePreventive Conservation 2024-25CON2059MLevel 52024-25This module looks to provide an introduction to the preventive conservation skills needed to set out as a practicing conservator. Students have the chance to develop an understanding of practical preventive conservation and collections management procedures, and can gain experience in environmental monitoring and surveying. Topics such as integrated pest management and emergency planning are also discussed.Core100 Years of Photography: Images, History and Impact 1839-1939 2024-25AHS2008MLevel 52024-25This module will explore the development and cultural impact of the first 100 years of photography. Initially driven by the commercial viability of portraiture, photography soon inspired a range of professional, artistic and amateur practitioners in the nineteenth century. Photographic innovation in the early twentieth century exerted a significant influence on the way that modernists sought to represent the world. Street photography emerged as a new insistent type of realism and represented urban experience in new ways. The social power of photography was spread through increasingly affordable cameras and propagated through print media. Students will learn to analyse images and explore how photographs functioned to produce and exert power.Optional1968: The Year of Revolt 2024-25HST2080MLevel 52024-25OptionalAccessing Ordinary Lives: Interpreting and Understanding Voices from the Past, 1880 present 2024-25HST2052MLevel 52024-25This module provides students with the opportunity to resurrect and understand the ordinary lives of people like themselves and their forebears from the sources available to us. The course picks up on both well-established and recent trends in historical research that have sought to give voice to ordinary people and promote from the historical records the lives of marginalised people such as homosexuals, women, children, the working classes, ethnic minorities alongside more familiar narratives of the great and the good.OptionalAesthetics 2024-25PHL2002MLevel 52024-25This module introduces students to philosophical questions about the nature of art and beauty. For example: What is art? Can anything be a work of art? Can a pile of elephant dung be art? Is beauty objectively real or only in the eye of the beholder? Can aesthetic judgements be right or wrong? Is Beethoven better than Beyoncé? Is Shakespeare better than Eastenders? Or are aesthetic disputes like deciding between the merits of different flavours of ice cream? Students can also consider questions that arise in relation to specific artforms: How is it possible to respond emotionally towards the plight of fictional characters that are known not to exist? Do rock/pop music and classical music require different aesthetic criteria for their appreciation and evaluation? Why do we take pleasure in the aesthetic representation of tragic events? Students will be guided through their reading of various classical and contemporary works on such issues, and encouraged to think for themselves about the problems addressed.OptionalAlexander the Great and his Legacy: the Hellenistic World 2024-25CLS2009MLevel 52024-25This module provides a survey of the history and archaeology of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East between the reign of Alexander the Great and the death of Cleopatra VII after the Roman victory at the Battle of Actium in 30 BC. Students will have the opportunity to explore the political histories, power structures, cultural developments, economic processes and shifting ideologies associated with the major Hellenistic kingdoms and ending with the Roman conquest of the eastern Mediterranean region. Teaching also considers how the Hellenistic period was a time of innovation, cultural connectivity, even globalisation, laying the foundations of a Hellenized world of city-states which endured into and defined the Roman construction of a world empire in its aftermath.OptionalArt and Power: Projecting Authority in the Renaissance World 2024-25AHS2007MLevel 52024-25Renaissance monarchs often employed artistic display to project royal authority. Ruling elites commissioned pieces of art not only for the embellishment of their residences, but also as a suitable vehicle to display authority. Kings and Queens commissioned tapestries, sculptures, royal palaces, or lavishly decorated printed books that narrated their achievements and omitted their failures. This module examines the diverse ways rulers and their entourage imagined and created an image of kingship through the visual arts.OptionalBritons and Romans, 100 BC-AD 450 2024-25CLS2019MLevel 52024-25This module examines how and why the culture of Britain changed in the period of increasing contact with, and eventual incorporation into, the Roman Empire. Examining the key material, behavioural, ideological and structural changes to society in the period c. 100 BC to AD 450, it will question to what degree each aspect was a wholesale incorporation of foreign ideas, technologies and goods, a local interpretation and adoption of these importations into an existing social system, or a local creation that was distinctly Romano-British, if often termed Roman.OptionalClassical Reception: from Medieval to Modern 2024-25CLS2022MLevel 52024-25Students can gain an introduction to the historical and archaeological sources, approaches and methods necessary for the study of the ancient world. Lectures provide a survey of key moments in history, 1000 BC-AD 400, structured around the research specialisms of the module teaching team.OptionalClassics in Context 2024-25CLS2003MLevel 52024-25This module gives students the opportunity to read one text (in translation) closely and discuss sections each week with a tutor. It offers the opportunity to develop skills in textual analysis, including researching an author; assessing the intended audience; and considering the social/political context, the significance of genre and style, and other factors in how we interpret and understand a text. Students also compare and critique research that has used the text and explore the possibilities it has to serve as primary evidence for the study of the ancient world.OptionalConservation placement (full time) 2024-25CON2052MLevel 52024-25This module focuses around a 12 week period of placement in a museum, historic house or