MPhil Textile Conservation

Textile Conservation is a multidisciplinary subject which combines academic knowledge with cultural awareness, aesthetic sensitivity and technical skill. This MPhil is both an academic programme and professional training; it will give you a framework of theoretical knowledge and a range of practical experience which will enable you to contribute to the understanding and preservation of culturally significant textile artefacts.

WHY THIS PROGRAMME

• This is the only programme of its kind in the UK, and one of only a few specialist textile conservation programmes in the world.
• You will be based in our specialist conservation laboratories. The facilities include workrooms, a wet lab, dye lab, chemistry lab and well-equipped analytical lab.
• You will benefit from our close links with Glasgow Museums, as well as the University’s own Hunterian Museum. Glasgow’s civic and university collections are some of the richest and most diverse in Europe and are of international standing. You will have the opportunity to draw on the museums’ rich and varied textile collections.
• You will be taught by visiting specialists from local and national museums in Scotland and the wider UK.
• You will take part in a project-based work placement, where you can explore a possible future career while meeting professional practitioners and developing your skills and experience.

CAREER PROSPECTS

The great majority of graduates of this programme and of its predecessor, the Textile Conservation Centre’s MA Textile Conservation programme, now work in museums and other institutions. Graduates of the two programmes have an outstanding record of employment on graduation and of remaining in the sector. They now work in nearly 40 countries and are in senior positions worldwide. Our graduates have worked in museums and conservation institutions from San Francisco to Singapore and from Auckland, New Zealand, to Alaska.

Many of our graduates have been awarded fellowships and internships in the UK, USA, Canada and Europe including Historic Royal Palaces, The National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian, and the Abegg-Stiftung. In many cases these one-year internships, or short contracts, have resulted in graduates being permanently employed in their host institutions, such as the British Museum, National Museum Scotland. and Historic Royal Palaces.

However, it is worth noting that many graduates initially go on to short-term contract posts. It is easier to find employment as a textile conservator if you are able to be flexible in terms of location.