Continue to content

Research on heritage paper bleaching presented at Icon Conference

At the end of October, Camille Jallu, paper conservator who graduated from ENSAV La Cambre, presented a poster at the Icon (Institute of Conservation) Book and Paper Group Conference "Conservation Uncovered: Investigation and Discovery in Treatment and Analysis" (The National Archives, Kew, London).

Her research, carried out during a year-and-a-half research internship at KIK-IRPA’s MatCoRe (Material Science for Conservation Research) unit in collaboration with the Conservation Research Center (MNHN, Paris), focused on the bleaching of lignocellulosic heritage papers using reducing and oxidising agents, and how these treatments affect the colour, the pH and the mechanical properties of the substrate. Her comparative study provided updated insights into the various bleaching protocols available to conservators for the treatment of degraded lignocellulosic papers.

This interdisciplinary project was supervised by Dr. Nathan Ferrandin-Schoffel (IPCM-Sorbonne Université), Dr. Anne-Laurence Dupont (CRC-CNRS), Prof. Estelle Van Geyts (ENSAV La Cambre) and Dr. Francisco Mederos-Henry (KIK-IRPA).

Camille is currently enrolled in a PhD programme at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris as part of the BIOCARE project.

Congratulations, Camille!

ICON Mat Co Re 1

More KIK-IRPA news

IRPA 0

European exercise tests international cooperation in safeguarding cultural heritage

29.06.2026

Ten years ago, it would have been difficult to imagine a European exercise focused on the protection of cultural heritage involving specialised teams from the European Union in the context of a disaster exceeding national response capacities.

Read more
DSC01707

Four leading institutions of the Cinquantenaire Park join forces for the future

09.06.2026

The four major institutions located in the Cinquantenaire Park – Autoworld Museum Brussels, the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA), the Royal Museums of Art and History (KMKG-MRAH) and the War Heritage Institute (WHI) – have signed a declaration of intent to structurally strengthen their collaboration.

Read more