Twenty-nine papers which aim to pool the insights provided by research carried out by conservation scientists in order to improve conservation techniques in museums. Papers include: The impact of conservation science in the British Museum ( Susan Bradley ); The development of conservation science at the Tate Gallery ( Stephen Hackney ); The significance of physics in conservation research and education ( Raik Jarjis ); Botanical and ethnobotanical knowledge and the conservation of artefacts ( Mark Sandy ); Lasers in art conservation ( Costas Fotakis et al. ); The cleaning of coin hoards: the benefits of a collaborative approach ( David Thickett and Celestine Enderly ); Can scientists and conservators work together? ( Ellen Ruth McCrady ).