Risk management and uncertainty: How wrong can you get?

This paper traces the author’s involvement in the developing field of risk management which started during the last decade of the twentieth century. The author’s ideas about risk and uncertainty have continued to evolve up to the present day. The concept of the museum has also evolved as the importance of collections has given ground to the museums’ greater association with wider society and global subjects such as sustainability. 

Some of the ideas about risk and decision-making in museums that were developed in the book Risk Assessment for Object Conservation are now seen as too narrow and inward-looking. Museum activities may be a better subject for risk assessment than museum collections. The interaction of politics and society with the museum business and the subsequent effect on values is briefly explored.

Notes on the author

Jonathan Ashley-Smith studied chemistry to post-doctoral level at the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge. He worked as a metalwork conservator and analytical scientist from 1973-1977 at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) London. Between 1977 and 2002, he was Head of Conservation at the V&A. 

In 1994 he was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship to study risk methodologies, resulting in the book Risk Assessment for Object Conservation, published in 1999. In 2000, he was awarded the Plowden Medal for his contribution to the conservation profession. 

Jonathan Ashley-Smith was Secretary-General of the International Institute for Conservation (IIC) 2003-2006. He was Visiting Professor in the Conservation Department of the Royal College of Art, London from 2000-2010. Between 2009 and 2014, he was project leader for the damage and risk assessment module of the EC research project “Climate for Culture”, looking at risks to collections and interior decoration arising from climate change. 

In 2020 he helped organise a conference on philosophy and ethics with David Scott. His presentation was about his concept of ‘bespoke codes of ethics’ and the publication by the Institute of Conservation of the document Guidelines for creating a personal statement of ethical practice.