Compiled by Ellie Clark, Collections Moves Team Leader at the Natural History Museum, London.
Welcome to the May edition of NatSCA Digital Digest
Digital Digest is 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
Registration Now Open for SHNH International Summer Meeting
We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the two-day international meeting ‘A Sense of Nature’. The conference will explore the intersections of the senses – including sight (vision), sound (hearing), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation) and touch (tactile perception) – with the history of natural history.
The event will be at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow on 19th June and 20th June 2025. The conference will feature 12 papers across six sessions, as well as collections tours and an optional conference dinner.
Full details are available here. Registration will close at 6pm (BST) on 28th of May 2025.
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.
Where to Visit
Microsculpture – Oxford University Museum of Natural History
The stunning high magnification insect portraits by British photographer Levon Biss were first shown in the Microsculpture exhibition in this Museum in 2016. Since then, the show has toured to 44 cities in 22 countries around the world. All the specimens in Microsculpture are drawn from the Museum’s entomology collections, selected to show the microscopic form of insects in striking large-format, high-resolution detail. In this new temporary exhibition they are able to show images made after the original 2016 display. New text explores how and why each specimen originally entered the Museum’s collection, painting a picture of professional and amateur collectors, entomological traders, British colonial links, and changes in scientific practice.
Microsculpture is a free temporary exhibition running until the 4th of January 2026. Find more information here.
What to Read
Nature’s Memory: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Natural History Museums
Jack Ashby’s new book takes readers on a universal tour of a typical natural history museum, pointing out that despite the extraordinary diversity of what they hold – collectively caring for over a billion specimens – what they show in the galleries is surprisingly similar. The book covers three main themes: first, how museums are inspiring spaces, but the window they open onto the natural world doesn’t offer a particularly clear view – there are lots of biases in what they choose to display and what they leave out. Then Jack explores how their collections came together – these are stories that museums haven’t always been particularly open about. Finally, he shows how natural history museums can help save the world, as the holders of the best evidence for how the planet has changed over the last few centuries.
You can hear some of the stories from the book on BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science (starts 8min30), when Jack took the reporter behind the scenes at the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. It’s also been featured in the Times and Sunday Times, and was in the Guardian’s list of biggest books to look out for in 2025.
From the Blog…
We have a number of fantastic blogs for you to read this month.
Jazmine Miles Long and Bethany Palumbo give us an update on their research into the stability of materials used in taxidermy manufacture.
Museum Collection Technician, Caitlin Jamison, talks to us about how the natural history collection at Montrose Museum has the potential to act as the catalyst for discussions around the climate crisis.
Where to Work
Curator, Algae – Natural History Museum, London
Embedded within Algae, Fungi and Plants Collections, the Curator of Algae will ensure best practice in collections care and development and provide a world-class collection of natural history specimens with specimens acquired, curated and used and made available to facilitate research, teaching, training, reference and exhibitions. The successful applicant will join the team of Cryptogamic Herbarium curators responsible for the algae, diatom, bryophyte, lichen and slime mould collections, with a specific focus on the algal collections. The post will be appointed at Curator or Senior Curator level, commensurate to the level of the chosen applicant.
The closing date for this role is 12/05/2025. Find more information here.
Associate Collections Curator, Biology – York Museum Trust
Seeking an Associate Collections Curator to support the Curator of Natural Science and the Curatorial Team more widely, with a particular focus on the documentation, digitisation and collections care of the biological collections. This work will feed into a significant exhibition in the coming years, focused on the biology collections and the climate crisis. The post will report to the Curator of Natural Science and will work within the Yorkshire Museum’s curatorial team of seven people. They will be part of the wider Collections and research team, collaborating with colleagues across our three sites.
The closing date for this role is 9am on Monday the 19th of May. Find more information here.
Preventive Conservator – Natural History Museum Denmark
Natural History Museum Denmark is looking for a Preventive Conservator for a full time, permanent contract, to start 1 August 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. The Preventive Conservator will work under the Head of Conservation Unit and take lead on designing, implementing and managing various projects to improve the quality of collections care across multiple museum sites. This role is integral to maintaining high standards of preventive care and contributes to the museum’s mission of safeguarding its nationally renowned cultural and scientific heritage.
The closing date is 30/5/2025. Find more information 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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