private workshop. Students are responsible for negotiating the placement arrangement with support and guidance from their placement tutor. Students are encouraged to select a placement to suit their individual aspirations and needs. This concludes with a presentation, which is designed to allow all group members to benefit from the experience of their peers.OptionalConservation placement (part time) 2024-25CON2061MLevel 52024-25This module focuses around a 12 week part time placement in a museum, historic house or private workshop. Students are responsible for negotiating the placement arrangement with support and guidance from their placement tutor. Students are encouraged to select a placement to suit their individual aspirations and needs. This concludes with preparation of a portfolio, and a presentation, which is designed to allow all group members to benefit from the experience of their peers.OptionalDecolonising the Past 2024-25HST2089MLevel 52024-25Beginning with the Royal Historical Societys Race, Ethnicity and Equality Report (published in 2018), which raises urgent questions on the diversity of staff, students and curricula at History departments in UK universities, the module analyses live debates on Decolonising the Curriculum in higher education. We critique how histories of Empire, colonialism and slavery have been taught in Anglo-American settings, and introduce postcolonial analysis on archives, as well as the Global South and indigenous knowledge that have often been marginalised in Eurocentric historiographies. Turning towards the University as a key apparatus of power in the contemporary world, the module then reveals the complex legacies of slavery in the making of a number of UK and US institutions including Liverpool, Bristol, Oxford (#RhodesMustFall), SOAS, University of Virginia and others. Introducing the new field of Critical University Studies (CUS), students will learn about the emergence of universities in former colonies including India and South Africa, as well as the phenomenon of transnational education that entails the establishment, by prestigious European and American institutions, of satellite campuses around the world. The module then unpacks public understandings of colonial history via recent scholarship on nationalism, patriotism, museums and memories, and ends with a hopeful reflection on pedagogies that will be more inclusive and intersectional in terms of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. This module will be particularly suited to students who intend to develop careers in education.OptionalDestroying Art: Iconoclasm through History 2024-25HST2060MLevel 52024-25OptionalDigital Heritage 2024-25CON2054MLevel 52024-25The cultural heritage sector increasingly offers opportunities for the application of digital technologies as communication, research and recording tools. This module enables students to become familiar with some of these advanced recording techniques for the study and recording of objects.OptionalDisease, Health, and the Body in Early Modern Europe 2024-25HST2044MLevel 52024-25This module examines how physicians, other practitioners, and the public understood the body, disease, and health in the early modern period. Although the medical system of Galen (2nd century AD) and humoral medicine guided Western medicine until the 1800s, between 1500-1700 there were major challenges to this traditional system. The work of elites such as Paracelsus and Van Helmont (chemical medicine), Vesalius (anatomy), Harvey (circulation and respiratory physiology) will be placed in a greater religious, social, and cultural context.OptionalEarly Modern Family: Households in England c.1500-1750 2024-25HST2038MLevel 52024-25The module looks at a number of ways in which historians have studied the family in Britain between c.1500 and 1800. It will examine a range of historical approaches from the demographic to the more qualitative and anthropological. Close attention is paid to the problems historians of the pre-industrial family confront in their examination of the surviving primary sources.OptionalExistentialism and Phenomenology 2024-25PHL2006MLevel 52024-25The aim of this module is to give students a thorough understanding of two intimately related philosophical traditions that came to prominence in the 19th and 20th centuries: existentialism and phenomenology. Each attempts to address the nature and meaning of human existence from the perspective of individual, first-person experience, focusing in particular on fundamental questions of being, meaning, death, nihilism, freedom, responsibility, value, human relations, and religious faith. The module will examine selected existential themes through the writings of thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, De Beauvoir, and Camus. Since existentialism is as much a artistic phenomenon as a philosophical one, students will also be given the opportunity to explore existentialist ideas in the works of various literary figures, such as Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, and Milan Kundera.OptionalExperiencing and Remembering Civil War in Britain 2024-25HST2066MLevel 52024-25The civil wars that raged across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in the mid-seventeenth century were among the most turbulent and exhilarating times in British history. This module explores the diverse ways in which the wars were explained, experienced and remembered by those who lived through them. Students can consider the extent to which this period, often described as one of 'revolution', left a lasting impression on British society, culture, religion and politics.OptionalFighting for Peace? Politics, Society and War in the Modern Era 2024-25HST2086MLevel 52024-25The modern period has often been understood as a time when peace was considered the natural state of societies, where states and non-governmental groups have been concerned with achieving a lasting peace and avoiding repetitions of bloody conflict. Wars, however, have not become a thing of the past, and today we live in a condition of seemingly permanent war where civilians are often the primary targets. This module will look at how ideas and practices of war have altered in the last few hundred years, and how these notions have been contested and challenged. The module asks where these ideas came from, and