Early Career Research Night

Rather than our normal 'festival' with multiple short presentations, we decided this term to invite one Early Career Researcher to talk at more length about aspects of their DPhil Project. The Early Career Research Night, in the Cellar Bar, is also a drinks social.

This talk compares restitution pathways for ancient antiquities across two major art-market jurisdictions: the United Kingdom and the United States. Using recent high-profile returns as touchpoints, it maps the main routes through which objects move from contested possession to restitution - criminal investigations and seizures, civil claims, negotiated museum returns, and governance constraints within collecting institutions. The focus is practical and process-oriented: what kinds of evidence trigger action, who has authority to decide, how due diligence standards are applied (or challenged), and why similar cases can produce different outcomes across jurisdictions. The talk closes by linking these pathways to my DPhil research on restitution processes and experiences of claimants and institutions.