Nancy Bell is Head of Collection Care for The National Archives, and has led the development of a new environmental standard for cultural heritage collections. She believes in the potential of science research evidence to shape policies and practices affecting cultural heritage collections. She is an advisor to the Arts and Humanities and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and supports the Heritage and Science Programme as well as other professional bodies.

Nancy was born in the USA and educated at the University of Maryland where she studied history graduating with an MA in 1982. She received an award for the Council of Library Resources, USA to study book and paper conservation in the UK where she specialized in the conservation of medieval manuscripts. She worked for 12 years in Oxford where she established the Oxford Conservation Consortium, a unique co-operative facility to provide conservation and preservation services for the Oxford's collections.

She has taught conservation in the UK and Canada and has published and lectured in this field, she is member of the Institute for Conservation, an Accredited Conservator and a specialist advisor to two award granting bodies.