how concepts of war and peace, and violence and non-violence have been reframed in various ways. The course is focussed on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and moves chronologically from the Napoleonic wars, to contemporary conflicts through a series of case studies that cover wars, diplomacy, the aftermath of wars, and peace movements. Each case study will draw on key themes which run throughout the module, including pacifism, militarism, imperialism, culture, race, gender and nationalism.OptionalFrom Bright Young Things to Brexit: British media and society since 1919 2024-25HST2079MLevel 52024-25This module examines British media and society in Britain from the end of World War I, through World War II, and into the uncertain waters of the postwar period and the 21st century. A range of domestic and international factors that shaped modern Britain will be investigated throughout the module, including the interwar slump, World War II, decolonisation, increased immigration, the decline of the welfare state, the Troubles in Ireland, the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister, and Britains unsteady relationship with Europe. These events not only shaped Britain itself but also occurred in dialogue with the increasingly powerful role of media in the 20th and 21st centuries. This module will bring specific attention to the ways in which the press, cinema, radio, television, music, and also the web reflected, engaged with, and sometimes shaped popular understandings of society, culture, and politics in the period. We will examine this history of media in conjunction with a history of British society in order to investigate claims by historians that a democratic culture emerged in 20th century Britain.OptionalGender and Sexuality in Britain 1700-1950 2024-25HST2076MLevel 52024-25This module will interrogate aspects of the history of gender and sexuality in Britain over a 250-year span, coinciding with the arrival of modernity. It will introduce students to debates over the relationship between gender, sexuality, and structural changes in society, economy and politics, as well as thinking about gender and sexuality as discourse and subjectivity. Further, it will introduce students to a wide range of source material for the social and cultural history of early modern and modern Britain and seek to develop their confidence in using such diverse sources skillfully. The module takes a thematic approach, although within each theme, specific chronological examples will be examined. Thus continuity and change can be highlighted, and it is intended to resist a narrative of progress towards modern liberal views of gender and sexuality. However, a clear chronological framework will also be developed through examples which will help students gain a clear understanding of context.OptionalGrand Expectations? America during the Cold War 2024-25HST2042MLevel 52024-25The United States emerged from the Second World War a superpower, with, to an extent, a belief that it could remake the world. The challenges of the Cold War years were to demonstrate how limited was that power. This module explores the key social, political, economic and cultural developments in the United States between 1945 and 1990.OptionalHistory and Literature in the C18th and C19th 2024-25HST2077MLevel 52024-25Works of fiction are not just a source of entertainment. They are a crucial and exciting route into understanding the past. Novels, short stories and poems allow us to understand how debates and ideas about society and identity circulated and how writers attempted to reinforce or change the way that readers looked at the world. This module will examine how a wide range of fiction produced in Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries addressed the key themes of class, politics and gender. Students will have the opportunity to examine the treatment of these concepts in genres as varied as crime fiction, popular romance, childrens literature, science fiction, war writing and feminist fiction.OptionalHistory of Medicine from Antiquity to the Present 2024-25HST2088MLevel 52024-25This module analyzes how physicians, other practitioners, and the public understood the body, disease, and health from antiquity to the modern era. The first part of the module will delineate how the medical system of Galen (2nd century AD) and humoral medicine guided Western medicine from antiquity until the 1800s. Students will then analyze the major challenges to this system from physicians such as Paracelsus, Vesalius, and William Harvey, as well as with the discovery of the germ theory of disease. Students will also explore the evolving role of states and local governments for public health, the development of the medical marketplace, changing understandings of the body, disease, and mental illness, and gender and medicine. The history of medicine will thus be placed in a greater religious, social, and cultural context, with a consideration of the role of medicine in popular culture. The module will therefore embody a cultural and intellectual approach to history and introduce students to the major historiographic debates in the history of medicine. Seminars will be primarily devoted to student-led case studies on specific themes, such as: Galenic case studies; Vesalius and anatomy, quackery in England; childbirth and midwifery; the rise of the medical profession; anatomy and the Anatomy Act; disease control and public health; madness and society; sexual health and the patient narrative.OptionalIntroduction to Exhibitions, Curatorship and Curatorial Practices 2024-25AHS2009MLevel 52024-25This module introduces students to the understanding of exhibitions and curatorial practices. Following an introduction on the history of collections and museums, the course will explore the many issues related to the display of art and objects. It combines the study of theoretical approaches and the analysis of relevant case studies, and considers topics related to audiences for museums and exhibitions, the presentation and explanation of artefacts and artworks, and the new opportunities offered by digital technologies.OptionalItaly, a Contested Nation 2024-25HST2032MLevel 52024-25Italy is a highly-politicised and ideologically-divided country. Divisions and internal conflicts, which have reached dramatic peaks, are a