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Articles by: Jonna Lange

Articles by Jonna Lange

Anthrenus pinnigeri

We congratulate David Pinniger on having a new species of subgenus Anthrenops Reitter named after him. Three new species were found during a study in Jordan and Egypt by Graham J. Holloway. One of them is now called Anthrenus pinnigeri.

Stephen Koob (1951 – 2026)

We were greatly shocked and dismayed to learn of the death of Stephen Koob on June13th at the age of 74.

Steve was a good friend of IAP and Jim Black who had known Steve since the late 1970s when Steve was a conservation student at the Institute of Archaeology, London.

Steve was very generous in sharing all his knowledge and skills as evidenced in the many glass conservation workshops he presented for IAP since his first Summer School in London in 1986. Since then he gave many IAP workshops in the USA , UK and Poland. He also presented IAP Virtual seminars in 2023 and 2024. In one of them, interest of attendees was so great that the Q&A session lasted longer than his formal seminar.

Formerly chief conservator at the Corning Museum of Glass and known to many for his work with B-72, glass, ceramics, and archaeological materials (as well as his fondly labeled “Koob Tubes”), his impact on our field is widely acknowledged and appreciated. A celebration of his life is being planned by the Corning Museum of Glass this fall. You can see a summary of his work here on the website of the Corning Museum of Glass.

Our thoughts are with his wife Lisa Goldberg and their sons Julian and Jeremy.

 

Visiting the Blenheim Palace wall painting conservation

On 17th April we had the great pleasure to visit Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire with a small group of conservators. We listened to Kelly O’Driscoll (Head of Built Heritage) to tell us all about the building with its many challenges and currently ongoing roof restoration. With a huge scaffolding structure erected already the palace also decided to address the painted ceilings in the Great Hall and the Saloon. Lizzie Wooley (Opus Conservation) is leading the conservation of the wall paintings. She talked to us about the history and analytics of the paintings and how they are choosing to conserve them. We had the great honour to go up the scaffolding inside and view the wall paintings from up close. It was a very unique experience and we were all very grateful to be shown around. The roof conservation can be viewed by all visitors to the palace, the scaffolding can be accessed by stairs and elevator and gives a unique insight.

For more information about the palace and how to visit please visit their website

Photos shown with permission from Blenheim Palace

In Oxford with Matt Cushman

What a great time we had last week in Oxford with Matt Cushman. Participants learned all about hydrogels and gel-like materials for controlled aqueous treatments.
Thank you for everybody involved for helping to organise this course! A special thank you to Matt Cushman, Lizzie Wooley and Charlie Prentice. And thank you to all of our wonderful participants for making this course such a pleasure.

Humanitix impact

Four month ago we switched booking platforms. We are still very happy to have made the switch. Participants had to adjust to a new look and be patient with us while we are continuing to adapt. While we had to learn to navigate a new website structure, the Humanitix team has always been very helpful in answering any questions.

The biggest reason for us was their vision to donate 100% of profits to charity. For our participants this means while they book further education for themselves, they are helping other people around the world to greater dignity and safety, access healthcare and education. You can find more information on the specific charities here

  • Poverty Alleviation (39.74%): £4,293,891.82

  • Education (36.97%): £3,994,945.42

  • Healthcare (17.18%): £1,856,872.22

  • Support for Indigenous Groups (4.2%): £454,003.77

  • Other (Environment, Human Rights & various other cause areas) (1.91%): £206,502.41

if you have any questions please let us know.

New booking platform

We have recently changed our booking system from Eventbrite to Humanitix. Humanitix is a ticketing platform that dedicates it’s profits to charity. We hope that it will be a smooth transition and you will find it easy to navigate. You are now able to register directly through a pop-up on our website. If you have any questions we are happy to help!

All of us at International Academic Projects send you season’s greetings, and our best wishes to you for the holidays & the New Year!

8 Courses
27 Seminars including 7 Spanish seminars
over 2300 participants
from more than 60 countries

Thank you to all the tutors and every participant who joined us to further their interest/studies within the field of conservation.

We hope to see you again at our forthcoming series of new virtual seminars and courses starting in January 2026 which we will continue to post on the website and social media.

Hydrogels course with Matt Cushman at Tate Britain

A big thank you to Matt Cushman, Tate Britain staff and our participants for a wonderful course on hydrogels!

Introduction to Hydrogels in Conservation Cleaning was a four-day course with Matt Cushman and took place at Tate Britain in London in July 2025.

The course covered the theoretical background and practical aspects of gel formulation and application. Participants will gained experience in preparing, comparing and manipulating various gel materials.

If you are interested in the topic of hydrogels please let us know and we will let you know the next time we organise a course.

 

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