Director of Research and Collections
As Director of Research and Collections, Dr Valerie Johnson is responsible for leading and co-ordinating our innovative research, heritage science and conservation programmes. She aims to further The National Archives’ engagement and collaboration with researchers across the cultural heritage, higher education, academic and archive sectors.
As part of our leadership role for the archive sector, Valerie is also responsible for The National Archives’ active support for archives of all kinds, to secure the best possible long-term future for their collections and services.
Prior to this role, Valerie was Head of Research at The National Archives, having previously worked on a funded history project based at the University of Cambridge History Faculty. She is a qualified archivist, holding an MA with Distinction in Archive Administration for which she was also awarded the Alexander R Myers Memorial Prize. She won the Coleman Prize for her PhD thesis, ‘British Multinationals, Culture and Empire in the Early Twentieth Century’. She has worked as an archivist and historian in the academic, corporate and public sectors.
Valerie is a Registered Member of the Society of Archivists, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.