permanent feature in Italian history. They mirror unsolved social and political contradictions that many historians consider to be the result of the process of the Italian Risorgimento. National unification was prompted by republicans, but it was the Monarchy that achieved it.OptionalLatin Literature in the Late Republic and the Augustan Age 2024-25CLS2010MLevel 52024-25This module explores a broad sampling of major genres and authors, and aims to provide a basis for further study and enjoyment of Latin literature. Focusing on writers active between 90 BC and AD 14, often referred to as the Golden Age, we shall examine how the literature of this period bears witness to contemporary social, political and cultural transformations. All texts will be read in English translation, though opportunities to read or translate from the original Latin will be available for interested students. This module is intended as a successor to the core first-year survey of Classical Literature.OptionalLiving and dying in the middle ages, 800-1400 2024-25HST2087MLevel 52024-25How did people live and die in the middle ages? Drawing on the research expertise of the medievalists in the School, the module seeks to answer this question by addressing key themes relating to the life cycles of medieval people, from their childhood and education, via the roles that they took on in life (within families and in public; peaceful and violent), to their deaths. We will address primary sources that provide intimate insights into the everyday lives of medieval people: letters and autobiographies. Such sources will be contrasted with those that offer a more 'top-down' vision of how medieval society should function, such as rulebooks and conduct manuals. Finally, we will explore how people in the medieval period managed their material and spiritual interests through transactions recorded in documents such as charters and wills. A key aim of the module is to develop your research and writing skills by providing you with an opportunity to produce an extended piece of research. This, coupled with the intensive work with primary sources, will equip you to tackle a final year independent study in a wide range of medieval topics.OptionalMadness and the Asylum in Modern Britain 2024-25HST2068MLevel 52024-25This module explores the relationship between madness and British society from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Students can examine how institutional approaches to the treatment of insanity have changed, from the eighteenth-century madhouse, to the Victorian asylum, to care in the community in the twentieth century. They will assess changing medical, legal and lay responses to insanity, including the role that class, gender, family and community played in defining insanity and its treatment.OptionalMaterial Histories: Objects, Interpretation, Display 2024-25CON2055MLevel 52024-25This module will give students a unique opportunity to develop their practical skills for studying objects while developing their understanding of the relationship between history and material culture. Students can explore how object-based study can enhance their practice as conservators and historians and how material culture studies can lead to insights that cannot be reached through other approaches.OptionalMedia, Controversy and Moral Panic 2024-25HST2069MLevel 52024-25This module explores the history of media controversy and moral panic during the twentieth century. It is designed to introduce students to media texts (especially films and television programmes) that have sparked debate and extreme differences of opinion among audiences in Britain and America. Students will be expected to engage with a range of films, television programmes and primary source material, which may include newspapers and television news broadcasts from the Media Archive of Central England (MACE).OptionalMedicine, Sexuality and Modernity 2024-25HST2073MLevel 52024-25This is a general introductory module on the history of medicine and sexuality from 1850 to 2000. It aims to give an overview of some of the major themes within the modern history of medicine and sexuality. It focuses on how our understanding of the human body, reproduction and sexuality in a socio-cultural and political context evolved from the advent of evolutionary thought to present day debates about enhancement and reproductive medicine. Sexual behaviour and reproduction became major concerns in medicine and politics in the modern period. Sexuality became an object of scientific enquiry and governments developed new policies to regulate sexual behaviour. This module will give students an excellent grounding in modern and contemporary history that will complement further modules at level 2 and 3 that deal with sexuality, gender, race, science and medicine.OptionalMigration in British Art, 1933 to the Present 2024-25AHS2011MLevel 52024-25This module will examine art in Britain from 1933 onwards in relation to migration. Beginning with the mass exile of artists, photographers, and designers from Nazi-occupied Europe in 1933, it will investigate how art and visual culture in Britain spanning the past ninety years has been shaped by migrants and refugees, and their descendants. We will look at the generation of artists who came to Britain from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean in the 1950s and 1960s; the British Black arts movement of the 1980s; identity politics and art institutions in the 1990s; second-generation Jewish artists and Holocaust memory, as well as new generations of younger artists exploring heritage today. The module will examine how artists have dealt with experiences of migration and the associated experiences of displacement, dislocation, loss, and otherness, and in relation to constructions of class, gender and race. As well as focusing on the reception and changing status of émigrés in Britain, it will consider iconographies of exile, and how notions of memory and heritage have been explored and represented. The module will involve close engagement with a range of primary sources (oral histories, letters, exhibition catalogues and reviews) and theoretical writings (e.g. Edward Said, Marianne Hirsch, Stuart Hall).OptionalPeople on the move: migration, identity and mobility in the modern world 2024-25HST2081MLevel 52024-25People have migrated as long