By Eimear Ashe, Collections Moves Project Manager, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.

Ulster Museum lecture theatre

NatSCA as a named subject specialist network and membership organisation, held its first conference in 2004 at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. This year, the conference took place in Northern Ireland for the first time — hosted by the Ulster Museum in the heart of Belfast. NatSCA has always sited its conference in the UK and Ireland. In the map below, green flags represent a museum that has hosted the conference once, and yellow stars represent sites that have hosted twice (Leeds and Dublin):

Where has NatSCA held its annual conferences?

This year’s programme was notably wide‑ranging, attracting a diverse mix of attendees from across the sector. Given my current role as Project Manager for the redevelopment of the Natural History Museum at the National Museum of Ireland, several talks particularly resonated with me. I was especially interested in the presentation by Lydia Amies and Emanuele Casafredda, which focused on stabilising and relocating fossil mammal collections. Collection moves and storage planning have been a recurring theme throughout my career, so it was really worthwhile seeing how colleagues elsewhere are tackling similar logistical and conservation challenges.

Another highlight was the session by Lauren Burleson, Claire Kelly, Efstratia Verveniotou and Erica Read, which explored the treatment of taxidermy rhinos at the Natural History Museum. Their work offered insightful approaches to addressing cracked and compromised skins — an issue many institutions with historic taxidermy will recognise.

Lauren Burleson, Efstratia Verveniotou and Claire Kelly working on rhino taxidermy © Board of Trustees of the Natural History Museum.

As a former digitisation enthusiast (before shifting roles) and a long‑standing devotee of collections history, I particularly enjoyed Cait McDaniel’s research on Belfast naturalist John Templeton. Her practical methods for transcribing historic manuscripts were both inspiring and highly applicable to ongoing digitisation efforts across the sector.

The conference provided excellent networking opportunities, bringing together professionals from conservation, learning, registration, curation, digital collections, commercial development, academia, and the arts — from early‑career practitioners to seasoned specialists.

As the conference was drawing to a close, a further highlight emerged. Attendees had the chance to visit the Ulster Museum’s fascinating and unique natural science exhibits, as well as the beautiful botanic gardens located on the same site and managed by Belfast City Council.

Many thanks to our hosts in the National Museums NI, and particularly the staff of the Ulster Museum site. The conference was successfully delivered (once again) by the NatSCA conference team, led by Patti Wood Finkle. Helen James, Senior Curator of Natural Sciences at National Museums NI, provided excellent local knowledge and onsite coordination.

The NatSCA committee are very excited to be returning to London for our 2027 conference; this time in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Watch this space!

The NatSCA 2026 conference was recorded and can be viewed online on our YouTube channel.