NatSCA Digital Digest – December 2025

Compiled by Olivia Beavers, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool.

Welcome to the December 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

FINAL CALL for Early Career Researcher Symposium – Call for Papers

The Society for the History of Natural History in partnership with The Linnean Society of London Online, will be hosting their Early Career Researcher Symposium on Thursday 19th February 2026.

The event coordinators are now welcoming papers from across the field which speak to any aspects of the history of natural history. The only restriction is that eligible speakers must be individuals registered for PhD programmes or within 3 years of being awarded their doctorate.

Speakers will be convened into panels of related 15-20 minute papers by the conference organisers, with a shared session for questions at the end of each panel. Submissions from scholars in all parts of the world are encouraged and they will endeavour to put together a final programme which accommodates international time differences.

Questions and paper proposals should be submitted to Dr Elle Larsson, Meetings Secretary at: meetings@shnh.org.uk. Please include a title, an abstract (up to 250 words) and a speaker biography (up to 100 words). The deadline for submissions is 12th December 2025.

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NatSCA Digital Digest – November 2025

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

GCG Winter Seminar in Hastings – Registration Open

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.

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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.

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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.

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Moving a ‘Monster’ – the Ups and Downs of Exhibiting a Japanese Spider Crab

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

In May this year, I was given the slightly terrifying task of overseeing the removal and transportation of Aberdeen University’s much-loved Japanese Spider Crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) specimen. The crab, who is usually proudly displayed in the foyer of the University’s Zoology Building, had been requested for loan by Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums, for their exciting new exhibition ‘Monsters of the Deep.’

The crab had previously been removed during renovation work in 2019, without hiccup, so recalling how ‘straightforward’ this had been last time, I was confident that we could get the crab removed, cleaned, packed, and ready for transport in just under three days.

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