as the human race has existed and this module places this fundamental aspect of human experience at its heart. Issues surrounding migration and the movement of peoples are central to contemporary politics and society, as the management of people seeking refuge and better prospects preoccupies governments around the world. This situation makes ever more urgent our need to understand the history of migration and how it has shaped cultures across time and space. People on the move focuses upon the movement of people at particular points in modern history, considering the forces that propel people to risk their own lives and possibly those of their families, uproot from home and enter the potentially perilous and peripatetic life of a migrant. We will discuss the prospects and challenges of migration, and subsequently how diasporic cultures develop and the benefits and tensions surrounding integration. We will consider what happens when communities come into contact due to migration and the subsequent influences upon culture, religion, politics and identity. Through a series of in-depth case studies from the modern period, from the forced movement of the colonial era to twentieth century migration across the Atlantic, we will encounter a variety of geographical regions and processes of migration. A variety of historical sources will be interrogated to access the stories of migrants and about migrants, including texts (such legal and government documents, letters, memoirs and oral histories), images, objects and architecture. Addressing themes such as empire, economics, identity and religion in different contexts allows us to make meaningful comparisons between migrations across time and space.OptionalPhilosophy of Science 2024-25PHL2007MLevel 52024-25This module explores a range of philosophical questions relating to the nature of science. How are scientific theories developed? Are scientific theories discovered through a flash of genius or is something more methodical involved? How much of scientific discovery is down to careful observation? Do scientific theories tell us how the world really is? Do the entities scientific theories postulate atoms, electromagnetic waves, and so on really exist? Or are scientific theories merely useful models of reality? Is science independent of its social context? To what extent is scientific inquiry affected by gender, race or politics? Is there such a thing as truth that is not relative to a particular culture, social class or historical era? Drawing on accessible examples from a variety of scientific fields and by answering these and related questions, we shall try to reach an understanding of how science works.OptionalPower and the Presidency in the United States 2024-25HST2082MLevel 52024-25This module introduces students to history of the US presidency by investigating selected past presidents from Washington to Trump. By reading and analysing the biographies of various presidents, key historical discussions as well as primary sources, including presidential addresses, campaign speeches, policy documents, and internal White House documents, and media accounts, students will be able to discuss and evaluate the major themes associated with the Office of the President. The main question students will be asked to engage with through this course is what makes an effective president? In answering this question students will discuss themes ranging from the establishment of the office during the American Revolution, the ability of presidents to pass civil rights reform, the rise and fall of the imperial presidency, the decline and restoration of presidential influence, hidden illness in the oval office, the growth of partisanship, the impact of the media and presidential communication strategies, and the changing presidential electorate. By exploring these themes as well as the achievements, scandals and the legacies of various presidents, students will be able to determine how individual presidents have coped with the pressures of the office and what influence they have exerted on the office.OptionalPowerful Bodies: Saints and Relics during the Middle Ages 2024-25HST2059MLevel 52024-25This module investigates the matter of sanctity during the middle ages, focusing in particular on two different aspects: the construction of the memory of saints, through texts, images and architecture, and the crucial role of their mortal remains. Spanning from the fourth to the fourteenth Century, this module offers not only a general approach to the phenomenon of sanctity, but also detailed analysis of different case studies, from early Christian saints and their commemoration in martyria to Romanesque shrines in France and Italy. The module then considers the phenomenon of new saints, through discussion of the celebrated site of Saint Franciss burial, San Francesco, in Assisi. Students can explore the case of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, discussing how his memory was preserved in the text of his life and how his canonization was mirrored in the very fabric of Lincoln Cathedral.OptionalQueering the Past 2024-25HST2090MLevel 52024-25OptionalRenaissances 2024-25AHS2004MLevel 52024-25This module explores cultural renaissances in Europe and beyond. Students can examine the survival, imitation and revival of classical models from ancient Greece and Rome from late antiquity to the modern period. We engage with historical debates on the issue of periodisation and ask how and why cycles of decline and renewal continue to shape our understanding of the past.OptionalRussia: Building a Utopia 2024-25HST2084MLevel 52024-25OptionalSalvation and Damnation in medieval and early modern England 2024-25HST2075MLevel 52024-25Concern with, and ideas about, the supernatural influenced all areas of life for medieval and early modern men and women, and cut across all levels of society. In an age where religion was a state concern, many of these concerns were articulated or shaped within the context of the Church, all across Western Europe, yet throughout our period religious life was characterised by its great diversity. This module examines changing religious practices and beliefs in Europe, although with a particular focus on England, from the early Middle Ages until the seventeenth century, charting continuity and change in peoples thinking about their relationship