Compiled by Jennifer Gallichan, Curator: Vertebrates/Mollusca, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Welcome to the October edition of NatSCA Digital Digest!

A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including jobs, exhibitions, conferences and training opportunities. If you have visited an exhibition/museum, have something to say about a current topic, or perhaps you want to tell us what you’ve been working on, please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Where Should I Visit?

It is definitely worth visiting Beavers to Weavers: The Wonderful World of Animal Makers exhibition at Leeds City Museum as they have just won a Museums Change Lives award in the category of environmental sustainability. More than 48,000 people visited this exhibition last year, so if you’ve not yet been, it’s worth checking out. The exhibition has an environmental focus displaying beautiful objects made by animals. Discover how animals build homes, make armour or camouflage, craft tools and traps to catch food or change their appearances to attract each other. If you want to know more there is also a great blog about it.

After its recent stay in Great North Museum: Hancock, Dippy On Tour finally comes to National Museum Cardiff this month! This will be Dippy’s only sojourn in Wales, and so is a fantastic opportunity for many to see this iconic specimen. Croeso Dippy i Gymru! There are tonnes of related events programmed, you can dance around Dippy at our Silent disco, or find your inner calm at Dippy about Yoga, so well worth a visit.

What should I do?

Staying in Wales, the annual Unknown Wales conference is again being hosted at National Museum Cardiff on the 26th October. This free conferences is organised in partnership with the Wildlife Trust South and West Wales and shines a light on the slightly less glamorous species of Wales. Previous talks have covered slugs, spiders, whelks and many other incredibly important species. This years programme includes talks on rare sharks, lesser known bees and slime moulds.

Register now for a great training opportunity in digitising and sharing collections data. Along with Bristol Culture and the Natural History Museum, London, NatSCA has organised a one day workshop called An Introduction to Mobilising your Collection’s Biodiversity Data. The course will take you through the steps required to digitise and share specimen occurrence data (‘what, where, when, who’) with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). A mixture of talks and exercises will provide achievable solutions, and also help delegates make the case for future investment. It will be held at the M Shed, Bristol on 11th November.

What Should I Read?

There is a new Notes and Comments article on the NatSCA website! The article is a summary of the talks from the very successful natural science conservation conference last year, full of great speakers. Detailed write ups of many of the talks will be coming later this year. If you have any articles, book reviews, conference write ups or project write ups that you would like to submit for NatSCA’s Notes & Comments, then please do get in touch with the editor.

To complement their new First Animals exhibition, Oxford University Museum of Natural History have commissioned original works of contemporary art inspired by the fossil collections. Read more about it on their blog here.

An interesting article on the GCG blog about the demands of self-publishing and what museum shops should be selling.

Where Should I Work?

Lots of delicious positions out there in October, but get your applications in quick!

Somerset Museums Service are seeking an Assistant Curator. The deadline is 9am on the 14th October.

The National Museum of Ireland is seeking an Assistant Keeper Grade II (Zoology). The deadline is 5pm on 17th October.

The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Dublin are seeking a Curator (District Superintendent). The deadline is 3pm on 18th October.

The Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust is seeking to recruit four new Trustees including a new Chair of the Trustees Board. The deadline for both is 25th October.

National Museums of Scotland are seeking a Principal Curator, Science. The deadline is 28th October.

The British Museum is seeking a Research Assistant: Laser Conservation Science. The deadline is 12 noon on the 30th October.

Leeds Museums & Galleries are seeking an Assistant Curator (Entomology). The deadline is 11.30pm on the 3rd November.

Before You Go…

We welcome new blog articles so please drop Jen an email at blog@natsca.org if you have anything you would like to submit.