Brigid Stapleton
PhD
Cultural conservation
Brigid is a PhD candidate at the Robert Cripps Institute for Cultural Conservation. Her research focuses on supporting First Peoples to conserve heritage in remote art and culture centres by identifying and mitigating climate-related risks. Brigid completed a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne in December 2025. During this Masters, she was privileged to learn from Gija elders and knowledge holders on-Country in the Kimberley in Western Australia and to conduct cultural materials research to support the post-fire recovery efforts at the See Yup Temple in Melbourne. In her research, Brigid draws on her many years working in data analysis, writing and editing. Her earlier qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and a Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing from RMIT.
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Thesis
Supporting First Peoples to conserve heritage in remote art and culture centres by identifying and mitigating climate-related risks
This research focuses on supporting First Peoples to conserve heritage in remote art and culture centres by identifying and mitigating climate-related risks. It will add to the body of knowledge required to convince policy makers and funders of the resources, actions and capability required to prevent further cultural losses, supporting the research under the Australian Research Council Industry Laureate Fellowship project ‘Safe Keeping: Effecting Solutions for Risks to Remote Indigenous Heritage’. There is a growing imperative to act as climate-related risks are escalating in many of these remote communities, so this research will form a call-to-action to support First Peoples’ communities to secure these important cultural assets.
Research interests
- Cultural conservation
- Community collections
- Climate risks to heritage
- First Peoples art and culture centres