Compiled by Milo Phillips, Assistant Curator of Entomology for National Museums Scotland.
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. 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
Museum Association Conference 2023: The Power of Museums
There’s still time to register for this years’ Museum Association Conference, being held in Gateshead on 7th-9th November. The conference will explore how we can help our communities flourish by having a positive impact on health and wellbeing, placemaking, economic regeneration and by providing space to reflect on the pressing issues that we face. The cost of living crisis, discrimination and climate change are all having an impact on our communities. What do people need from us in times of upheaval and change? Follow the link to find out about the registration fees and to book your place: https://www.museumsassociation.org/events/conference-2023/
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. 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. Bring your sandwiches and a cuppa and we hope to see you on the day!
We are also currently seeking contributors for talks so if you’d like 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. This is an excellent opportunity to promote your work and engage with colleagues across the sector so please do consider submitting a talk.
Where to Visit
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024, National Museums Scotland
The world-renowned exhibition, on loan from the Natural History Museum in London, will open at the National Museum of Scotland on 20 January 2024, featuring exceptional images which capture fascinating animal behaviour, spectacular species and the breath-taking diversity of the natural world. Using photography’s unique emotive power to engage and inspire audiences, the images shine a light on stories and species around the world and encourage a future of advocating for the planet. More information and tickets here.
What to Read
Preserving the Historical Biodiversity of Singapore
The SIGNIFY project is currently working to digitally re-curate thousands of historically important specimens collected from Singapore over the past 200 years, currently housed in museums worldwide. Read about their work here and reach out if you know of specimens within your own collections that may be of interest.
Oh My Gourd!
A monster pumpkin weighing the same as a hippopotamus has claimed the world record for the mightiest gourd. Just in time for Halloween and a great excuse to get visitors thinking about the ways that changing climates (like the very wet summer we all just experienced) can have all kinds of impacts on our ecosystems.
OSIRIS-REx Samples Analysis Begins
Ingredients of the primordial Solar System found in the samples of asteroid Bennu. Yesterday, scientists got a first look at the largest asteroid sample ever returned to Earth since the Moon rocks that came back with astronauts in the 1960s. Space rocks like this can give huge insights into life on Earth the OSIRIS-REx mission is a great way to get people talking about our existing geology collections and the ways that planets come to be. You can read all about the fascinating things they’ve already found here.
Where to Work
Assistant Keeper of Natural History for National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
Working across the National Museum of Ireland’s natural history collections, this role will support curation, collections care and biodiversity research, and feed into major capital development projects including the renovation and redisplay of the historic Dead Zoo exhibition building. Permanent, full-time, €35,336, application deadline 27th October. Read more here: https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/About/Careers/Vacancies/Assistant-Keeper-Grade-II-%E2%80%93-Natural-History/0e49f1f8-2e18-4dd6-bcca-23be0d7940f6
Digitisation Co-ordinator at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
RBGE are looking to recruit a full-time permanent Digitisation Co-ordinator into the Herbarium team in the Science division to support the delivery of digitising RBGE’s preserved collections. Permanent, full-time, salary £28,201; application deadline 5pm 16th October.
Public Engagement Coordinator at Cambridge University Herbarium
Cambridge University Herbarium are recruiting for a Public Engagement Coordinator to lead on the development and delivery of the Herbarium’s outreach and public engagement programmes. 1 Year full-time, fixed-term, £29,605-£33,966; closing date 16th October. Read more here: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/43079/
Digital Engagement Coordinator at Cambridge University Herbarium
The Digital Engagement Coordinator will be responsible for specimen imaging, database entry, managing online volunteers, the design of modules of images for curation, liaising with Zooniverse, and evaluating data derived from online volunteer teams. The coordinator will lead on collaborating with platforms such as GBIF and JStor to host our digitized collections and metadata. Part-time, fixed-term, £29,605 – £33,966 pro rata; closing date 16th October. Read more here: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/43080/
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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