Compiled by Milo Phillips, Assistant Curator of Entomology for National Museums Scotland.
Welcome to the April 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. We are keen to hear from you if you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest, please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.
Sector News
Registration for the NatSCA 2023 conference closes on April 20th so get booking ASAP. The conference will be held on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th April 2023. Stoke-on-Trent Museums will be hosting the conference at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. The conference will include gallery and collection tours, presentations, poster sessions and the annual AGM. For all the info and to register, check out our webpage.
Register via Eventbrite through the NatSCA website: https://www.natsca.org/natsca2023. Members can access discounted booking rates by entering a promo code which has been distributed. If you are a NatSCA member and have not received a code via email, please contact membership@natsca.org. We look forward to seeing you later this month!
SPNHC Conference
The 38th Annual Meeting of The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections is being held in San Francisco, California 28 May – 2 June 2023. Early bird registration ends this Friday 15th April. See details and registration here.
Science, Gender & Sociability in a Northern City c. 1775-1820 Conference
This interdisciplinary event brings together scholars in women’s history, the history of science, literature, theatrical performance, music and historical archaeology from across the UK and the US, to contextualise and analyse the diary of Jane Ewbank (1778‒1824). More information on speakers, and links for bookings, can be found here. The conference runs Thursday 8th to 10th June 2023.
Zooarchaeology Course Registration
Registration is open for the Sheffield Short Courses in Zooarchaeology, running mid-September. These courses feature practical activities, lectures and discussions and, are ideal for anyone with an interest in Bioarchaeology whether you’re a professional, a student, or an enthusiast. For more information and bookings, check here.
NatSCA Lunchtime Chats
The new lunchtime chats are for members only and run on the last Thursday of every month.
This series is supposed to be informal; no fancy equipment is needed; it will be put out over the NatSCA Zoom platform and there is no fixed format. For those who want to take part please email training@natsca.org to put forward your idea. All members will have received a link to join via Zoom (the same link works for all sessions) – if you haven’t, get in touch with membership@natsca.org
Where to Visit
Edinburgh Science Festival
The Edinburgh Science Festival runs until Sunday 16th April with talks and events across the city’s Museums and Art Galleries exploring the theme of Experimental Life. A full programme and more information can be found here.
What to Read
Another great read over on the NatSCA Blog since our last digest, an interview with Patti Wood Finkle, Collections Manager at the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery at Pennsylvania State University. Patti chats to us about her job, the challenges facing Natural Science collections right now and, her super cool podcast!
Another bit of reading for your ears, Museums n’That have been chatting with Curator of Natural Science for Leeds museums and Galleries, Clare Brown all about herbaria. It’s a big ol’ love letter to plants, dried ones especially and is well worth a listen. Find it here.
Buglife and Butterfly Conservation are calling for support to help save Coul Links as a golf course proposal, if successful, would destroy irreplaceable protected sites for nature. The article and information on how you can contribute to protecting this landscape can be found here.
Where to Work
The Science Museum Group are hiring for a full-time, fixed-term Collections Information Project Manager (£39,000 – £42,000 per annum), closing date is this Sunday 16th April.
The College of Idaho is looking for a Project Manager to lead a project funded by the National Science Foundation focussed on cataloguing digitizing seven key components of the O.J. Smith Museum Natural History collection. Position is full-time, 3 years fixed-term (Minimum Annual Salary: $40,000.00 DOE).
Before You Go…
If you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest please drop an email to blog@natsca.org. Similarly, if you have something to say about a current topic, or perhaps you want to tell us what you’ve been working on, we welcome new blog articles so please drop Jen an email if you have anything you would like to submit.
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