V&A conservation internships

Salary: London Living Wage (£14.80 per hour) full time

Location: London

Gain hands-on conservation experience helping prepare South Asian collections for display in the V&A's redeveloped South Asia Gallery.

The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The Museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.

The V&A Conservation team are excited to be offering two funded internships - one specialising in Objects Conservation and one in Textiles Conservation - supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This is a unique opportunity to work directly on the assessment and conservation of a diverse range of three-dimensional objects and textiles for the major redevelopment of the South Asia Gallery ahead of its opening in 2028.

Available for five months full-time (or nine months part-time), these roles focus on preserving and providing access to the V&A’s collection of South Asian art and design, primarily from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. As an intern, you will gain hands-on development of practical conservation skills within your chosen discipline while collaborating closely with a multidisciplinary project team across the organisation to realise the gallery transformation.

What you'll be doing

• Supporting the Conservation Department’s work to deliver the conservation and care of collections for the South Asia Gallery redevelopment.
• Learning and developing interventive and preventive conservation skills required for the preparation of objects, ensuring their stability and suitability for display.
• Working closely with a variety of stakeholders from the Conservation, Technical Services and Curatorial teams.
• Underpinning care of the collection through documentation, surveys, data collection and analysis (as directed by the Lead Conservator and in collaboration with the Lead Conservation Scientist).
• Contributing to the conservation of a range of materials and objects (as directed by the Lead Conservator) with a focus on objects and sculpture or textiles (depending on which internship you choose)
• Collaborating with the Preventive Conservation team on preventive measures within the South Asia Galleries.
• Upholding a high standard of Health and Safety practice, reviewing COSHH, risk assessments, method statements and working practices.
• Keeping accurate records of project development, gaining valuable experience and skills which will help you to pursue a career in the conservation of museum collections.

What we are looking for

• Attention to detail demonstrated through a developing practical skill set and/or conservation training relevant to the project
• Good standard of written English and numerate with the ability to carry out numerical analysis. Clear written communication skills to record work accurately
• Experience of using MS Office and other relevant IT systems
• The ability to organise and carry out work to meet commitments
• A team player who works with others outside their own department in a collaborative, understanding, and, engaging way
• Work experience in a museum environment
• A passion for collection care of historic textiles or historic objects (depending on which internship you choose) and facilitating access to museum collections
• Respect of others’ expertise, time, perspectives and contribution.
• A proactive commitment to personal development, open to change, new ideas and suggestions
• Shares our Values of Sustainability, Equity, Creativity, Collaboration & Generosity

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.