Category Archives for Bill Pettit Award

NatSCA Digital Digest – April 2026

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

NatSCA Annual Conference & AGM 2026: Registration Now OPEN!

Booking is now open for the Annual Conference & AGM of the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA) held on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th May 2026 at The Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This year’s theme is: Collaborating and Connecting with Natural History.

Due to limited venue capacity, the conference is limited to 120 places. Please follow this link to the conference page to find out more information: https://www.natsca.org/event/2924.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions. If you would like to become a member, which would qualify you for the conference discount or bursaries, please see our website for details.

Please note that the early bird discount ends on the 14th April so get in quick if you want to get the cheaper rate!

GCG Winter Seminar 2026 – Call for Abstracts

The Geological Collections Group is now accepting abstracts for their upcoming meeting, which will be held at the Manchester Museum on November 18th 2026, with a field trip and collection tours on November 19th.

The 2026 GCG Winter Seminar will serve as a ‘call to arms’ for those in our community to present on and discuss the public and scientific benefits of our collections. GCG are seeking presentations that demonstrate the value of collections, and case studies of when advocacy has, or has not, been effective.

Please send abstracts of less than 250 words to events@geocollections.org stating whether for an oral or poster presentation.

The deadline for abstract submission is July 31st, 2026.

The Bill Pettit Memorial Award – Application Deadline April 13th

NatSCA is pleased to invite applications to this year’s Bill Pettit Memorial Award. Up to £3,000 of grant money, is available to NatSCA members this year to support projects including the conservation, access and use of natural science collections.

Projects will be assessed against NatSCA’s mission and are scored against: conservation of collections, collections access, collections use and timescales and costs. We are looking for innovative projects with a tangible legacy.

To apply, please fill out the application form available here.

Deadline for 2026 applications: April 13th 2026

SPPC2026 17th November, Manchester UK

This year the Symposium on Palaeontological Preparation and Conservation will immediately precede the Geological Collections Group (GCG) Winter Seminar and AGM.

Details and registration information for this conference can be found here.

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.

Where to Visit

Edinburgh Science Festival 2026 – Going Global

The Edinburgh Science Festival is in full swing across the city’s museums, galleries and gardens.

This year the Festival will showcase the research and innovation created through international partnerships that address shared challenges, directly aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and will be highlighting Scotland’s contribution to scientific advances through research, innovation and its extraordinary people.

Event programs and booking information can be found on their website here.

Giants – National Museums Scotland

Visiting from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Giants showcases the colossal prehistoric creatures that lived after the extinction of the dinosaurs, 66 million years ago.

Discover life-sized 3D sculptures, skeletons, and fossils in this immersive, family friendly exhibition.

Encounter Otodus megalodon, the largest shark to have ever swum the oceans, and Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the biggest ever snake. What advantages did their immense size offer? Why did they eventually face extinction? How were they discovered?

The exhibition runs through September 14th. Further details and information about booking can be found here.

Bolton’s Egypt Spring Study Day “Animals in Ancient Egyptian Religion”.

Saturday, June 6 , 10:30 AM – 7 PM

An interactive hands-on study day at Bolton Library and Museum Services that focuses on ancient Egyptian animals, how they were viewed, treated and worshiped.
This study day explores the animals encountered by the ancient Egyptians, how they were featured in daily life, and how they were incorporated into the ancient Egyptian belief system of life, death and the afterlife. The day will consist of two lectures, three hands-on workshops, an a practical demonstration of a mummy re-rolling. The Study Day will conclude with after-hours wine, nibbles and chats with the experts in the Bolton’s Egypt galleries themselves. To register, click here.

What to Read

The Curious Case of a Historical Seed Collection

Over on the NatSCA blog, Hideko Yamamoto and Jovita Yesilyurt at the Natural History Museum, London explore their fascinating seed collection with us, the history, the practicalities of looking after such material, and the ways in which such a collection and the data it holds are so valuable to future research.

Paper discussing the problem of the use of pins with entomological collections.

Yes, it’s in French, but worth a read if you want to know more about vert-de-gris, which is apparently not really vert-de-gris. More information can be found here. You can find the article in the journal Coré.

Where to Work

Assistant Conservator (Projects) – University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge

The University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge are looking for a full-time, fixed-term Assistant Conservator (Projects) to support a major collections move programme.

The post holder will play a key role in delivering practical conservation work as part of a focused project team. In addition to project-specific work, the role will contribute to wider collections care across the Museum. The role requires the post holder to have good general knowledge and experience in the care and conservation of organic materials.

Closing date: 23 April 2026

Full details about the post, and how to apply, can be found here.

Committee Member, Museum Accreditation Panel (Voluntary position)

The Accreditation Committee is a subcommittee of Arts Council England’s National Council. Its purpose is to oversee the effective management of the Accreditation Scheme for museums and galleries in the UK. The Committee acts as a representative of the museum sector in the UK in its overview of the Accreditation Scheme for museums and galleries. The Accreditation Committee plays an important role in the credibility and reputation of the UK-wide scheme by providing peer recognition through their role in decision-making at regular award panel meetings.

Being a member of the Committee is a way to support your professional development and an opportunity to give back to the sector.

