Rate My Professor Christina Young

Professor Christina Young is the Professor of Conservation and Technical Art History in the History of Art section of the School of Culture and Creative Arts at the University of Glasgow, a position she has held since 2017. A physics graduate, she previously served as Reader in the Conservation of Easel Paintings and Conservation Science at the Courtauld Institute of Art, and prior to that as Leverhulme Research Fellow at Tate. As Director of the Kelvin Centre for Conservation and Cultural Heritage Research, she oversees interdisciplinary initiatives in conservation science and technical art history. She also holds a Visiting Fellowship at Imperial College London from 2013 to 2025. Young is a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation (FIIC), a Member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP), and was awarded the Getty Guest Scholarship at the Getty Conservation Institute in 2010. Her teaching integrates technical art history, conservation, and conservation science.

Young's research specializations include technical art history, conservation science, and the structural conservation of paintings, with particular emphasis on canvas supports, crack formation and fatigue in painted cultural heritage objects, and photonic imaging strategies. Key projects under her leadership are 'The Power to Transform,' exploring the history and significance of painted stage cloths; IMPASTOW, addressing crack formation in painted wooden heritage; and innovations in structural conservation combining technical art history, conservation, and curatorial practice. Long-term interests encompass conservation of modern and contemporary art, non-invasive monitoring techniques, materials and methods for structural conservation, and the history of painted canvas in fine and decorative arts, theatre, performance, and socio-political contexts. Notable publications include 'The significance of the Citizens Theatre paint frames' in Studies in Conservation (2025), 'Canvas complexity' in Conserving Canvas (2023), 'Examination of gecko-inspired dry adhesives for heritage conservation' in European Physical Journal Plus (2023), 'Gecko-inspired dry adhesives for heritage conservation' in Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology (2023), 'History of fabric supports' in Conservation of Easel Paintings (2012), and 'Fabrics for the twenty-first century: As artist canvas and for the structural reinforcement of easel paintings on canvas' in Studies in Conservation (2012). She supervises PhD research in mechanics of painted cultural heritage, development of conservation materials, and advanced optical techniques. Her contributions advance preservation practices for tangible cultural heritage.