Sahar Basiri

I am applying to the career in Conservation at York council as I want to spend the rest of my life on pushing back the frontiers of skills to produce a profound effect on conservation of historic projects, especially in historic York.

I started to consider conservation and architectural restoration as a profession from my bachelor time when I got a double-digit rank in the national entrance exam among thousands of people. Originally, this interest goes back to the time when my uncle, who has a very good relationship with me since my childhood, studied in the field of restoration and has been working in this field for many years. As I was very interested in him, I occasionally went with him to workshops or projects related to historic constructions, and thus, seeing the progress and reconstruction of each project, I became more and more interested in this field. And finally, I choose Conservation and Restoration of monuments as my first choice for my bachelor’s degree as it is the best combination of engineering, skill and science.

I started my undergraduate studies at Art university of Isfahan. While in my undergraduate study, the nature of my coursework and the department curriculum gave me the opportunities to grow and explore my passion. I got interested in conservation of architectural decorations and polychrome monuments so for my thesis subject I work on Investigation Technique, Conservation and Restoration of a Painting on a Metal Plate of Qajar Period in Iran and I finished my bachelor while I was among the top students in my major.  

We are in an era of global and technological changes where boundaries are fast disappearing and the greatest future challenge for us is to manage continuity of changes. An educational ambition stimulated me to pursue my master’s program at my bachelor university due to having professional professors and a high ranking of art faculty of this university in Iran. My master thesis was the conservation for historic construction with focus on marbling waterscape “Hoze Morvarid” in Hasht Behesht place, Safavid destiny in Isfahan. The concept of my thesis was about analysis and introducing new methods and materials for restoration and filling the losses in stone structures. 

My feeling of preserving culture and historical constructions, on the one hand, and the lack of specialized and educated expert in this field, on the other, made me decide to acquire more knowledge and take an effective and useful step in this field. It is noteworthy that during my postgraduate study due to my great research in various aspects of my field like architecture, conservation and restoration, history of art I published papers in reputable scientific journals such as:

 EWCHP Congress 2012, 

Journal of History and Culture, 

Journal of Maremat and Memari e Iran,

Journal ofTraditionalIslamic Art,

Journal of Maremat and Pezhouhesh. 

As I was selected as best researcher and first rank student throughout my studies, my passion toward teaching and my wide experience in my area of study I got the position as a lecture in different prestigious universities in Iran such as Art university in Isfahan. Due to my background and skills in conservation and restoration of monuments, I gain numerous experiences in museum movables and in architectural structures.I also have relatively strong communication skills and I can have a good performance in managing scientific and executive groups as well as in teaching specialized courses and topics and presenting papers in conferences.

Since one of the ways to study the scientific engineering technologies and civilization of the past is to access rich resources and many usable texts that can reveal its details more and more to the current societies, reviewing historic architectures, decorations and structures is immovable left over from ancient times. These magnificent cultural constructions are a symbol of the civilization of each nation and nationality, which has been formed in each period based on the attitudes, thoughts, and desires of each nation, and reveals the manifestations and the amount of progress of each nation. These works of art on one hand show the extent of a nation's access to tools and their capabilities, and on the other, reveals technological details and technical knowledge, the range of mineral and organic resources and reserves of each region. Considering the importance and position of this topic, in today's world, the study of infrastructure of each field of knowledge is the study of human engineering methods and technologies in the past, which is one of the important and undeniable sources of historical architectures of any land. Since the land in which I was born has been one of the most important cultural and artistic centers at different times, I have studied and researched various works in various educational courses.

The more I progress in this field, the more my interest in these topics has increased day by day, and it is important for me to be able to explore this academic field with scientific and technological methods. Link a new experiment so that I can connect the ancient sciences with the needs of the world ahead in a more scientific and accurate way, given the awareness of technological developments. Because one of the most important historical features of constructions is the use of ecological materials and attention to the preservation and protection of traditions and patterns of each nation (as a valuable heritage of each nation and a document of scientific skill). Throughout history, this issue has created luxurious, dazzling, and unique constructions and by creating a sense of belonging and identity to today's civilized societies, they have created original works and decorations that their technological study can be more than before which should be revealed and used as a rich and pure model in creating new architectural works.

Finally, I have a great motivation to take the next steps toward my ambition, future and goals by attending in Conservation project in the historic York city. This career has always been a pioneer job in all majors of engineering, skill, knowledge and technology. Moreover, this career offers many opportunities to step in the path towards experimental and professional goals. It would be a great honor for me to be in such an skillful environment where I can develop my intellectual, cultural, and spiritual potentialities. 

Also, by deepening my knowledge and information in this field, I can conduct specialized experience and take an effective step in the conserving numerous projects in protection and restoration of historic constructions, and since I am particularly interested in engineering science I have been working in this field for many years, I can stabilize my professional position as a city member and official conserver in top historic cities as York. This is while this career would strengthen my knowledge in managing different projects in preservation and renovation the historic architecture and valuable cultural constructions to join the carrier of my choice.

Conservation and restoration of historic art and architecture. university lecturer of cultural heritage

PhD in conservation and restoration of museum artifact and architectural decorations