Professional opportunities
Functions
The Cultural Heritage Diagnostic Technologist collaborates and provides support to institutions responsible for the management and maintenance of cultural heritage (local authorities, public and private museums, libraries, archives, and companies operating in the conservation and restoration sector).
Specifically, the Cultural Heritage Diagnostic Technologist performs the following functions:
- application of innovative technologies for the study of ancient materials,
- identification of production technologies,
- assessment of the state of conservation of cultural heritage,
- microclimate monitoring at local authorities and specific institutions, such as superintendencies, museums, libraries, and archives.
Skills
Graduates in Technologies for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage acquire skills aimed at understanding and protecting cultural heritage through the study of basic scientific and humanistic disciplines, as well as specific disciplines (physical, chemical, mineralogical-petrographic, and biological diagnostic investigations). Furthermore, the Cultural Heritage Diagnostic Technologist is able to evaluate, interpret, and statistically process data obtained from experimental activities.
Career Opportunities
The Cultural Heritage Diagnostic Technologist will be able to perform, with a certain degree of autonomy, professional activities within institutions responsible for the management and maintenance of cultural heritage, namely local authorities and specific institutions such as superintendencies, museums, libraries, archives, as well as within companies and professional organizations operating in the field of conservation, restoration, and protection of cultural heritage. In working groups made up of specialists (archaeologists, architects, art historians, conservators, restorers, etc.), the Cultural Heritage Diagnostic Technologist will be responsible for suggesting appropriate diagnostic techniques to solve specific problems related to the understanding, conservation, and restoration of cultural heritage materials.
Technologists, depending on their internships and placements, will be able to work on the characterization and conservation of materials constituting cultural heritage, whether archaeological, architectural, or artistic. Specifically, they will have expertise in the study of stone materials and mosaics, organic and inorganic pigments, terracotta and related materials, metals, and biological materials such as wood, textile fibers, paper, parchment, ivory, and bone. They will be able to perform professional activities for the evaluation of environmental parameters and the control of microclimates in confined spaces to identify solutions that combine conservation requirements with the sustainability of conservation and restoration efforts aimed at achieving global climate change mitigation goals.
Technologists will be able to collaborate, both as employees of state, regional, or local research institutions, and as freelancers:
- in the performance of diagnostic investigations to characterize ancient materials, study production techniques, and the state of conservation of cultural heritage;
- inventorying, cataloging, and 3D reconstruction of museum artifacts;
- conducting climate monitoring surveys;
- disseminating the knowledge acquired through seminars.
The course represents the first level of training for scientific experts (Conservation Scientists), which can be completed through a master's degree program.