AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship – “Second life: understanding deterioration of recycled plastics in Museum collections” with Victoria and Albert Museum

mperial College London and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Studentship from October 2024 under the AHRC’s  Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme.

Applications are invited for this research studentship in the field of Mechanics of Materials and Conservation of Art, leading to the award of a PhD degree.

This project will be jointly supervised by Prof Maria Charalambides at Imperial and Dr Valentina Risdonne at the V&A. The student will be expected to spend time at both Imperial and V&A, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students at both the V&A, and across the UK. The CDP consortium organise an extensive range of professional and skills development activities designed to enhance CDP researcher’s PhD experience and future employability.

The studentship can be studied either full or part-time.

We encourage the widest range of potential students to study for this CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, Minority, Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds as they are currently underrepresented at this level in this area. 

Students should have a master’s degree in a relevant subject or can demonstrate equivalent experience in a professional setting.

The studentship is open to both home and international applicants.

Project Overview 

This project will focus on understanding the deterioration of recycled plastics in museums, with the purpose of defining a long-term mitigation strategy. Recycled plastic materials started to be used more extensively in the past two decades; with drives to increase global sustainability across design, more of these objects will enter the V&A collection. As the planet’s climate changes and the V&A creates lighter and brighter gallery spaces, there is an urgent need to evaluate the risks to objects containing recycled plastics and establish measures toward their preservation. We will employ experimental and computational mechanics methods to investigate chemical and mechanical degradation in these materials and the potential interaction between these. Experimental studies will determine the physical and mechanical properties of the plastics as a function of ageing. These properties will be used as input to novel computational models, to derive predictions of the plastics’ lifetime under various environments.

Research objectives include:

1.      Establish the make-up of recycled plastics mostly found in museum collections to determine the materials that will be the focus of the study.

2.      Establish methods for making mock-up samples out of the identified materials.

3.      Survey gallery conditions in order to set up suitable ageing conditions.

4.      Perform accelerated ageing tests using mock – ups and determine degradation in mechanical, thermophysical or optical properties. Correlate with plasticisation, embrittlement, cracking and colour, gloss or texture changes.

5.      Develop computational modelling tools for predicting environmental ageing and the associated degradation of the polymers.

Research with V&A

This research studentship is one allocated to V&A by the AHRC to support the collaboration between conservation specialists at the V&A and the research of Prof Charalambides’s team. The successful student will be expected to spend time carrying out research and gaining relevant experience at the V&A as part of the studentship.

Eligibility

·        This studentship is open to both Home and International applicants.

Further guidance can be found on the UKRI website.

·        We want to encourage the widest range of potential students to study for a CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, Minority, Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds as they are currently underrepresented at this level in this area. 

·        Applicants should ideally have or expect to receive a relevant Masters-level qualification in a relevant subject Mechanical Engineering, Conservation Science or a related subject, or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience in a professional setting.

·        Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the art conservation sector or mechanical engineering as well as potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas.

·        As a collaborative award, students will be expected to spend time at both the University and the V&A. All applicants must meet UKRI terms and conditions for funding.

Project details and how to apply

To find out more about research at Imperial College London in this area, go to:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mechanical-engineering/research/

For information on how to apply, go to:

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/mechanical-engineering/study/phd/how-to-apply/

For further details of the post contact Prof Maria Charalambides m.charalambides.@imperial.ac.uk or Dr Valentina Risdonne [Email Address Removed]. Interested applicants should send an up-to-date curriculum vitae to Prof Charalambides. Suitable candidates will be required to complete an electronic application form at Imperial College London in order for their qualifications to be addressed by College Registry.

Reasonable Adjustments and Support for Applicants

Support or adjustments may include (but are not limited to):

• Opportunity to speak with project supervisors about the project and the process.
• Opportunity to speak regarding institutional support systems (e.g. neurodiversity, racial diversity and LGBTQIA+ networks, mental health support, support for carers).
•  An insight into the interview process (e.g. selection criteria used).
• Opportunity to visit the relevant building and room prior to interview, as well as on-site guidance (demonstrating accessible routes and/or familiarity with building layouts for example)
• Opportunity to speak with active CDP students to ask questions regarding student experience as part of the CDP scheme.

The V&A has made a commitment to the principle of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) for all and strives to go beyond public duty placed upon us by the Equality Act 2010. We believe that all our employees, volunteers and contracted suppliers should find the V&A to be a supportive and nurturing environment free from bullying, harassment, discrimination or victimisation, and we hope that we can support this to be the case through our proactive EDI work. Full details of our EDI intentions can be found in our Corporate EDI Strategy and Action Plan 2022-2025.