Student opportunities
Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation is committed to expanding industry skills and experience. Our team provide Work Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunities for students to gain practical in-the-field experience alongside professional conservators. This enables our team to share their knowledge and experience with the next generation of conservators as they work together to solve real-world challenges.
STUDENT PROFILE: Conserving the oldest intact processional dragon in the world
Student Isabel Walker shares her experience working on the Loong Conservation Project. Staff and students worked in partnership with the Bendigo Chinese Association to complete conservation work. Video: Paul Burston.
Current opportunities
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Opportunities for 2023
Grimwade Conservation Services team are planning student opportunities for 2023. Revisit this site for further updates.
All volunteer opportunities provide students with a Melbourne Plus digital credential for Community Engagement.
Past student intern projects
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Conserving a processional dragon
In 2021 the Grimwade team began the journey of working with the Golden Dragon Museum and the Bendigo Chinese Association to conserve Loong, the oldest surviving processional dragon in the world.
University of Melbourne students joined our conservation team for the 8 month project. You can view and project short video here.
View the original student EOI here.
The Loong, Chinese Dragon Conservation Project is supported by the Victorian Government through the Living Heritage Grants Program.
Project newsletter updates below detail the conservation work completed on the project.
Project Update 1: October 2021
Project Update 2: November 2021
Project Update 3: December 2021
Grimwade conservators, students and Bendigo Chinese Association volunteers cleaning Loong onsite in the Golden Dragon Museum in December 2021. Photos by Paul Burston and Penny Tripp
Golden Dragon Museum wins the 2022 AMaGA Small Organisation Award for the Loong Conservation Project on 4 October 2022. Bendigo Chinese Association Chairman Doug Lougoon and Golden Dragon Museum Collection Manager Megan Hall pictured accepting the award. Photo by Simon Peter Fox Photography.
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Conserving Ballarat's historical records
Our team of professional conservators are working closely with members of the Ballaarat Mechanic's Institute to conserve valuable and rare books, botanical specimens and a fragile 19th century painting in need.
Student conservators have joined the team and developed their paper and book conservation skills through a variety of practical tasks.
View the original student EOI here.
The Ballaarat Mechanics Institute Conservation Project is supported by the Victorian Government through the Living Heritage Grants Program.
Project newsletter updates below detail the conservation work completed on the project.
Project Update 1: February 2022
Project Update 4: October 2022
Image L-R: Conservator Camielle Fitzmaurice, BMI Heritage Library long-term staff member Rex Bridges, and student intern conservators Sunita Lewis, Monica Connors and Eleanor Zeitz assessing the condition of the Von Muller herbaria, November 2021. Picture: Supplied.
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National Trust CostumeLAB
Our team of professional textile conservators worked onsite with the National Trust of Australia's Edwardian costume collection to train over 17 student conservators and National Trust collection staff and volunteers in a range of technical skills over a period of 10 days. CostumeLAB was a joint initiative of the University of Melbourne and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).
In 2021 the project was awarded a Highly Commended at the Victorian Museums and Galleries Awards for dynamic programming and the promotion of conservation.
CostumeLAB was supported by The Copland Foundation and the Vera Moore Foundation. The project was presented with a 2021 AMaGA Highly Commended award in recognition of the innovative onsite education experience developed by the Grimwade team.
View the original student EOI here.
Photos by Keep Left.
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Rippon Lea ceiling tiles
The National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and Grimwade Conservation Services partnered to deliver conservation treatment to sections of an ornate decorative ceiling at Rippon Lea mansion. The ceiling tiles were damaged by a water leak resulting in a number of tiles being remoulded and replaced.
Students joined in the journey of tile moulding and installation.
To finish the works onsite at Rippon Lea, all students completed mandatory Working at Heights training.
View the original student EOI here.
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Ferdinand von Mueller Collection of botanical specimens
Grimwade Conservation Services partnering with the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute in 2022 to deliver a series of projects to conserve vulnerable and significant items from their Heritage Collection, supported by the Victorian Government's Living Heritage Grant Program. Our Grimwade conservators worked with students on the Ferdinand von Mueller Collection consisting of approximately 220 nineteenth-century dried botanical specimens.
View the original student EOI here.
Photos by Paul Burston.
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Australian Flood Recovery Project
In 2022 the Grimwade Conservation Services team visited flood affected communities with student conservators, delivering important remediation works to artwork and personal items impacted by flood waters.
The team delivered pop-up recovery centres in Seymour and Maribyrnong, treating paintings, books and photographs from Historical and Art Societies, as well as community personal collections.
View the media release here.
View the ABC feature article on our student work to salvage a Boer War nominal roll, and our visit to Seymour in regional Victoria.
Photos by Penny Tripp
Contact us
Have a question about our student conservation opportunities? Get in touch.
Contact us