Nominated by the University of Melbourne’s Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation or the University of Canberra, this award recognises outstanding coursework students studying conservation practice at a tertiary level in Australia who have contributed significantly to the activities of the AICCM and have begun to develop their careers by becoming actively involved in the profession.


2019 Student of the Year

University of Melbourne Student of the Year – Daniel Schwartz

Student of year accepting award

Conservation Student of the Year (Melbourne) awardee Daniel Schwartz. Copyright 2019 Katrina Watson: Square Inch Photography

Daniel is a committed and strong advocate for cultural materials conservation and during his Masters of Cultural Materials Conservation, achieved high academic results and facilitated conservation programs with broader communities.

In particular, Dan led a RE-ORG project in Bathurst, New South Wales with support from a Grimwade Centre’s Willem Snoek Conservation Award in 2018. With a desire to work on a regionally relevant and hands-on project, Dan together with conservation and curatorship students conducted a reorganisation of a museum’s storage facility and Mr Sherley from the Council said the project provided a ‘systematic, step-by-step approach to improve access to, and management of, council’s museum and gallery collections’.

Such leadership and concern for the conservation profession is also shown by Dan’s role as the President of SCAM (Student Conservators @ Melbourne) and representation on the AICCM’s 2019 National Conference Conservation Skills Summit Panel.

Through Dan’s minor thesis research on ‘Repatriation as Conservation: Toward a Decolonised

Conservation Ethic’, he has fostered a strong interest in social justice and cross-cultural issues central to the profession through historical enquiry and reflexive thought.

Dan has demonstrated a high level of commitment to volunteer projects alongside academic

achievements, with placements at the Jewish Holocaust Centre, the University of Melbourne

Cultural Collections and Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. Dan’s ongoing participation and collaborations have enabled him to gain real experience working with broad community groups and the public in a range of conservation related projects.

Lastly, Dan is tenacious, creative and his technical problem solving, and conservation skill set are worthy of high praise. It is the Grimwade Centre’s belief that Dan demonstrates a high level of commitment and reflexivity in cultural materials conservation and strong future leadership.

University of Canberra Student of the Year – Rebecca Negri

Conservation Student of the Year (Canberra) awardee Rebecca Negri. Copyright 2019 Katrina Watson: Square Inch Photography

Bec has been student representative on the AICCM local council for over a year. She has been active and provided a good link between the organisation and the student body.

Bec has been actively involved in the conservation profession and has undertaken

internships with the Australian War Memorial and has undertaken significant work on a

family portrait outside her regular studies. As well as treatment, this project has involved sympathetic liaison with the family to ensure their needs are met.

Bec has high academic achievement and is an outstanding student. She researches

everything she does in depth, conducts extensive trials to determine the best materials and

methods to use for her treatments, and has actively explored new areas of conservation

methodology such as gel cleaning systems.

Bec is a leader in her chosen area of paintings conservation, and has actively contributed to the conservation profession both amongst her student peers and also with the professional conservators she has worked with. Her desire to explore and evaluate new techniques has inspired everyone around her to experiment and innovate.

Bec’s willingness to go beyond the “norm”, as well as her excellent organizational abilities, mark her out as a graduate to watch. We look forward to Bec’s future leadership in the conservation profession.

Past award winners

As you can see, our records are incomplete. If you can help fill in the blanks we would love to hear from you.