Compiled by Olivia Beavers, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool.
Welcome to the March 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
NatSCA Annual Conference & AGM 2025: Registration Now OPEN!
Booking is open for the 2025 Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA) conference. This year’s theme is: Making a Difference: Showing the Positive Impact of Natural History Collections, and it will be hosted by the University of Manchester: Manchester Museum, UK.
Due to the size of the venue there are only a limited number of spaces, so please book promptly to avoid disappointment. Visit the webpage to find out more: https://www.natsca.org/event/2881
This year’s conference meal is at Zouk and we would love to see you there. Please make sure to add the separate ticket to your basket.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you any questions. If you would like to become a member, which would qualify you for the conference discount or bursaries, please see our website NatSCA.org for details.
30th Symposium on Palaeontological Preparation and Conservation: Call for abstracts
Please send abstracts of up to 250 words plus an image to sppc@geocurator.org by 10th April. Abstracts will be considered on any topic of earth science excavation, conservation, preparation mount-making and exhibition. Please state if the abstract is for a poster or platform presentation.
The 30th Symposium on Palaeontological Preparation and Conservation will be held in the Netherlands this year on 26 – 27th June.
The theme will be ‘From Excavation to Exhibition’ and they hope to broaden their usual remit to include more aspects of the story of how geological collections end up on display in our museums, as well as their conservation and preparation. Examples of previous years’ abstracts can be found online at https://www.geocurator.org/events/97-sppc
DiSSCo UK
We are excited to announce that the Expression of Interest (EOI) for DiSSCo UK has been launched. The closing date for submissions is Friday 21st March. Submissions will be via Citizen Space, an online survey platform. The survey can be found here: https://engagementhub.ukri.org/ahrc-infrastructure/dissco-expression-of-interest/
This EOI will indicate interest in participating in future DiSSCo UK digitisation funding calls and wider activities over the 10-year programme. The information you provide at this stage will not be binding and participation is not mandatory, however the success of the Business Case will depend on enough submissions to justify the level of investment and demonstrate there is a viable ‘route to market’ to supply digitisation and data. In addition to providing assurance, the EOI process will also aid in connecting organisations with potential hubs to collaborate on funding calls.
You can contact the DiSSCo UK team directly with any questions, at dissco-uk@nhm.ac.uk.
Geological Collections Group: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Symposium
The GCG are proud to announce a three day ‘EDI Symposium’ for April 9th, 10th, and 11th. The sessions have been designed to be as flexible as possible to the workday, lasting around an hour and being fully online. The structure of each session comprises of a few short talks (~10 minutes) by guest speakers, followed by questions and discussion.
They will cover three main themes, with the aim of creating accessible and varied information on topics not always discussed and considered in Geoscience and museum settings. We therefore offer this event to share new perspectives, initiatives, and research which can help build a more supportive space for all within the field(s).
The event is free, and you do not need to be a GCG member to attend – everyone is welcome! If you have any questions or comments, please contact Gemma Laker, edi@geocurator.org
New Unnatural History Museum Sessions
The Unnatural History Museum brings together museum professionals, creatives and academics across disciplines to platform vital conversations about the museum mediation of the natural world during the sixth mass extinction. The series unfolds over a series of themed Zoom sessions featuring short presentations, followed by a roundtable discussion.
Links to upcoming sessions can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/o/verity-burke-53923741293 and will continue to be updated as more events are added.
The event series now has a website where recordings of prior sessions will be uploaded and you can check out upcoming events: https://unnaturalhistorymuseum.org/
Digital Morphology Workshop 2025
This year the Digital Morphology Workshop will take place at the University of Leeds, April 1st 10am – 5pm. The workshop will include training in the latest techniques for creating virtual models of whole organisms, including both fossil and living species. These techniques are routinely employed by biologists and palaeontologists alike for research, interpretation and public engagement.
Registration is £20 for GCG members and £25 for non-members and includes tea and coffee. The University of Leeds campus has many varied outlets from which to purchase lunch, or you can bring your own.
