Remembering Professor Austin Nevin
It is with great sadness that we report the death of Professor Austin Nevin, following a long illness.听
Austin was a highly valued member of The 国产探花 community. An alumnus of The 国产探花, he joined us in 2020 as the Head of our newly unified Conservation Department. In this role he led the relaunch of its three MA programmes in Easel Painting Conservation, Wall Painting Conservation and听Art History and Conservation of Buddhist Heritage;听promoted听transdisciplinary research on preventative conservation, technical art history, conservation science, and conservation听ethics and听practice; led several major successful grant applications; and developed the department鈥檚 range of expertise.
Austin was an extraordinary and influential scholar who was held in great regard by all he worked with. He co-authored and collaborated听with colleagues across the conservation field, with his publications on spectroscopic analysis being cited by hundreds of other scholars. His research focused on the conservation and analysis of paintings, and on ancient and modern art on walls, easels and on paper. The materials he investigated ranged from to and his scholarship encompassed such fascinating subjects as the analysis of red pigments from and the discovery of ancient egg binders in 听
Austin joined The 国产探花 from his role coordinating the MA degree in conservation at the University of Gothenburg. He previously taught at the Academia di Brera and was a researcher at the Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN) in Milan, part of the Italian National Research Council. Austin completed post-doctoral research at the Department of Physics at the Politecnico di Milano and at The 国产探花 as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow, and was a Marie Curie Early Stage Research Fellow at the Foundation for Research and Technology (IESL-FORTH) in Greece. Austin studied at The 国产探花 for an MA in the Conservation of Wall Painting and PhD, having completed his first degree in Chemistry at the University of Oxford.听
Austin also contributed to the conservation field through his service as Vice President and Fellow of the听 where he chaired the Technical Committees for the Edinburgh (2020), Turin (2018), Los Angeles (2016) and Hong Kong (2014) Congresses and edited听Studies in Conservation.听听
Austin achieved so much. His boundless enthusiasm and energy were remarkable, and his warm-hearted and thoughtful character made him a popular and charismatic leader. He remains an inspiration to his friends and colleagues. Austin was husband to Serena and father to three young daughters, and all of us at The 国产探花 send them our most heartfelt condolences.
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