both individually and collectively - with the divine. The module is divided into three blocks: (1) early medieval, in which we explore the adoption of Christianity as a state religion, the slow emergence of an institutional church, missionary and conversion activities, and campaigns against heresy; (2) high to late medieval where we examine the tension between the theology of the church and the beliefs of the individual in a time of increased attempts at centralisation by the Western Church; (3) early modern, from the Reformation, via the Civil War, to early eighteenth-century rational religion and alternative versions of spirituality, and their impact on attitudes to religious and other minority groups.OptionalScience, Public Health and Modernity 2024-25HST2091MLevel 52024-25OptionalScrambling for Africa? Cultures of Empire and Resistance in East Africa, 1850-1965 2024-25HST2062MLevel 52024-25East Africa became a significant theatre of empire from the mid-nineteenth century, when David Livingstone championed European intervention to bring Christianity, commerce and civilisation to the region. This module will explore the expansion of the British Empire into East Africa from the late nineteenth-century era of high imperialism until decolonisation in the 1960s. This region provides rich opportunities to deepen an understanding of imperialism and offers key themes in the history of empire, including exploration, slavery, race, identity, gender, imperial networks, cultural representation and indigenous agency.OptionalStudy at a partner institution: Conservation 2024-25CON2060MLevel 52024-25This module provides an opportunity for Conservation students to spend a term studying at one of the Universitys partner institutions. This opportunity has both academic and personal development dimensions. Study at another institution offers enhanced sporting, cultural and other activities to enhance students' overall profile, alongside the basic experience of adapting to and working effectively within a different academic culture. Please note that a limited number of places will be available each year.OptionalTeaching History: designing and delivering learning in theory and practice 2024-25HST2074MLevel 52024-25Teaching History deepens students' understanding of the practice of teaching history in the classroom. The module encourages students, especially but not exclusively those who may be considering a career in education (or related industries), to think more deeply about pedagogic theory and teaching practice. Students will be given the opportunity to gain some practical experience in instructing their peers and online audiences. There will be a strong focus on reflecting on prior learning experiences and the module will begin by providing students with an overview of the history of history teaching. History teaching will be examined at primary and secondary level, and in other educational contexts.OptionalThe Age of Improvement: the Atlantic World in the long eighteenth century 2024-25HST2070MLevel 52024-25The period from 1700 to 1850 was one of transition and change in the British Isles and North America, marking an ideological and material shift away from the legacy of medieval Europe and the period of initial colonial contact. This module challenges students to engage with historical, cartographical, and material evidence. Students are introduced to the landscapes, streetscapes, and social make-up of the long eighteenth century, and can discuss in seminars how broad events impacted everyday lives, the urban, and rural landscape.OptionalThe Birth of the Modern Age? British Politics, 1885-1914 2024-25HST2037MLevel 52024-25This module tests the claim that the period from the 1880s to the First World War was an Age of Transition, which witnessed the birth of modern British politics. Through an analysis of this argument, students are introduced to some of the major developments in British political history in the period 1885-1914, including the birth of the welfare state, the creation of the Labour Party, the conflict over Votes for Women and British foreign policy before World War One.OptionalThe Emperor in the Roman World 2024-25CLS2020MLevel 52024-25This module surveys the history of the Roman Empire not as a succession of emperors and achievements, victories and defeats, but as a complex of experiments in government and of attitudes to governance. Beginning with the transition from representative republican rule to the domination of an imperial dynasty and its network of élite dependants in the early first century, and concluding with the incipient takeover of this system by a newly Christianised ruling class in the early fourth century, students can explore the role of the emperor in the Roman world and the patterns of communication between him and his subjects.OptionalThe Forgotten Revolution? The Emergence of Feudal Europe 2024-25HST2054MLevel 52024-25Almost all historians share the view that the social, economic and political structures of Europe in 1000 A.D. were significantly different to those that characterised the western superpower of Late Antiquity, the Roman Empire. In this challenging module, students will be encouraged to engage with a range of source material that will allow them to come to their own conclusions. Given this wide focus, students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the fascinating story of post-Carolingian Europe in such a way that they enhance their abilities to think comparatively, a crucial weapon in the historians armoury.OptionalThe World of Late Antiquity, 150-750 2024-25CLS2021MLevel 52024-25This module aims to develop students' understanding of the political, social and cultural history of Late Antiquity (150-750), with a particular focus on two world-changing religious developments: the rise of Christianity and Islam. Although the geographical focus of our studies will be on eastern Mediterranean lands of an empire ruled from Constantinople, known to later scholars as the Byzantine Empire, the geographical range of the module will be wide and include western Europe, including the western Mediterranean, Persia, Arabia, and barbarian territories beyond the Roman frontiers on the Rhine and Danube.OptionalThemes in American Cultural History 2024-25HST2046MLevel 52024-25This module aims to introduce students to some of the key interdisciplinary