Year: 2021

SAFESILK – Metal salt-induced silk degradation in heritage collections

As one of the most important industrial sectors from the middle ages to the first industrial revolution, the manufacture and dyeing of textiles plays a pivotal role in the West European history of technology. This is reflected in a vast number of textile objects preserved in heritage collections, ranging from everyday clothing and (composite) accessories …

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PVCare – Preventive Conservation Strategies for Poly(vinyl chloride) Objects

Synthetic polymers dominate many contemporary art and design collections and are rapidly becoming a significant conservation concern. Surveys have shown that PVC can represent 13% of all plastic objects in such collections and that cellulose acetate, cellulose nitrate and PVC represent 40% of all objects in poor state. With the new and exciting forms of …

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UNCERTIR – Uncertainty of lifetime modelling based on quantitative IR spectroscopy

The need for evidence-based tools that enable conservation scenario modelling has become increasingly relevant to address the complex challenge of conservation, especially in times of climate change. Recently, non-destructive methods of analysis and dose-response functions have provided a step-change in response to this need. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy combined with data science has been successfully applied …

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Congratulations to David Ribar for receiving the prestigious Krka award

David Ribar, associated with the HSLL team, is masters student at the Faculty of chemistry and chemical technology, University of Ljubljana. His bachelor thesis ”Development of a reverse-phase chromatographic separation model based upon Hansen solubility parameters”, completed under the mentorship of prof. dr. Irena Kralj Cigić, earned him the prestigious Krka award for student research …

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ISLAPAP – Understanding the Material Culture of Islamic Paper and Inks

Our knowledge of historic paper and ink is dominated by research on Western papermaking and significantly less is known about paper produced in the Islamic cultural realm. The EU-funded ISLAPAP project will fill this knowledge gap. Specifically, the project will focus on material science research of both sacrificial reference material collections and actual manuscripts and …

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Join our Team: 3-year Post-doc Position Available

We are looking for a colleague to join our dynamic team. Ideally, the post-holder will be a proficient analytical chemist with excellent experience particularly of separation techniques and with a passion for cultural heritage. The following text is a translation of the official job advert available here. For any information about the job, please contact …

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Effects of lignin degradation on paper-based materials in extreme conditions

Lignin is a natural product that represents a large part of the Earth’s biosphere and is an important source of energy, as well as a constituent of many industrial products. Among others, it is present in environmentally friendly packaging coatings and in paper produced from wood pulp. In this project, we will explore the effect …

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Welcome Emma Paolin, our new PhD student!

Emma studies towards PhD at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology at University of Ljubljana. Her work focuses on the Odotheka project, specifically the development of an international archive of olfactory heritage, using the heritage science approach, in a close collaboration with the Cracow University of Economics in Poland and cultural heritage experts from …

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Degradation studies of lignin-rich paper-based materials

The Slovenian Research Agency approved funding for a 3-year research project titled “Effects of lignin degradation on paper-based materials in extreme conditions”. The project will explore the effect of lignin degradation on cellulose-based materials in two “extreme” contexts: during composting and long-term environmental degradation. The variables affecting the degradation pathways as well as the degradation …

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