Compiled by Milo Phillips, Digitisation Co-ordinator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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
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/
NatSCA Lunchtime Chats
The 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.
NatSCA blog posts for 2025
Do you have something exciting coming up 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 the middle to end of the year, so if you have something in the pipeline that you would love to tell everyone about, drop her a line! 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
What is a taxidermist? Ethics, emotions, materials, and process.
Join Jazmine Miles-Long for a discussion about the materials and processes she uses to create her ’ethical’ taxidermy only using animals that have died from natural causes. She will also delve into what it is like to be a modern-day taxidermist. Through revealing the skilled processes involved in creating taxidermy, Jazmine aims to show how this often-misunderstood craft is not only useful for science and education, but also that it really can show the utter beauty of living things. A poignant reminder that life is fleeting and precious and that we need to work hard to protect it.
The talk will be held May 17th ay the Art Workers’ Guild, London. More information and ticket booking details can be found on the event page here.
Pressed for Time at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Take a journey through time, over land and sea, and discover how the herbarium might shape our future in this new exhibition. Explore intriguing stories behind diverse specimens and uncover the vital role this collection plays in tackling today’s urgent challenge of protecting and restoring biodiversity.
This exhibition runs 22 March – 29 June 2025 and is part of the Edinburgh Science Festival. Details on visiting can be found here.
Edinburgh Science Festival
The Edinburgh Science Festival is in full swing across the city’s museums, galleries and gardens.
Explore the challenges of living on a planet with finite resources, through the lenses of science fiction and space exploration, with the theme Spaceship Earth.
The festival runs Saturday 5 – Sunday 20 April and a full programme and booking details can be found here.
What to Read
We’ve got another fascinating NatSCA blog waiting for you written by Julian Carter, Principal Conservator Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, Cardiff, this time exploring the history of the Blaschka glass models and the conservation considerations for when such objects are on the move.
Where to Work
Lecturer in Invertebrate Zoology – Cole Museum of Zoology, Reading
University of Reading is looking for someone to teach on their degrees, and research and work with the Cole Museum of Zoology, potentially with a view to future academic curation.
£45,585 to £56,021 p.a.; Full-time; Permanent.
Closing date: 25th April 2025. Details and applications here.
Post-doc Research Associate in Natural History Humanities – University of Cambridge
Two exciting research opportunities with the natural history collections at the University of Cambridge (including the University Museum of Zoology, the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, the University Herbarium, and the University Library), under the newly formed Natural History Humanities initiative.
£37,174 to £45,413; Fixed-term, 2 years. Details here.
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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