Heritage Microbiology and Science

Eric May is Reader in Microbiology at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Portsmouth. He has been known for his work on the role of bacteria in stone deterioration for 20 years but also recently coordinated an EU study to assess the value of biotechnology for remediation of altered stone in buildings (BIOBRUSH). He chaired the scientific committees and organised the international heritage meeting Heritage Microbiology and Science (HMS 2005) in Portsmouth in June 2005 along with Mark Jones at the Mary Rose Trust. He is co-editor of Conservation Science: Heritage Materials and was a participant in a recent Preserving the Past research initiative that looked at the methods used in heritage and conservation work. Mark Jones is Head of Collections at the Mary Rose Trust. A leading conservation scientist, involved with the Mary Rose Trust since 1983, Dr Jones devised the conservation methodology for the hull and wooden artefacts at the Mary Rose Trust and is now responsible for all conservation matters. His principle research interests lie in the structure and degradation of archaeological wood, acid problem in treated and untreated archaeological wood and his conservation interests include the stabilisation of large waterlogged wooden objects. He is also responsible for the conservation of the Dover Bronze-Age Boat, a third century Gallo-Celtic Boat from Guernsey, the tenth century Graveney Boat for the National Maritime Museum and numerous pre-historic logboats. Dr Jones also leads a team of textile conservators working to conserve the fore-top sail of HMS Victory for display to the general public. Julian Mitchell is a Senior Lecturer in Microbial Genetics at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Portsmouth. He is a molecular biologist with an interest in the application of molecular techniques to the study of microbes in the environment.