Professor Dr. Mandana Barkeshli
Professor Dr. Mandana Barkeshli is a conservation scientist whose research focuses on the material technology of Persian medieval manuscripts, with particular attention to historical recipes for paper, dyes, pigments, and sizings. Her work includes the recreation of medieval recipes and the development of a digital database documenting materials, their analytical profiles, and comparisons with original samples.
She is internationally recognized for her discoveries in traditional preventive measures found in Persian manuscripts, notably the use of saffron stigmas as an inhibitor to counteract the corrosive effects of verdigris green pigment in miniature paintings, and henna dye as a natural fungicide in Persian paper dyeing techniques from the 15th to 19th centuries.
Professor Barkeshli currently holds the position of Professor at the De Institute of Creative Arts and Design, UCSI University, Malaysia. She also serves as an Honorary Principal Fellow at the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, University of Melbourne. In 2025, she was invited as a Visiting Professor at the École du Louvre, Paris, to teach Persian manuscript material technology at the postgraduate level.
She has held prominent academic and museum roles, including as a faculty member at the Art Universities of Tehran and Isfahan, the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), and as the inaugural Head Curator of the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. She is a founding member and former Chair of the Islamic Manuscript Association (Cambridge) and has served on its Board of Directors. In addition, she sits on the Editorial Board of Restaurator: International Journal for the Preservation of Library and Archival Material.
Her distinguished contributions have been recognized through numerous fellowships and awards, such as the Petra Kappert Fellowship (Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg), the MacGeorge Fellowship (University of Melbourne), and research funding from The Barakat Trust (UK) and Soudavar Memorial Foundation.
Professor Barkeshli has conducted professional artist materials workshops at leading institutions worldwide, including the Bodleian Library (University of Oxford), the Grimwade Centre (University of Melbourne), the Museum of Islamic Art (Qatar), Qatar National Library, Alzahra University (Iran), IIUM (Malaysia), and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
In recognition of her distinguished research in cultural heritage, she has been awarded the Research Excellence Award for Best Art and Creativity by UCSI University in both 2024 and 2025.
Dr. Sadra Zekrgoo
Dr. Sadra Zekrgoo is an accomplished art consultant at Mangroves Consultancy, Auctions and Exhibitions in Doha, Qatar. He joined Mangroves following the completion of his postdoctoral fellowship at the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne, where he also earned his PhD in Materials Conservation in 2018. He holds a Master’s degree in the Conservation of Fine Arts—specializing in paper conservation—from Northumbria University (2012) United Kingdom.
With a career that bridges the fields of conservation, curation, and education, Dr. Zekrgoo has developed a unique multidisciplinary profile. He is a trained art conservator, art curator, academic, as well as a seasoned workshop instructor focused on historical art materials and techniques.
Over the past decade, Dr. Zekrgoo has dedicated his research to the study and reconstruction of traditional Persian writing inks and artistic materials. Since 2015, he has led numerous workshops on traditional ink-making and manuscript materials at esteemed institutions such as:
Islamic Museum of Australia
The University of Melbourne
The Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM)
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford
Qatar National Library,
NOVA University Lisbon,
Mangroves Consultancy
His current research interests include:
The historical reconstruction of artists’ materials
Non-invasive analysis of cultural heritage objects
The oral transmission of artisanal knowledge in traditional craft communities
Dr. Zekrgoo continues to contribute to the field through public engagement, scholarly research, and the promotion of cross-cultural understanding in material conservation and heritage practices. His latest book “Tradition and Science of Persian Ink Making” published by Springer Nature in 2024 amalgamates 15 years of research into this subject matter.