Compiled by Olivia Beavers, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool.
Welcome to the September 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
GCG 51st Winter Seminar and AGM – Call for Abstracts Now Open
The Geological Curators Group have announced the details for their Winter Seminar Reciprocal Relationships: how can partnerships help us and our collections develop? and AGM taking place at Oxford University Museum of Natural History 11 – 13th November 2024. The dates include an evening icebreaker, presentations, workshops, AGM, conference dinner and a field trip.
The deadline for abstracts is October 14th 2024. Please follow the link for further details: https://www.geocurator.org/events/180-agm51 .
70th Mammal Society Annual Conference – Abstracts Now Open
The Mammal Society is hosting their annual conference on 28 – 29th March 2025 in Bangor, Wales. The conference will bring together diverse stakeholders from the world of mammalogy and mammal conservation to allow exchange of ideas, foster collaboration and partnership, and celebrate achievements and discoveries in the vibrant world of mammal conservation.
Conference registration is now open, but the early bird discount ends on Wednesday 31 October 2024. Read more about the conference here: https://mammal.org.uk/annual-conference.
Call for Papers – Book of Nature, Nature of Books: Practices of Female Botanists
The research centres TIL (Université de Bourgogne) and EMMA (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3) are organizing a bilingual, international, interdisciplinary conference on the role of women in the development of botany as part of visual, manuscript and print cultures, from the Middle Ages to the contemporary period.
Discussions will focus on the history of natural sciences, print culture, book history, illustration studies, gender studies, plant studies and ecocriticism and the organisers welcome papers on a wide range of case studies, from archives and museum collections to the garden itself.
Please send a 300-word abstract and a biobibliography (in English or French) before 31 October 2024 to the following address: bookofnature2025@gmail.com.
The full details can be found here.
Museums Association Conference 2024: The Joy of Museums
Booking is now open for the annual conference which will be held at Royal Armouries Museum 12-14 November 2024 and is also available online for remote attendees.
This year’s conference celebrates the innovation, inventiveness and creativity that make our museums such incredible places and includes:
- A range of sessions – from workshops and panel discussions to In Practice case studies – that explore topical issues facing museums
- Issues up for discussion include the culture wars, working with migrant communities, engaging with young people and developing partnerships with schools
- Fringe networking events and the chance to meet commercial suppliers
- Three evening social events and a third day of tours included in the price
Keynote speakers include Michelle Charters, the director of the International Slavery Museum and Surfing Sofas, a social justice poet and community artist. Delegates can also join sessions on the Israel/Palestine war, working with our new UK government, understanding the new Code of Ethics, sponsorship and how museum attendance relates to inequalities in society.
In Practice sessions will include tips on creating happy workplaces, displaying contentious history and poverty-proofing museums.
Prices start from £50. For more information, view the full programme and to book your place go to https://www.museumsassociation.org/events/conference-2024/.
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
Wild Woods
There’s still time to catch Wild Woods – the free summer exhibition at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery that takes you through a year in the life of a woodland. The exhibition closes November 2nd 2024.
Upcoming Mammal Society Events
There are several upcoming events and workshops hosted by the Mammal Society available to take part in, including a National Harvest Mouse Survey, Dormouse Ecology and Conservation and many more. To see the full list visit https://mammal.org.uk/events .
Wild – How far will you go?
Will going ‘wild’ help us to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis?
Manchester Museum’s new exhibition Wild, explores our relationship with the natural world and looks at how people across the globe are creating, rebuilding and repairing connections with nature.
Wild will challenge the way we think about nature, whisking you to wild places across the world to hear a diverse range of voices, from Aboriginal elders to researchers and community activists. Find out how they’re shaping their environments and looking to wild for a more positive future.
Featuring an immersive installation, audio, film and interactive elements, alongside natural history collections and artworks, the exhibition prompts you to notice the biodiversity and heritage of the featured environments while questioning our relationship with the natural world.
The exhibition closes June 1st 2025. Follow this link to book your free ticket: https://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/event/wild/ . You can check out the rest of the Wild Events Programme here: https://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/ .
What to Read
Meghan Jenkinson, Postgraduate Researcher at the University of Leeds, and Events Coordinator Assistant with the Geological Curators Group has written a great synopsis of the Symposium on Toarcian Palaeobiology which took place in June 2024. You can check out the blog: 183 Million Years in the Making: The Symposium on Toarcian Palaeobiology using the link.
There are several NatSCA blogs to catch up on this month, starting with Dropping a Pin on the Salter Collection written by George Seddon-Roberts, aPhD Student at John Innes Centre. George walks us through his project surrounding ground beetles that he completed whilst on placement as a Curatorial Intern at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.
The next blog by Jazmine Miles Long, Taxidermist, recounts the process of Creating a New Diorama for the Booth Museum of Natural History – Taxidermy, Silk flowers and Wax Slugs. Su Hepburn,Head of Learning and Engagement, Brighton & Hove Museums, follows on from Jazmine’s first half of this blog and expands on the need for this new diorama, its focus and how they engaged with their younger visitors. You can read Su’s blog here.
Abbie Herdman, Curator of Invertebrates (Non-Insects), Natural History Museum, London, rounds off the blogs for this month with her summary of examples and challenges faced when preparing the bryozoan collection for the giant collection move at the NHM: Bryozoans on the Move: Trials and Challenges of Packing Collections.
Where to Work
The Fitzwilliam Museum is looking for a Research Associate: Botanical Collections (Fixed Term). The post-holder will lead on researching an aspect of the botanical collection, ensuring improved documentation and accessibility of these collections, working closely with the Documentation and Photography teams. Closing date for applications is September 29th 2024.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are looking to appoint 2 Digitisation Officers to image and transcribe label data from Herbarium and Fungarium specimens (Fixed Term; Full Time £26,100 per annum (pro rata)). Closing date is September 22nd 2024.
University College London LCCOS – Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science are looking for a Curatorial and Collections Assistant (Pathology and Science). The role is part time (4 days a week); Fixed Term until July 2029 (£34,605 – £39,980). Closing date is also September 22nd 2024.
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 s
NatSCA 
