{"id":965,"date":"2016-04-13T10:58:59","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T10:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=965"},"modified":"2022-04-13T16:14:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T16:14:29","slug":"simon-stephens-msc-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2016\/04\/13\/simon-stephens-msc-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Stephens (MSc 2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/323\/2016\/07\/Simon-Stephens.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/323\/2016\/07\/Simon-Stephens.jpg\" alt=\"Simon Stephens\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/323\/2016\/07\/Simon-Stephens.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/323\/2016\/07\/Simon-Stephens-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a> <\/figure>\n<p class=\"lead\">Simon Stephens is an Assistant Conservator of Engineering for National Museums Scotland\u2019s Museum of Flight.<\/p>\n<p>I studied undergraduate biology and went on to work in a genetics laboratory before realising that the career path wasn\u2019t right for me. I always had a passion for museums, antiquities and cultural heritage but never thought to pursue a career in those areas until I saw the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/history-archaeology-religion\/courses\/postgraduate-taught\/archaeology-and-conservation\">MSc in Conservation Practice<\/a> in a Cardiff University prospectus. From that moment my goal was to become a conservator and work in the heritage sector.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The degree was taught over two years allowing me to convert my previous scientific background into a conservation skillset before building on them to Master\u2019s level.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I went from a complete novice to a fully qualified competent emerging professional who had completed an internship with one of the largest museums in the country.<\/p>\n<p>I now work for National Museums Scotland\u2019s Museum of Flight as Assistant Conservator of Engineering. I am part of a small team delivering conservation to a wide variety of artefacts. I have a great interest in the conservation of large objects such as industrial machinery and vehicles so for me to get this job was a dream come true.<\/p>\n<p>I would certainly not be in this position had I not pursued my goal and studied to become a conservator at Cardiff University. The brilliant methods of teaching conservation theory and practice and the experience I gained doing my summer internship at my chosen museum have given me the best start to a new career that I could have possibly ever imagined.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>What makes the course truly special is the way taught theoretical principles are put into practice as you undertake conservation treatments on a wide variety of actual museum artefacts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The teaching staff are all renowned conservators in their fields and the facilities are fantastic. From the department\u2019s state-of-the-art analytical equipment to the well-stocked libraries and postgraduate study centres provided by the University, all make studying at Cardiff a great experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Simon Stephens is Assistant Conservator of Engineering at the National Museums Scotland\u2019s Museum of Flight.","protected":false},"author":904,"featured_media":1233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,74,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-humanities-social-sciences","category-history-archaeology-and-religion","category-our-alumni"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/904"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1242,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions\/1242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}