From the President's Desk, "News in Conservation" December-January 2025, Issue 105

This is my last President’s Desk column! I shall finish my second term of office as President of IIC in January 2025 at the AGM, as sensibly our constitution allows for a maximum of two three-year terms, which by then I will have served.  So this is my 36th and final column. 

I can truly say that it has been an immense privilege to lead IIC over the last six years. I know that I harp on about how fortunate we are to work in this profession, full as it is of passionate people, and in my time as President this view has only been reinforced. This is despite some dark times brought on by the Covid pandemic and the increasingly existential threat that climate change is causing not only to our cultural heritage but also to our very planet.  In this time of massive assaults on our societal norms, I am ever more convinced that conservators have a vital role to play in recognising and safeguarding the physical vestiges of cultural identity so that present and future generations can stay connected to their roots and can continue to learn from their past. 

As a completely independent non-government organisation, in a space where there are few independent voices, IIC has a particular role to play to ensure the profession is supported, enhanced and, indeed, encouraged. It is therefore gratifying to see IIC’s success in doing so evidenced by increasing membership and a sound financial base.

Highlights of the last six years?  For me, it has been the Biennial congresses: Edinburgh in 2020, Wellington in 2022 and Lima in 2024. Edinburgh was a massive pivot for IIC as Covid kicked in, requiring the creation of an entirely digital Congress from a physical one in only a few months. Wellington was our first hybrid Conference, and Lima this September was where we were able to hone this hybrid delivery into a highly successful model. Each one showed where IIC holds particular value as a vehicle for bringing together the global conservation community with all our shared values and commonalities.  

Finally, I want to acknowledge our Secretary-General Professor Jane Henderson who has served alongside me in that role over the past six years. Jane has been an extraordinary colleague to work with. She is known internationally as a prominent educationalist for her innovative thinking, global perspective and strong views on inclusion and diversity, and IIC is stronger for it in terms of the changes that the IIC Council has made over the last six years. I also want to acknowledge the vital role that our Executive Director Sarah Stannage plays.  Her appointment was an initiative of my predecessor Sarah Staniforth, and it has been transformative for the organisation.  I have worked very closely with Sarah Stannage since her appointment in 2017 and have seen firsthand how our horizons have expanded in that time. Where this has been particularly evident is in the active programs that IIC now runs and in attracting the funding that supports them.   A council of volunteers (which is the makeup of the IIC Council) is always going to be limited in what it can find the time to achieve even with an efficient secretariat, but with Sarah in the role of Executive Director, the benefits—both strategically and at a membership level—have been clear to us all.   All of this could not have happened without the support of the IIC Council, and to them I express my sincere thanks.  You have me for a little while longer, as I now become Emeritus President, but for the journey to date, my thanks go out to you for all you do to further the cause and practice of conservation as part of IIC. 
 

With my best wishes

Julian Bickersteth AO   FIIC

IIC President

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