Compiled by Glenn Roadley, NatSCA Committee Member, Curator of Natural Science at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.

Welcome to the August 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

#SPPC2023 – Registration is now open!

Registration is now open for the 2023 Symposium on Palaeontological Preparation and Conservation which will be held on 6th September 2023 at the University of Lincoln, UK.

#SPPC2023 will take place at the Minerva Building, Lincoln UK, in conjunction with the Symposium on Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy. Platform presentations will take place in the morning, with time during tea break and lunch for delegates to view posters. You can register here. Registration closes: Monday 21 August 2023.

For more information please contact sppc@geocurator.org

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; if a stable internet connection for what you want to achieve is tricky we can put up a pre-recorded video and then speakers can jump in at the end for the discussion.

Bring your sandwiches and a cuppa and we hope to see you on the day! 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

What to Do

Mary Anning Rocks at The Yorkshire Museum

GCG member Sarah King, writes from York:

This summer, there will be a series of free online talks to accompany the Yorkshire Museum’s ‘Mary Anning Rocks’ exhibition, which is now open. These will be delivered by a range of experts on themes connected with Mary Anning, palaeontology, and ground-breaking women in science.

Each talk will be broadcast live on the Yorkshire Museum’s YouTube page, with a chance to ask questions of the speaker at the end. A link to sign up will be made available a few days before, which will be visible on the exhibition page. There is no charge to listen to any of the talks. We also hope to make some available to view afterwards.

10 August 2023, 4.30pm – Dr Anjana Khatwa: The Missing: Embracing equitable engagement for science and nature

7 September 2023, 4.30pm – Dr Liam Herringshaw: Fossils from Teesside to Spurn: Why Mary Anning would have loved the Yorkshire Coast

14 September 2023, 4pm – Dr Tori Herridge: The Adventures of Mary Anning and her Network of Trowelblazing Women

What to Read

We have two new NatSCA blogs to read this month. Ellie Clark (Collections Move Team Lead) and Lizzy Devenish (Collections Move Team Lead Digitisation) at The Natural History Museum write about the daunting process of preparing 38 million specimens to be moved to a new storage and digitisation centre.

Louise Gibson, ZSL biobank manager at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London (ZSL) writes about the experiences and learning from setting up a biobank on a shoestring budget, in a follow-up to her excellent #NatSCA2023 presentation (which will be available to view online in due course).

Where to Work

Gallery Oldham is looking for a freelance Natural History Collections Assistant to oversee the ongoing documentation and packing of natural history collections to prepare for a store move in 2024.

The University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge is recruiting a conservator on a 12 month fixed term contract, while those seeking opportunities further afield may be interested in the role of Collections Manager, Mineral Sciences at The Natural History Museum of LA County (NHMLAC).

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.