themes in American cultural history in the first half of the twentieth century as well as to theoretical works that have shaped American cultural studies since the 1950s. The module will investigate and evaluate academic argument relating to the study of American cultural history from a variety of theoretical, philosophical and methodological perspectives including feminism, social theory, post-structuralism, and postmodernism.OptionalThemes in Modern and Contemporary Art 2024-25AHS2005MLevel 52024-25OptionalUnderstanding Exhibitions: History on Display 2024-25HST2085MLevel 52024-25This module will introduce students to the principles of understanding, evaluating and constructing exhibitions. It will focus on exhibiting in art, history and archaeology and will include both theoretical approaches to the understanding and critique of exhibitions and practical aspects of mounting an exhibition. The module will include visiting museums, galleries and other exhibition spaces to examine and analyse exhibitions in situ, as well as talks from museum professionals on aspects of exhibition development. Students will be assessed through the production of plans for a small temporary exhibition they develop individually.OptionalUnderstanding Practical Making 2024-25CON2057MLevel 52024-25This module is designed to introduce the basic skills of working with glass, ceramic and fine metalwork. It provides an opportunity to investigate the potential and limitations of working with various materials, processes and techniques, associated with the practice of object manufacture against a relevant historical background.OptionalUrban Life and Society in the Middle Ages 2024-25HST2049MLevel 52024-25Between the 11th and the 12th centuries Europe went through some radical changes. This module will focus on case studies, such as Lincoln, London and Paris, among others. Students will have the opportunity to study how and why such centres grew from small towns to some of the greatest and most vibrant metropolis of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. For a comparative study, a range of primary sources will be taken into account, including contemporary descriptions of these cities and their inhabitants, historical records, art and architecture.OptionalVillage detectives: Unearthing new histories 2024-25HST2004MLevel 52024-25The typical image of a rural village, whether a chocolate box idyll prettily nestled around its church or a commuter dormitory boringly empty of anything fun to do, rarely shows much evidence for anything dramatic. However, these places were created by people who lived through events which are almost unimaginable to us today including the Norman Conquest and the Black Death, and for whom a perpetual challenge was simply surviving in a period where barely half of those born lived to adulthood. In this module students will have the opportunity to learn how to critically analyse and interpret historical and archaeological evidence and to use their knowledge and skills to write a new history of any rural settlement of their choice.OptionalWomen in Ancient Rome 2024-25CLS2011MLevel 52024-25This module introduces students to the lives and experiences of women in the ancient world. By engaging with a wide range of material, visual and written evidence, students can investigate both the real historical circumstances of womens lives and the ways in which they were constructed, represented and perceived. The focus of this module is on the Roman world, and the material considered ranges in date from the Republican period to the end of the second Century AD. Material from Greece, especially where it affects Roman art, literature and ideas, will also be considered.OptionalWorld Heritage Management 2024-25CON2058MLevel 52024-25This module is designed to explore ideas of heritage protection, management and conservation from around the world. It will consider United Nations' efforts in the field and consider how this international perspective shapes local and national actions.OptionalApplied Practical Conservation 3.1 2025-26CON3055MLevel 62025-26This module allows students the opportunity to specialise in a specific material discipline, or alternatively to continue to pursue broader options. Students are encouraged to consider their choice of specialism for this module in line with their choice of dissertation and placement.CoreApplied Practical Conservation 3.2 2025-26CON3056MLevel 62025-26This is a practical module covering the conservation treatment of one or more complex historic objects. Exact content will depend on object type chosen. This module allows students to choose to specialise in a specific material discipline, or alternatively to continue to pursue broader options.CoreApplied Preventive Conservation 2025-26CON3059MLevel 62025-26The module is designed to extend students' knowledge and awareness of preventive conservation skills. Students can carry out live projects in environmental monitoring, surveying collections and pest management in order to further their experience in these areas, in addition to examining how external factors such as buildings and pollutants can impact on collections care.CoreConservation exhibition 2025-26CON3057MLevel 62025-26This module covers the production of an exhibition of conservation work completed by students. Initial sessions discuss the theory of exhibition design and managing projects, before moving on to the detail of the exhibition itself. Students will be expected to manage all aspects of the exhibition, including curation, marketing and fundraising if applicable.CoreConservation independent study: dissertation 2025-26CON3058MLevel 62025-26The module allows students to undertake a major research project in an area of their own choice (approx. 10,000 words). The student is allocated a dissertation tutor following their decision on the topic to be researched. The initial stage of planning involves the student confirming a working title and agreeing the structure to their work. Regular tutorials with the dissertation tutor will aid the students progress and time management. The research should address clear aims or hypotheses and may involve literature review and / or primary research through fieldwork or experimentation. The choice of dissertation topic may be related to the students choice of placement and practical specialism.Core

