A York leader in conservation and university professor has won a prestigious national award.

Stained glass pioneer Professor Sarah Brown oversaw the major conservation of the Great East Window of York Minster earlier this century. She has been director of the York Glaziers Trust since 2008.

The University of York professor has now won the 2023 Plowden Medal for Conservation for her significant contribution to the stained glass conservation sector.

She said: "It was very humbling to be told I had been chosen — I am not often speechless but momentarily I was! It's a tremendous affirmation especially because I never feel like I am working, and I love what I do so much. I am grateful to my colleagues and peers for making a nomination on my behalf”.

Chairman of the Plowden Medal Award Nick Farrow said: "Stained-glass conservation wouldn’t be where it was today if it wasn’t for Sarah, and we would like to extend our sincere congratulations to her.”

Inspired by her father, who had begun his career as a joinery apprentice, Prof Brown has championed the stained-glass community since the 1980s, and played a key role in introducing academic training for stained-glass conservators.

"While doing my Masters at the University of York, I became aware of threats to stained glass, but I was equally aware of the fact there were very few people who could care for this heritage," she said. "So, we worked hard to establish a national accreditation scheme for stained glass conservators.”

She is now course director of the university’s Masters Course in Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage.

Prof Brown said: "I think I can safely say that we have created opportunities for young practitioners that simply were not there 15 to 20 years ago. Many of my former students are now accredited conservators in their own right, leading studios and major projects in UK and further afield. Stained glass conservation is not a big business — it's a very niche area and was at risk of disappearing but I am proud to have played a role in averting that."

Paintings conservator Carole Milner MBE of the York Consortium for Craft and Conservation, who herself won the Plowden Medal in 2005 and nominated Prof Brown for this year’s award, said: "Sarah is one of the sector’s most generous advocates, innovators, and supporters.

“She has occupied numerous formal positions in the world of stained-glass conservation, all carried out with the highest degree of responsibility, excellence, and commitment. Above and beyond this, she has given generously and unstintingly of her own time, to her colleagues, her students, her profession and the wider conservation world, nationally and internationally.

"There is no question in my mind that Sarah is one the UK’s leading conservation professionals both in her field and beyond it."