Fixed term of four years. Commitment is estimated to be approximately 4 days a year.

More information can be found here. There will also be a webinar to provide further details of this role on 22 April 2026, between 12pm-1pm. To register for this webinar please click here.

Closing Date: 17:00, Friday 15 May 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.

Top NatSCA Blogs of 2022

Compiled by Jen Gallichan, NatSCA Blog Editor.

A very Happy New Year to all of our readers and contributors! Being the blog editor is a great job as I get to read all of your fantastic posts first and hear about all of the great work going on out there with natural history collections. To reflect on this, here is a round up of the most read blogs that came out in 2022 in case you missed any of them. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed an article, the blog continues to go from strength to strength and this is purely as a result of your work and writing. The 2023 calendar is half full already – so if you are considering submitting something for later in the year, do drop me a line and get it scheduled in.

10. A Foot In The Door – Finding Collections Work As A Trailing Spouse In A Foreign Country. Written by Caroline Grounds, Freelance Zoological Collections Assistant, Musée national d’histoire naturelle, Luxembourg. A lovely blog about finding your niche in a new country, and showing that collections work has no borders.

My happy place: sorting bees from by-catch from pan traps which we set up throughout the country. © Dylan Thissen

9. Thomas Bateman’s Ichthyosaurs. Written by Alistair McLean, Curator of Natural Science, Sheffield Museums Trust. Documenting the conservation work (part funded by the Bill Pettit award) that helped restore two beautiful Ichthyosaur specimens.

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‘Marvellous Molluscs’ – Increasing Accessibility, Improving Storage & Unlocking Research Potential At The University Of Aberdeen

Written by Hannah Clarke, Assistant Curator (Collections Access), University of Aberdeen.

In April 2021, The University of Aberdeen’s Zoology Museum, with support from NatSCA’s Bill Pettit Memorial Award, undertook a year-long project to rehouse and improve the accessibility of the University’s mollusc collection.

The collection comprises approximately 2550, mostly British specimens, collected from the 1840s to the 1970s. The specimens were gifted to the museum by former students, academic staff, and amateur shell collectors, they also include several specimens from as far afield as the Pacific, Africa, China, Madagascar, America, and Canada.

The molluscs form part of the University’s extensive Zoology Collections, which are recognised as being of National Significance. As such, we are constantly striving to improve access to these collections, and the ‘Marvellous Molluscs’ Project aimed to do just that.

Assistant Curator, Hannah Clarke, identifying storage issues in specimen cupboards.

Having identified the collections both in storage and on display, a project plan was created that would tackle not only the rehousing, but also the documentation of the specimens on the museum database. The majority of specimens were poorly stored several layers deep in drawers, had outdated taxonomy, and lacked any database records or collections data.

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Thomas Bateman’s Ichthyosaurs

Written by Alistair McLean, Curator of Natural Science,  Sheffield Museums Trust.

2021 was the bicentenary of the birth of the Derbyshire antiquarian, Thomas Bateman (1821-1861). To commemorate the event, Sheffield Museums Trust developed an exhibition focusing on the Bateman collection, much of which is preserved in Sheffield. 

Figure 1. Thomas Bateman & Son

The collections of Thomas and his father William Bateman (1787-1835), are perhaps best known in archaeological circles. The pair were prominent barrow diggers, and spent much of their relatively short lives excavating burial mounds in the Peak District of Derbyshire and surrounding counties. The specimens they acquired were displayed in the family museum at Lomberdale Hall, Middleton-by-Youlgreave in Derbyshire.

The collection consisted of archaeology, world cultures and natural history (predominantly taxidermy, birds’ eggs, insects, mineralogy and palaeontology). A large part of it was initially loaned to and later sold to Sheffield Public Museum (now Weston Park Museum) in 1876 and 1893 respectively.

The importance of the Bateman family’s contribution to the study of natural science has historically been overshadowed by their notoriety as archaeologists. But their efficacy as general collectors plus the relative abundance of surviving contextual information, puts them into the top tier of contributors to Sheffield’s natural science collection.

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The SS Great Britain’s ‘Final Passenger’

Written by Nick Booth, Head of Collections, SS Great Britain Trust.

Drakon Heritage and Conservation can be contacted via their website – https://drakonheritage.co.uk/.

This blog explores conservation work and public engagement activities focused on a natural history specimen found in an unlikely museum setting, made possible thanks to the Bill Pettit Memorial Award 2020.

Brunel’s SS Great Britain is a museum and visitor attraction on the harbour side in Bristol. The site centres around the Steamship Great Britain, which sits within the drydock she was originally built in and launched from on the 19th July 1843. The famous Victorian Engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, acted as her Chief Engineer. She returned to the same drydock on the 19th July, 1970 – a gap of 127 years during when she steamed or sailed to every continent in the world, excluding the Antarctic, and circumnavigated the globe 32 times. The site also includes two museums – the Dockyard Museum, which tells the story of the SS Great Britain from construction to her return to Bristol, and the Being Brunel Museum, which explored the life and works of IK Brunel. The Trusts Collections were Designated in 2014.

In March 2020 the SS Great Britain Trust applied for funding as part of the Bill Pettit Memorial Award.

Continue reading →