Category Archives for access

How to Get a Job Working with Museum Collections

Written by Sarah Burhouse, Caitlin Jamison, Bethany Palumbo & Vicky Ward. Compiled by Jennifer Gallichan, Vertebrate Curator, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.

Those of us that that are lucky enough to work with natural science collections will be familiar with the question ‘How do you get a job in a museum’? At a time when cuts to the sector mean that museum jobs seem even fewer and farther between, I felt it was important that we share some of our combined experiences to hopefully give some tips (and hope) for emerging museum professionals.

I reached out to colleagues across the sector to get their ‘origin’ stories and see if they had any advice for those seeking a museum job working with collections. Many thanks to Sarah, Caitlin, Bethany and Vicky for sharing your stories with us.

Continue reading →

NatSCA Digital Digest – October 2025

Compiled by Milo Phillips, Digitisation Co-ordinator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Welcome to the October 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

GCG Winter Seminar in Hastings – Registration Open Now

While the call for abstracts has now closed, you can still register to join the Geological Collections Group in December at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery for their 2025 Winter Seminar and Annual General Meeting. The Seminar and AGM will be held at the Museum on December 10th and will be followed by a field trip to the coast in the Pett Level – Fairlight area on December 11th.

For registration forms and details about the talks of the day, guidance on what to expect during the field trip, and directions for finding your ways to all of the above, visit their website here.

Continue reading →

Crispy, Brown and Far Too Delicate – Are Herbarium Specimens Just Too Difficult to Use?

Written by Clare Brown, Leeds Museums and Galleries.

Taking a walk through a forest, running through fields of wheat or even just gazing at trees, all a far-cry from dealing with the sheets of pressed, long-dead dried plants you come across in museum collections. Good taxidermy at least looks like the original animal.

Other problems with plant specimens include their need for low light, extremely careful handling and, occasionally, mercuric chloride. Despite being phenomenally important to researchers, for everything from tracking climate change to curing cancer, plant collections are not at the top of many people’s lists when it comes to exhibitions, events and workshops.

So, what public-facing engagement can you do with herbarium specimens? Here I’ve looked at a few great case studies where creative collections are delivering brilliant botany… Continue reading →

NatSCA Digital Digest – August 2025

Compiled by Ellie Clark, Collections Moves Team Leader at the Natural History Museum.

Welcome to the August 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

Transmitting Science Upcoming Online Courses

Registration is open for a number of online training courses over at Transmitting Science. Upcoming courses include Naturalistic & Scientific Illustration, An Introduction to R, Finite Element Analysis Applied to Life Sciences and Python Machine Learning in Biology.

For a full list of courses, details on timetables, course structure, pricings, academic credits, and registration can be found on the courses open for registration page here.

Continue reading →

NatSCA Digital Digest – July 2025

Compiled by Milo Phillips, Digitisation Co-ordinator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Welcome to the July 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

Geological Collections Group – Dinosaur trackways field workshop

There is still time to register for the GCG Dinosaur Trackways field workshop, happening later this month on the 24th July.

This one-day field workshop will teach participants how to clean out large sauropod footprints and, take measurements of both isolated prints and entire trackways. This is a practical field workshop, with hands on experience of working with dinosaur trackways. For this reason, participants must be able to move across uneven ground unaided.

Continue reading →