Registration is now open to non-members here Events – Geological Collections Group . Registration closes 24th March.
Pest Odyssey Annual open meeting
On Monday 14th April 2025 Pest Odyssey will host their (hybrid) annual open meeting at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Abstracts closed on the 10th March but booking for the day will open shortly.
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.
NEW NatSCA BLOG POSTS for 2025
Do you have something exciting coming up next year that you’d like to promote? Is there a subject you’ve been itching to write about? With over 2000 views a month, the NatSCA blog is a great way of getting your work out there.
Jen is seeking blog posts for 2025, so if you have something in the pipeline that you would love to tell everyone about, drop her a line! This is an excellent opportunity to book yourself in a slot for any time in the year.
If you are interested but have any questions, please email blog@natsca.org. You can also find guidelines on how to contribute here: Guidelines for contributions to the NatSCA blog | NatSCA.
Where to Visit
British Science Week is back! This year’s theme is Change & Adapt and it’s taking place from 13 – 16th March 2025. Find out what’s happening where below:
From Moss Safaris to Origami Plant Pots, Thinktank Science Museum, Birmingham has plenty of British Science Week activities lined up for Saturday 15th March.
Great North Museum Hancock has a range of inspiring activities at the museum. Whether you learn how Science adapts to the law around it (and vice versa), explore evolution through hands-on activities to see how species have changed over time, or meet a scientist and hear about their research, you’re sure to have a great visit. Check out their list of events here: https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/learning/learning-british-science-week-2025
Green’s Windmill, Nottingham is offering a range of free hands-on experiments with light, electricity and magnetism as part of their Science week from 12th – 16th March.
LightFest, Millenium Galleries, Sheffield will ignite your curiosity this British Science Week (Thursday 13 March to Sunday 16 March 2025) at a free, hands-on scientific exhibition about light, the quantum world and a greener future!
LightFest will introduce you to the quantum nature of light, and some of the ways that light is important in life, technology and art. Discover how plants convert sunlight into food and explore the remarkable ways that light interacts with nanostructured materials. Find out how photosynthesis inspires scientists to develop new technologies to solve the greatest challenge facing humanity today: how to live sustainably on Earth.
Science Lates at the Glasgow Science Centre
Lots of British Science Week events are for children and young people, but this one is for grown-ups only!
On March 14th, the Glasgow Science Centre is celebrating with a special evening event – Science Lates: Forces of Change, ‘a dynamic night of discovery, drinks, and hands-on fun’. There’ll be lots of exhibits, games and workshops to get involved in, including Brain Bingo, food and special themed-cocktails.
This one is strictly for over-18s, so if you’re lucky enough to look under 25 bring ID! Prices: £15 per adult, £12 concession
For more information on other events near you, visit the official British Science Week website.
What to Read
A new paper The Entwined Human and Environmental Costs of the Colonial Project: Perspectives from Natural History Collections. written by Jack Ashby, Assistant Director University Museum of Zoology, is out now and aims to summarise a lot of the work going on around colonial legacies in Natural History Museums.
The Russell Society has now published a great new reference work on British mineralogy titled: Minerals of Britain and Ireland 2009 – 2024 by Andy Tindle and David Green. You can learn more about the book on The Russell Society website: https://russellsoc.org/ and enjoy a taster version here https://russellsoc.org/#flipbook-df_3126/1/
We have two amazing new NatSCA blogs live on our website. The first is written by Callum Smart, a natural history volunteer at Bolton Museum: The first, 65 Million Years in the Making, Five Seconds to Explain . The second is It’s Getting Better written by Dr Amy Geraghty, Assistant Keeper/Curator of Aquatic Zoology collections with responsibility for fluid collection management.
Where to Work
There’s an exciting opportunity for an Exhibitions and Engagement Officer at the Market Hall Museum, Warwickshire. The post holder will be willing to work across both natural and human history collections, with an understanding of how to create engaging content in a community setting as well as a traditional museum environment. The post is permanent: 18.5 days per week, hours on a flexible basis. Closing date is 24th March 2025.
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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