How you are assessed

This course is assessed by coursework in all three years. The way students are assessed on this course may vary for each module. Examples of assessment methods that may be used include practical work, presentations, blogs written assignments, reports, or dissertations. The University of Lincoln's policy is to ensure that staff return assessments to students promptly.

We aim to make our assessments as authentic as possible, so they help people prepare for a career in heritage. Examples include communicating conservation to the public through a video or poster, and producing reports about the objects treated within the conservation practical modules.

Fees and Scholarships

Going to university is a life-changing step and it's important to understand the costs involved and the funding options available before you start. A full breakdown of the fees associated with this programme can be found on our course fees pages.

Course Fees

For eligible undergraduate students going to university for the first time, scholarships and bursaries are available to help cover costs. The University of Lincoln offers a variety of merit-based and subject-specific bursaries and scholarships. For full details and information about eligibility, visit our scholarships and bursaries pages.

Course-Specific Additional Costs

Students are required to cover the costs of their accommodation, travel, and general living expenses when on placement. Opportunities for travel grants are available, more information can be provided by the programme leader. Please contact the University to find out more.

Entry Requirements 2023-24

United Kingdom

A Level: BBC (112 UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 3 A levels or equivalent qualifications).

International Baccalaureate: 29 points overall

BTEC Extended Diploma: Distinction, Merit, Merit or equivalent

A science-based or history-based subject is welcomed, but not essential.

T Level: Merit

Access to Higher Education Diploma: 45 Level 3 credits with a minimum of 112 UCAS Tariff points

A combination of qualifications which may include A Levels, BTEC, EPQ etc

Applicants will also need at least three GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above, which must include English. Equivalent Level 2 qualifications may be considered.

The University accepts a wide range of qualifications as the basis for entry. We will also consider applicants with extensive and relevant work experience and will give special individual consideration to those who do not meet the standard entry qualifications.

International

Non UK Qualifications:

If you have studied outside of the UK, and are unsure whether your qualification meets the above requirements, please visit our country pages https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/studywithus/internationalstudents/entryrequirementsandyourcountry/ for information on equivalent qualifications.

EU and Overseas students will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. For information regarding other English language qualifications we accept, please visit the English Requirements page https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/studywithus/internationalstudents/englishlanguagerequirementsandsupport/englishlanguagerequirements/

If you do not meet the above IELTS requirements, you may be able to take part in one of our Pre-sessional English and Academic Study Skills courses.

https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/studywithus/internationalstudents/englishlanguagerequirementsandsupport/pre-sessionalenglishandacademicstudyskills/

If you would like further information about entry requirements, or would like to discuss whether the qualifications you are currently studying are acceptable, please contact the Admissions team on 01522 886097, or email admissions@lincoln.ac.uk

"Personally, Conservation is a perfect blend of practical work, history and science all learnt through the preservation of objects. It is a great course with a wide range of knowledge between the staff, and small numbers mean you learn on a more personal level."

Wesley Leak, BA (Hons) Conservation of Cultural Heritage student

Facilities

Features

The University is home to Lincoln Conservation, a company that combines research, teaching, and commercial expertise. It specialises in architectural paint research and the digital and physical conservation of historic objects, decorative schemes, and buildings. The expertise of our consultants has helped to inform the restoration of the Midland Grand Hotel (now known as the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel), HMS Victory, and Southwell Minster. When opportunities arise, students may apply to work on live projects, gaining professional experience.

Lincoln Conservation has expertise in:

Architectural paint research and historic pigments
Historic materials analysis, including pigments, lead and mortars
Conservation of historic decorative interiors, including wallpapers,
ceramics and gilding
Easel painting
3D laser scanning and digital replication

A lab coat, a tool kit, and goggles are provided to each student studying Conservation of Cultural Heritage.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Students on this course currently receive free access to Adobe Creative Cloud software for the duration of their studies.

Placements

The second year of the BA (Hons) Conservation of Cultural Heritage features an optional 12 week placement. Students have the opportunity to source their own work placement in a museum, historic house, or a private conservation studio either in the UK or overseas. Tutors can provide support in obtaining placements when required.

Recent placement destinations have included the Tate Modern in London, the National Museum of Denmark, and Calke Abbey in Derbyshire.

Please note that students are required to cover the costs of their accommodation, travel, and general living expenses when on placement. Opportunities for travel grants may be available, more information on which can be provided by the programme leader.

Portfolio and Interviews

Successful applicants will be invited for interview, where they have the opportunity to go through their portfolio with a member of the academic team.

Those applicants coming from art, design, craft, or technology backgrounds should bring a portfolio of selected previous work. In making the choice of what to include, please bear in mind the skills that we are looking for include precision, dexterity, and attention to detail.

Students who do not have artistic evidence to present in a portfolio are very welcome to apply. Students are selected for interview on the strength of their application, but may also have a hobby, such as needlework, DIY or model-making, that demonstrates potential practical skills. Students can bring evidence of these instead if appropriate. Other suitable skills evidence can include communication skills, IT and computing skills, and presentation skills.

"Lincoln is bursting with history, making the city a wonderful place to study conservation. The city is full of old buildings, such as the cathedral, which would inspire any trainee conservator. Every staff member on the Conservation team has a vast array of skills, knowledge, and experience."

Eleanor Pearce, BA (Hons) Conservation of Cultural Heritage graduate

Career Opportunities

Graduates of this course can progress into a range of careers in the conservation and heritage industries. Links with employers around the world have opened up opportunities for our graduates in prominent institutions, such as Historic Royal Palaces, the V&A Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Graduates can choose to go on to undertake further study at Master’s or doctoral level.

Visit Us in Person

The best way to find out what it is really like to live and learn at Lincoln is to join us for one of our Open Days. Visiting us in person is important and will help you to get a real feel for what it might be like to study here.

Book Your Place

Related Courses

Image of artwork on a stained glass window

Art History and History

Explore the rich artistic and architectural heritage of the past with a degree in Art History and History.

Classical Studies

Explore the worlds of ancient Greece and Rome to discover how they have influenced and shaped the society in which we live today.

History

History may be concerned with questions about the past, but the knowledge it reveals is relevant to how we think about society today.

Key Information

BA (Hons) Conservation of Cultural Heritage