What a month we’ve had! The Conference at Cambridge on the 20th to 21st April was a roaring success. Over 100 museum delegates gathered together beneath the mantle of a Finback whale skeleton, to swap notes and revive old connections. Many heated exchanges were had over issues ranging from fungi to frocked wolves. No museum-based conference is complete without a tour of the stores – big thanks once again to the Zoology Museum for having us. We got a sneak-preview of the new gallery space too and, while I can’t post pictures of that, I can tell you that you have to go and see it when they open. Highlights for me included an elephant from Sri Lanka with links to Stanley Kubrik, and a Diorama of a beach with added surprises for future conservators.

Tinamou egg collected by Charles Darwin, at the Zoology Museum, Cambridge

You shall hear more tales from the conference over the coming weeks, as the speakers bring us their prose. In the meantime, let’s talk job vacancies!

Jobs

The Oxford Museum of Natural History are looking for four Collection Move Project Assistants. All the information can be found here – act quickly though: you have until the 8th to submit your application!

The Horniman Museum and Gardens are seeking a full-time Digital Assistant. If that sounds like you, apply here. The deadline isn’t until the 15th but I’d hurry anyway (half-tempted to apply for it myself).

The University Museum of Bergen are looking for two Conservators for a fixed-term 2 year project. For more details of the job and to apply, click here.

Events and Workshops

Come to the Grant Museum on the 20th May for Under the Skin: Taxidermy Lates, with Jazmine Miles-Long. The event is free but booking is required as there are limited places available.

There are still places available for this Year’s Tetrapod Zoology Convention (#Tetzoocon). It’s a must-see for anyone interested in tetrapods, speculative zoology, critical appraisals of cryptozoological claims, or issues of prehistoric life reconstruction. This year’s speakers will include, among others, Beth Windle discussing all things Thylacine. You can find out more here.

In the News

It was unfortunate that the international March for Science the day after the NatSCA Conference. I did see a few of you there though, which was fantastic – well done for pushing past the aching joints to strive for evidence-based policy.

Good news: the Lousiana University collection of six million fish specimens, which were threatened with destruction last month, have had a last-minute reprieve. You can read more about this story here.

That’s all for now folks and I wish all of you a great Star Wars Day. I shall be celebrating with bad punnery by watching the Wookiee Hole cave cam. May the 4th be with you!