Dr Jessica Stitt

Jessica Stitt is a seasoned heritage professional with nearly 30 years of diverse experience as a consultant, researcher, conservator, and maker in the arts and cultural heritage sectors.

Recently, Jessica led a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project, a collaboration between the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) and Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. This initiative helped CCT develop a commercial maintenance service for historic places of worship, delivering a comprehensive marketing strategy, service design, and growth plan. The project also facilitated CCT's transition into a cultural enterprise by introducing innovative tools and building capacity for future growth.

Trained in conservation at UCL's Institute of Archaeology, Jessica worked in collection management and preventive conservation at The National Archives (TNA), Kew, where she held several leadership positions. She played a pivotal role in the early stages of TNA's mass digitisation program, co-authoring a digitisation handbook with Dr. Anna Buelow. Additionally, she contributed to TNA’s cultural property risk assessment and led a project to map the archival collection. She has been an Accredited Member of Icon (Institute of Conservation) since 2012.

After her tenure at TNA, Jessica pursued a DPhil in Management at Saïd Business School, where her ethnographic research on museum documentation sparked a deep interest in organisation studies and museum management. Her background is rooted in creativity, with an undergraduate degree in Fine Art, early career experience as a bookbinder, and later work as a ceramicist.

Jessica brings a unique blend of creative thinking, sharp analytical skills, and extensive expertise across the cultural heritage sector.