Compiled by Ellie Clark, Curator of Fossil Cnidaria at the Natural History Museum.

Welcome to the November 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

Call for article proposals: Art and Museum Collections—Connections across disciplines

This special issue of Collections (SAGE) explores the relationships between art and museum and related collections across disciplines. They are inviting contributions examining how art interacts with, interprets, and transforms collections, encompassing not only fine art but also natural history specimens, scientific instruments, archaeological objects, books, archives, and other forms of material and visual culture. The issue also asks how disciplinary classifications have shaped the interpretation of collections, and how artistic and curatorial practices can reconsider these categories and the authority to interpret objects.

They welcome proposals addressing historical and contemporary perspectives, theoretical discussions, and case studies. Possible topics include:

• Artistic engagements with natural history and scientific collections.
• Relationships between art, archaeology, books, libraries, and archives.
• The role of illustration, models, photography, and other visual practices in producing and communicating knowledge.
• Artists as collectors and collections as resources for artistic practice.
• Exhibitions and curatorial approaches that connect different types of collections.
• The shifting boundaries between artwork, specimen, artefact, and document.
• Colonial histories, provenance, and the ethics of artistic interventions in collections.
• Conservation, materiality, and the reinterpretation of collection objects.
• The contribution of art to public engagement, education, and accessibility.

Submissions from researchers, artists, curators, conservators, librarians, archivists, and other practitioners working with collections are welcomed as are contributions that bridge disciplinary boundaries and introduce underrepresented collections or perspectives.

Proposals may be submitted from 6 January 2027 until 13 February 2027. Please submit a provisional title, an abstract of approximately 150 words outlining the proposed contribution, and a brief author biography to Consuelo Sendino at c.sendino-lara@nhm.ac.uk. Full articles must be submitted by July 2027 and must follow the journal’s author guidelines.

The Art of Preservation: In Conversation with Jazmine Miles-Long

Often misunderstood, taxidermy is a remarkable craft that brings together art, science and a deep appreciation for the natural world. Jazmine will take us behind the scenes of her work, revealing the skill and techniques involved in creating taxidermy. We’ll explore its importance in science, museums and education, and how preserving the beauty of animals can remind us just how precious the natural world is, and why we need to protect it.

The talk is on Friday 20th November from 6:30pm – 8:30pm at Palava, 67 Amwell Street, London EC1R 1UT. For more information and to book tickets visit the website here.

Where to Visit

Peat. Plants. People. Leeds City Museum

What is Peat? Why is it so important and what does it have to do with People? Discover a natural and cultural history of this precious stuff and the habitat it sustains, through the eyes of artists, community organisations and objects from Leeds museum’s Natural Sciences collection. Find more information here.

Online Exhibition – Dead or Alive: Birds in our World, Manchester Museum

Uncover the stories of eight amazing birds, now either extinct or endangered, hidden within the Museum’s stores. Dead or Alive: Birds in our World takes a closer look at specimens not usually on display within our galleries and asks what they can tell us about conservation and colonial dominance.

Where did they come from? Who collected them? Why did they end up preserved in a museum basement? And what does their story mean for the future of our planet? Through archival material, you’ll be able to follow each bird’s journey before using cutting-edge 3D technology to look more closely at each one, learning about their curious colours and habits, fates and fortunes. You can also enjoy a series of fantastic artworks from young, Manchester-based artists, inspired by the bird collections at the Museum.

Part celebration, part mourning, this exhibition seeks to confront the impact of climate crisis head on by telling individual histories of what we have lost and what we may yet lose.

Access the online exhibition here.

What to Read

From the Blog…

Hannah Jenkins, Assistant Curator, Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales explores remounting the moss collections in The Big Moss Makeover.

Julie Griffith, Property Experience Curator, Calke Abbey, National Trust explores Where are the Women? Uncovering Hidden Connections to Calke Abbey’s Natural History Collection.

Dr Shea (Tiffany) Slater (Taphonomist, Experimental Officer, University College Cork) describes their work with fluid preserved collections in Living in Spirits: The Molecular Revival of Fluid Collections.

Where to Work

The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland is recruiting

Are you interested in addressing the challenges of climate driven biodiversity loss? Do you have skills in botany, seed science, plant genetics, tissue culture or cryopreservation? Would you like to work to develop shared solutions with wonderful partners across the Northern Periphery and Arctic region of Europe?

If so, you may be interested in one of the two new positions on the ‘PLEDGE – Plants on the Edge’ project, led by the scientific team at the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland who are currently recruiting for a Project Manager and for a Research Assistant.

Location: National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Office of Public Works, Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland

Duration: 30 months, starting Nov 2026.

Please apply with a letter of interest and curriculum vitae to DBNHerbarium@opw.ie using the subject line ‘PLEDGE Project Manager’ or ‘PLEDGE Research Assistant’. Please submit your application before the deadline of 20th Nov 2026. Find more information here.

Head of Zoology, National Museum Cardiff – Deadline extended

There is still stime to apply for the Head of Zoology role at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales who are seeking someone to lead an experienced curatorial team driving forward innovative research and public engagement programmes. Details and applications here.

Permanent/Full-time; £57,822.85 – £62,434.05; 35hrs/week. Closing date: 24th November 2026.

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.